CCA’s grassroots ecumenical theological training helps fill void in Timor-Leste

Programme Review and Programme Direction

Two key deliberative sessions during the 15th CCA General Assembly are the Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions.

The Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions will both be conducted in three groups relating to the CCA’s programme areas, namely, (i) General Secretariat (GS), (ii) Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF); and (iii) Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia (PD).

Assembly participants will have the option to join one of three groups for both the Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions. For the sake of coherence, the assigned group will remain the same for both sessions.

General Secretariat

The General Secretariat oversees the coordination of programmatic, administrative, and financial activities of the organization. The GS comprises various departments such as church and ecumenical relations, relations with ecumenical partners, finance, administration, and communications, which provide crucial support and services for the implementation of programs and contribute to the overall functioning of the CCA.

Programmes: Relations with member churches and councils, ecumenical partners; advocacy at the United Nations; ecumenical responses to emerging issues in solidarity; income development and finance; and communications.

Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF)

Under the MU programme area, the CCA accompanies Asian churches to strengthen their mission and witness in multi-religious contexts, revitalise and nurture church unity and the Asian ecumenical movement, and develop contextual theological foundations.

Programmes: Asian Movement for Christian Unity (AMCU); Congress of Asian Theologians (CATS); Asian women doing theology in the context of wider ecumenism; contextualisation of theology in Asia and ecumenical theological education.

The EF programme area focuses on nurturing and developing ecumenical leaders in Asia. The programme aims to enhance spiritual formation and theological understanding, enabling people to actively engage in ecumenical dialogue and collaboration.

Programmes: Ecumenical Enablers’ Training in Asia (EETA); Asian Ecumenical Institute (AEI); Youth and Women Leadership Development; Ecumenical Spirituality and Nurturing of Contextual Liturgical Traditions; Asia Sunday

Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy (PD)

The BP programme area is dedicated to promoting peace, justice, and reconciliation in Asia’s diverse contexts. Through training, advocacy, and dialogue, the programme addresses the root causes of conflicts, empowers communities, and fosters sustainable peacebuilding initiatives.

Programmes: Pastoral Solidarity Visits; Churches in Action for Moving Beyond Conflict and Resolution; Young Ambassadors of Peace in Asia (YAPA); Ecumenical Women’s Action Against Violence (EWAAV); Eco-Justice for Sustainable Peace in the Oikos.

The PD programme area focuses on promoting justice, human rights, and social transformation in Asia. Through advocacy, capacity-building, and raising awareness, the programme addresses systemic injustice, empowers marginalised communities, and advocates for prophetic actions and meaningful change.

Programmes: Human Rights advocacy; Migration, Statelessness, and Trafficking in Persons; Asian Ecumenical Disability Advocacy Network; Asian Advocacy Network on the Dignity and Rights of Children (AANDRoC); Ecumenical Solidarity Accompaniment and Diakonia in Asia (ESADA); Health and Healing; Good Governance; Action Together to Combat HIV and AIDS in Asia (ATCHAA).

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23 May 2017

Participants of the Ecumenical Theological Training For Pastors and Evangelists in Timor-Leste

“CCA’s grassroots ecumenical theological training programme is very valuable in least developed countries, like Timor-Leste, as it is helping pastors and evangelists of Protestant churches in Timor-Leste to fill the void of ecumenical theological education and leadership development in churches,” commented the leaders of the East Timor Protestant Church – Igreja Protestante iha Timor Leste (IPTL) at the end of a training programme held from 16 – 19 May 2017 in Dilli, the capital city of Timor-Leste.

Forty-five pastors, evangelists and lay leaders from the Christian Conference of Asia's (CCA) member church IPTL, the National Council of Churches in Timor-Leste, the Bethel Church, the Adventist Church, Assembly of God and the Pentecostal Church in Timor-Leste attended the training.

In a country like Timor-Leste, pastors and churches lack proper leadership and ecumenical formation as they do not have access to seminaries and Bible training schools. Members of Protestant churches are also vulnerable targets of “aggressive evangelism” promoted by proponents of “freelance missionary evangelism” from outside of Timor-Leste. The CCA identified the urgent prerequisite to accompany churches in Timor-Leste and their pastors, as well as evangelists and lay leaders, especially those who serve in remote areas, to train them in Asian ecumenical and contextual theologising.

“Equipping young ecumenical and church leaders with the proper tools of theology is obeying God’s Great Commission,” said Rev. Jung Eun Moon, CCA Program Coordinator.

In a session on “Mission and Evangelism and the context of Diakonia Ministry”, Rev. Thomas Liddle, Mission Co-worker of the IPTL from the United Church of Christ in the USA, told the participants, “Church leaders at the headquarters level should not to be directing pastors in their diaconal ministries from top to bottom. Instead, the pastors and congregation members must actively participate in their own ministerial work and programmes at the grassroots level to serve communities.”

Rev. Bobby Daniel and Rev. Nico Lumba Kaana from the Christian University in Kupang, Indonesia held interactive sessions on the contextual reading of the Bible and homiletics.

Participants of the training observed that the sessions helped widen their theological perspectives and pledged to re-reflect on their ministries with missional and diaconal programmes to serve their communities.

The IPTL – CCA’s only member church in Timor-Leste – was the host and local organiser of the training. The IPTL, a small church in a predominantly Roman Catholic country, has been witnessing an important role for justice and reconciliation in the country ever since the struggle for independence started in the 1970s.

The IPTL has also largely been involved in leadership training and the continuing education of its pastors. It has established a Christian theological training institute recently, the East Timor Christian Institute (ETCI) in Dili. In 2016, the CCA assisted the IPTL to develop a curriculum for theological training at the ETCI.

Formerly known as East Timor, Timor-Leste is one of the smallest and newly independent countries in Asia.