CCA’s Youth Internships Train Future Ecumenical Leaders

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).

First Preference:
General Secretariat (GS)
Second Preference:
Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF)
17 February 2016

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From left to right: Angela Kim, Sankalp Sam Mathews, Anam Gill, Dedi Pardosi and Casey Fa'aui

Five youth interns, recruited by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) for a year-long internship based in the CCA General Secretariat, feel that being at CCA headquarters in Chiang Mai, Thailand and contributing to the work that involves churches and ecumenical councils in various Asian countries is a unique opportunity.

The youth interns coming from five Asian countries -South Korea, Pakistan, Indonesia, India and Aotearoa, New Zealand- expressed their hopes to use their experience from the home churches in contributing to CCA’s various programs. CCA’s geographical jurisdiction covers Iran in West Asia, to Japan in the East and from Nepal in the North of Asia, to New Zealand in the South.

The CCA interns are Casey Lita Lupe Moana Fa’aui (New Zealand), Sankalp Sam Mathews (India), Dedi Pardosi (Indonesia), Angela Kim (South Korea) and Anam Gill (Pakistan).

Casey is working with the Church and Ecumenical Relations program. A Tongan-descent born and brought up in Aotearoa, New Zealand, she holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Ministry from Laidlaw College, New Zealand.  She participated in the Asian Ecumenical Course in Jakarta Indonesia and also attended the 14th General Assembly of Christian Conference of Asia as an observer.

Sankalp is working with the Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology program. He hails from Mangalore in India. Sankalp obtained a Master’s Degree in Commerce from the Pondicherry Central University, Puducherry. He has worked among university and college students at the Youth Centre, Kalaburagi in India.

Dedi is an ordained minister of Batak Christian Protestant Church in Indonesia and works in the program area Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy with specific responsibilities in organizing a newly initiated program of CCA; training of Young Ambassadors of Peace in Asia (YAPA). He is also working in the area of Asian Interfaith Network on HIV and AIDS Advocacy. He was a steward at WCC's Central Committee Meeting held in Geneva, steward at CCA's 14th General Assembly in Jakarta, and also participated in the CCA's pre Assembly YOUTH gathering that was held in Jakarta.

Angela is working in the Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts program area. Angela, who studied Political Science and Contemporary Asian Studies at the Trinity College, University of Toronto, is currently engaged in the preparation of an interfaith regional conference on Moving Beyond Conflicts in Asia.

Anam is working as a Communications intern, and comes with experiences in contributing writings to various national and international dailies in Pakistan, as well as working with the UN Alliance of Civilizations. She was a steward at WCC’s 9th Assembly held in Brazil and a co-opted staff at the Busan Assembly of WCC in 2013. She was also a youth delegate in  WCC’s Living Letters Team to Sierra Leone and Liberia in 2008.

Commenting about the objectives of CCA’s youth internship program, CCA General Secretary Dr. Mathews George Chunakara said that,

“Asian churches have many young people with great potentials and these young people are the “frozen assets” in Asian churches.  They will be trained and equipped to contribute to achieve the objectives of CCA’s mission and witness in Asia. In the coming years CCA will make special efforts to identify and train the talented young Asian Christians and they will be future ecumenical leaders in Asia and in the world.”

“The internship program has been designed in such a way to provide practical experiences in organizing programs as well as opportunities to participate in various programs, exposure visits, and interactions with church and ecumenical leaders during the year-long internship. The interns will be regularly engaged in dialogue and discussions on global and Asian issues as part of their regular work schedule”; added the CCA General Secretary.

Dr. Mathews George reminded the interns that, “the opportunities and experiences they are getting at young age will be unique opportunities for their ecumenical formation and leadership development.”

In the new strategic plan adopted by CCA, executive and program committees identified youth leadership development and ecumenical formation as a priority concern of CCA in the coming five years.