Chiang Mai Communique

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:
Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF)
Second Preference:
Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy (PD)
24 September 2004
christian conference of Asia, Asia christianity


General secretaries and representatives of National Councils of Churches
and National Christian Councils in Asia, staff of CCA and WCC, and
resource persons attended a meeting held from 20-23 September in
Chiang Mai, Thailand. (Photo:Philip Mathew)

NCC general secretaries issued the following communique

As General Secretaries of National Councils of Churches and National Christian Councils from 18 Asian countries, we have come together in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for fellowship and reflection, guided by the theme of the Christian Conference of Asias 2005 Assembly: Building Communities of Peace for All. We are grateful for the support and work of CCA in bringing us together, and the input of members of staff from CCA and WCC. As an important part of our meeting we pledged our support for the upcoming CCA Assembly.

As we met we were conscious of the changing dynamics of the world that affect our region, and of the relationships we have with those of other cultures and other places. These changes are described by words like North-South, globalisation, developing world, terrorism, consumerism, individualism, world economic order, empire, and so on. Collectively these terms describe a fundamental change that threatens our communities and undermines the progress of the human condition about which we have been so hopeful. We are now witnessing widening gaps between societies, and within societies. Individuals and communities are marginalised, and success seems to be measured by the ability to squander resources in unsustainable ways. Militarism is rising, and age old conflicts are re-emerging without the checks and balances that keep the balance between competing groups.

We live in a violent world. Tragically, peace remains a quality of life and of being that is more often expressed by its absence than its presence. The desire for peace with justice continues to be evoked through the deep aching of the human heart. Human hope for peace is a rich theme taken up by the religions of the world, many of which are Asian in origin.

All religions, in company with all humanity, are concerned about the lack of the peace with justice for which we long. We recognised that we as Christians also share in the trends of this violent world, and need to repent of our part in creating division and separation.

Despite our high ecumenical ideals, we confessed that a growing ecumenical amnesia and lethargy means that we are not living up to the demands and challenges of our time. We recognised that the strength of ecumenism is in its involvement with the grassroots, a strength that the institutions we create must serve.

Christians continue to believe that peace with justice is possible despite the continuing restlessness, violence, and inequality of the world. This belief is based on the witness and work of Jesus Christ. A key name ascribed to him, drawn from the prophet Isaiah, is Prince of Peace. Jesus gives us peace as a gift:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
John 14:27 NRSV

We believe that God is now calling us to a renewed emphasis on this gift of peace, which is also our task, and is echoed in the longing of our hearts. It offers us an opportunity to renew the ecumenical spirit. This is more than idealism. It is evident that the illogic of violence fractures both creation and humanity. It drives humans apart into loneliness and dissatisfaction, while the deliberative and thoughtful path of peace brings them together and creates sustainable communities of hope. Through the many catastrophic wars of the 20th century humanity started to understand in practical ways many things about the self-defeating nature of violence and its destructive outcomes. Around the world, locally, nationally, and internationally, people worked hard to create peaceful alternatives because otherwise they feared the destruction of our race. That work for peaceful activity also came to embrace the integrity of creation. In many places Christians were at the forefront of these efforts, and now it is up to the generations who follow those pioneers to make sure these advances are not lost.

We affirm that we still believe in peace with justice and its possibilities  spiritually, theologically, socially, and practically. We believe that peace with justice is possible and we pledge ourselves to its fulfilment. In the hope that God has given us, we make the following calls to the Christian communities of our region:

1. Reclaim our prophetic heritage and calling as a response to the emerging issues of our time, naming and resisting evils that perpetuate and encourage violence, poverty, and marginalisation.

2. Affirm local Christian communities as communities of justice and peace and that Christians be equipped as peacemakers in their societies. In the process of peace building we encourage the use of the resources of the Decade to Overcome Violence and its special Asian focus in 2005.

3. Identify structures that legitimate and perpetuate violence and injustice within our Churches, such as discrimination based on age, caste, disability, ethnicity, gender, and economic disadvantage, or abuse based on inequality of power sharing, and that we work to transform all such structures among us.

4. Recommit ourselves and our Christian communities to peace making in active co-operation with peoples other faiths and of no faith.