A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

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:
Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy (PD)
Second Preference:
Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF)
23 December 2013
christian conference of Asia, Asia christianity
"Mary and Baby Jesus"  Painting  by Ms. Roshni Roy (16 years),
Orthodox Syrian Church, Chennai, India
 

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 

“In those days a decree went out… that all the world should be enrolled… And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city.  And Joseph also went from Galilee… to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem… to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed who was with child.  And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered.  And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the inn.”  (Luke 2:1-7)

If Scriptures were not written, this inhospitable background of the birth of Jesus Christ could have been confined to oblivion.  It was God’s will that the Saviour of the world would be born under hostile conditions, into a world that “knew him not” (John 1:10b) and into his own home (where) his own people received him not” (John 1:11).  God is love in Jesus Christ, uplifting the lowly and putting down the mighty.

The lowliness of Jesus Christ’s birth is God’s indictment of the world’s empires. It is God’s statement of solidarity with those who are marginalized and made more vulnerable to suffering by the instruments of empire. It is God’s statement against the anomaly of social injustices and the perversity of relations based solely on wealth and power. It is a declaration of the primacy of human dignity. It is an affirmation of God’s promise of a ransom for many precisely because God loves the world. Paradoxically, among human beings it was to the humble and ordinary people that the birth of the Lord of lords and King of kings was first made known.

The inhospitality and hostility of the present age bid us to appropriate anew the meaning of Christmas, muddled by the instruments of commerce for none but gain. Beyond the glitter of Christmas lights in urban centers and the mad shopping rush are the simple yet immeasurable joys of family and community. Beyond the din of the holiday season and the temporary reprieve from the rat race for survival is the message of hope amidst poverty, forced migration and civil strife. Christmas is about renewing our faith in God who sent the Son that good may triumph over evil. It is about strengthening our resolve that through him who is Christ our peace, we have a foretaste of what is just and peaceful. Peace and justice in Asia is the road towards the realization of the divine promise of abundant life (John 10:10). Christmas is about claiming that promise in so far as it is offered to us in Christ and in so far as the powers of the world deny us that promise. Christmas teaches us to be humble yet vigilant – as Saint Paul would later state:  “We are treated as impostors and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Corinthians 6.8 b-10).

May this Christmas season inspire the march of God’s faithful people towards the fulfilment of Christ’s mission: the preaching of the good news, the proclamation of release to the captives, the recovery of sight, liberty to the oppressed and the proclamation of the acceptable year of our Lord (cf. Luke 4:18).

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas

Members of the CCA Presidium

Rev. Fr. Rex R B. Reyes, Jr. (Philippines)      Dr. K B. Rokaya (Nepal)

Ms. Van Arun Rasmey (Cambodia)                  Rev. Retno Ngapon (Indonesia)

and Rev. Dr. Henriette Hutabarat Lebang,      General Secretary, CCA