Echoes from Yangon

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)
30 October 2017

myanmar-2017-jeffrey-amc00926 October 2017 - By Claus Grue*                                                                                                      Photo Credits - Paul Jeffrey

After six intensive days, offering plenty of food for thought, the Asia Mission Conference (AMC) in Yangon, Myanmar, came to an end with a sending out and closing session last Monday. With around 600 participants from all over the world – double from what was originally expected – the need to discuss, learn about and elaborate around mission was clearly affirmed.

The general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), Dr Mathews George Chunakara, seems pleased with the outcome, and he feels confident that a revival of mission and wider participation of churches missional involvement in Asia is well underway:

”Most things turned out as I envisioned, or even better than originally expected by the grace of God. Participants engaged very actively in both Bible studies and group discussions. And the whole event became very spiritual. We worked hard before and during the conference, and I think this was God’s plan”, Chunakara says.

He is convinced that the AMC, which was the first of its kind since 1994, has put both the CCA and conference hosts, the Myanmar Baptist Convention and Myanmar Council of Churches, on the ecumenical and ecclesiastical map and helped increase the visibility in Asia and beyond as the country remained closed for more than half a century. Equally important, a primary step towards rediscovering the meaning of mission, which is outlined in the CCA Strategic Programme Plan 2016 - 2020, has now been taken.

” That was exactly the intention. When people from all over Asia, and the rest of the world, are brought together like this to reflect, discuss and network, things start to happen. The conference energized the issue”, Chunakara says.

One contributing factor was the Asia mission statement document, which “articulates our self-understanding of mission, missiological convictions and emerging mission concerns in Asia’s pluralistic, multi-religious and multi-ethnic context”, as Chunakara puts it.

After having gone through a review process in all CCA-member churches the document was further discussed in group sessions at the AMC, after which it was adopted.

”The idea of the mission statement was envisaged to bring out the essence of current realities and articulate a missiological vision from a theological basis”, Chunakara explains.

With a coherent statement in place and ready for circulation, the direction for Asian mission has been firmly set. The next step is transmitting the outcome of AMC – in line with the statement – to member constituencies of CCA, from Iran in the west to Japan in the east, from Nepal in the north to New Zealand in the south.

”The AMC has been a splendid opportunity to mobilize and revitalize the ecumenical movement at the grassroots level. And also, an opportunity to promote unity and inculcate the idea of ecumenism in the participants’ minds as part of their witness. It is now up to member churches to live up to their missional commitments in their own different contexts”, Chunakara continues.

He is particularly pleased with the change in cultural mindsets that he sensed at the conference where worships emerged as joyful celebrations.

”God’s divine presence was felt”, he concludes.

To keep up the momentum, Chunakara envisions what he calls ”echo-conferences” to be held at national, sub-regional and regional levels in the next two years. The idea is to echo the spirit of the Yangon-conference and transform it into concrete and contextualized action plans. After two years, a review of the follow up at all levels will be undertaken.

With a revitalized mission programme, the CCA continues to move ahead as planned. Upcoming priorities are involving more women’s participation in the Asian ecumenical movement and attracting more young people, so that a new generation of leadership can be fostered. Important steps in that direction are the Asian Ecumenical Youth Assembly in Manado, Indonesia next year April, and the Asian Ecumenical Women’s Assembly in 2019.

Chunakara also shared his vision of establishing an Asia Ecumenical Institute, where a proper ecumenical leadership development, mission training and also an extension of the current peace and conflict resolution training of CCA Young Ambassadors of Peace in Asia, is on the menu. Such initiatives depend on access to facilities.

”We are currently reviewing our future needs in terms of office space and venues. A solution is underway and I hope we can launch the Asian Ecumenical Institute around 2020” he explains.

*Claus Grue is a communication consultant for the World Council of Churches.
https://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/echoes-from-yangon