Ecumenical formation training of youths in Indonesia emphasises paradigm shift

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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01 June 2017

YLEFTParticipants of the Ecumenical Formation Training in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

“Young people are important agents in the transformation of the ecumenical movement in Indonesia, and Asia at large. It is hoped that through them, the Church and the Asian ecumenical movement will experience a paradigm shift,” Rev. Mazmur Gibrany of the Yayasan Pendidikan Dwituna Rawinala, told participants of the Ecumenical Formation Training of Indonesian Youth Leaders.

Organised by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), the leadership development training, held from 26-28 May 2017 at the Huria Kristen Batak Protestant (HKBP) in Yogyakarta city, Indonesia, was attended by twenty-seven youth leaders.

The main objective of the training was aimed at facilitating the ecumenical formation of Christian youths in the country. The training also focused on enabling youth engagement in advocating for social justice through ecumenical youth networks.  

The training program was designed in a context where more and more young people are forced to migrate to other parts of the country, as well as beyond the borders in search of jobs, making them vulnerable to racist intolerance and inhuman treatment in their new surroundings.

The participants of the training program observed that even though many young people have contributed in the past to shaping the modern ecumenical movement in Indonesia, as well as in other parts of Asia, at present, the involvement of young people beyond local levels is limited.

“CCA’s ecumenical formation training for young people aims at providing opportunities for wider exposure which might help them become tomorrow’s ecumenical leaders,” said CCA Program Coordinator, Rev. Jung Eun Grace Moon.  

Various sessions of the training program focused on Christian youth in a multi-religious Asian context and on the strengthening of Asian ecumenism at the grass roots level.

In a presentation on Contextual Church Life, Rev. Amin Zaitun said, “It takes a vital, re-actual, visionary and transformational leader with a managerial, ethical, spiritual and local leadership to develop a contextual church life.”

The participants testified towards the end of the program to contextually understanding wider issues in ecumenical perspectives, as well as bringing a paradigm shift in the ecumenical movement. They affirmed to be engaged in building inclusive communities by nurturing youth leaderships in their churches and communities.