Ecumenical women’s team from Myanmar visits CCA

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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12 October 2016

myanmar-ecumenical-womens-team-at-the-cca-headquarters

A group of 12 women representing the Myanmar Council of Churches (MCC) and other member churches of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) in Myanmar visited the CCA headquarters in Chiang Mai, Thailand on 12th October 2016 and discussed possibilities to enhance the participation of church women in the Asian ecumenical movement through the CCA.

Myanmar ecumenical women’s visit to the CCA was in conjunction with their participation at the General Assembly of the Women’s Division of the Church of Christ in Thailand.

The representatives of Myanmar’s ecumenical women’s delegation explored the possibility of programmatic collaboration, especially in areas of women’s leadership development and peace building initiatives in the future.

While welcoming the visiting delegation to the CCA headquarters, CCA General Secretary Dr. Mathews George Chunakara recollected the historical contributions made by the churches in Myanmar to the Asian ecumenical movement, especially during the formative years of the East Asia Christian Conference (EACC), forerunner of the CCA.

CCA General Secretary also recalled the faithful accompaniment and contributions of the churches in Myanmar to the Asian and global ecumenical movement.

Myanmar remained a closed door society for decades. Women in society, particularly from churches, did not have opportunities to actively participate in societal issues.

In a context where more political freedom and democratic reforms were introduced in recent years in Myanmar, women in churches also aspire to ensure gender justice and the need to be involved in wider issues.

In response to a question by a member of the Myanmar delegation about increased women participation in ecumenical programs, CCA General Secretary reaffirmed CCA’s commitment to and recent initiative of increasing women’s participation in CCA programs. “We aim to shut down the gender gap by bring women’s participation to a 50 to 50 ratio,” he added.