IIPC FINAL STATEMENT

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)
21 August 2007
christian conference of Asia, Asia christianity

Submitted to the ICAAP Conference

19 August 2007, Colombo Sri Lanka

Representing the major religions of Asia, we were participants at the International Interfaith Pre-ICAAP Conference, organized by Asian Interfaith Network on AIDS (AINA), Christian Conference of Asia and the World Council of Churches on the theme "Response of Faith Communities to HIV and AIDS - Have We Kept the Promise?"

Having deliberated for three days on the role of faith communities in addressing HIV and AIDS, we recognize that the values of our religions compel us to respond to the human suffering caused by HIV and AIDS in our communities. These values also provide a unique and distinctive contribution to the overall response to the AIDS pandemic.

Recognising the dignity, sacredness, rights and responsibilities of individuals and communities, we are committed to work to overcome HIV in an inclusive manner, mobilising the human, spiritual, institutional and financial resources that our faith communities possess.

We dedicate ourselves to face the reality of HIV in our societies, to assess the needs in our communities and to prioritize our responses, considering our strengths and comparative advantages. We will also seek to identify and overcome our weaknesses, building on our achievements to make our communities competent in dealing with HIV and AIDS. To be accountable to the people we serve and the wider society, we will also ensure assessment of our progress and the impact we have in our own contexts.

In many ways, religious organizations have already been active in addressing all aspects of HIV and AIDS from raising awareness to providing treatment, care and support to those affected. But we know there is much more we must do, and we are committed to ensure that the tremendous social assets and competencies of our faith communities are energised to engage religious leaders, build partnerships and mobilize communities.

Engaging Leadership

We believe that religious leaders can and must play a constructive role in the response to HIV/AIDS. We are committed to educating and mobilising the leaders to advocate, educate and lead by example in their respective faith communities.

We will develop tools to train the leadership so that they can be effective public voices for raising awareness and reducing the stigma and discrimination so often associated with HIV and AIDS.

We will work to ensure that religious leaders at all levels are equipped to provide accurate, evidence-based information on preventing the spread of the virus, while at the same time focusing on the values and teachings in our faith traditions that also contribute to reducing HIV infections.

Building Partnerships

The enormity of the challenge requires partnerships of unprecedented range and scope. We as faith communities are resolved to develop new partnerships and to strengthen existing ones with other sectors.

We are committed to work in solidarity with people living with HIV and AIDS. We acknowledge that we have not done enough in this area, and have at times contributed to their sense of exclusion and stigmatization. We will work to build trust and to create inter-faith partnerships with positive networks at country, regional and local levels and encourage positive networks within our own communities. We are convinced that by working together we can defeat stigma and discrimination and create inclusive communities.

We emphasize the special role that inter-faith cooperation has played in building bridges across faiths and in helping us to address the challenges posed by HIV and AIDS more effectively. We are committed to strengthening such partnerships based on mutual respect and focussed on our shared values of human dignity, compassion, and love.

We are committed to strengthen AINA as an effective interfaith network at the regional level, so that it can advocate for the role of faith-based organizations, support national interfaith networks and help share information and coordinate our collective response to AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.

We are also committed to expand our partnerships with governments, UN agencies, NGOs, and other key actors to ensure that our faith communities have the financial, human, and material resources we need to be successful in controlling the pandemic. We are ready to work together, but we urge these sectors to respect and support the unique values and approaches that we as religious communities bring, even as we commit to respect their unique roles.

Mobilizing Communities

We believe that the response to the pandemic has to be centred in the community, and we commit to building caring, equitable communities that lead the way in supporting affected persons, encouraging openness, reducing stigma and discrimination, and addressing social inequities.

We will utilise the structures of our faith communities -- our places of worship, the educational and health facilities, our women’s and youth organizations – to provide the full range of prevention, treatment, care and support services.

We will work to incorporate HIV and AIDS information in appropriate ways into our worship rituals, our festivals, our religious education and training of future leaders.

We will also engage our faith communities in holding our governments and other international actors accountable for the commitments they have made to provide increased resources and to work towards universal access to treatment, prevention, care and support services.

In closing, we see this gathering as a starting point for closer cooperation in the future and are committed to carrying out follow up efforts in our countries and across the Asia-Pacific region.

In all these commitments, we seek guidance and support from the divine spirit that animates us and is the source of our being, so that we may play our part in "keeping our promises" to overcome HIV and AIDS and bringing healing and hope to all humanity.