Interfaith Training of Young Ambassadors of Peace in Asia (YAPA) begins

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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29 May 2017

YAPA GP 1Participants YAPA – 2017

The week-long interfaith training of Young Ambassadors of Peace in Asia (YAPA) began at the headquarters of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) in Chiang Mai on Monday, 29 May 2017. The YAPA training is being attended by 30 young people from various Asian countries.

The annual training for young peace activists in Asia is aimed at providing peace education in interfaith perspectives through a variety of learning methodologies and interactive sessions with inter-religious leaders and scholars at various Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh religious shrines and monasteries in Chiang Mai city and its outskirts.

The training focuses on enabling the youth as agents of change in peace building and conflict transformation in local communities through intercultural and interfaith approaches.

In the opening thematic address, the General Secretary of the CCA, Dr. Mathews George Chunakara outlined the interconnectedness of the concepts of peace with justice in God’s Okios and the long nurtured values of Asian religions and spirituality.

“All religious traditions agree upon the central idea of peace on earth and the message of breaking the dividing walls of hostility. Religious values affirm that human beings are created in the image of God and the recognition of human rights and dignity is central to the principle of peace with justice. However, emerging contexts in Asia warrant efforts by more peace builders and YAPA is CCA’s humble effort to motivate more youths in Asia to be peace activists or peace promoters in local contexts,” the CCA General Secretary told the participants.

Facilitated by a variety of experts and resource persons, the YAPA – 2017 participants are undergoing a training that covers a range of activities, including thematic presentations, panel discussions, as well as grass roots exposure visits, self-guided study and preparation of research papers. The participants are also engaged in sharing insights about the situations in their respective communities.

In a session on Theological Perspectives of Peace with Justice in the Bible, CCA Program Coordinator, Rev. Dr. Ngurliana explained the importance of ‘Peace with Justice’ hermeneutically as the ongoing process of God’s restoring mission paradigm with the aim of bringing harmony by relationship-building between individuals, societies and nations.

“The Biblical-Theological concept of peace is more than the secular concept of peace and justice. In the Bible, peace does not depend on retributive justice, but restorative justice. Our ecumenical call is that our churches work as God’s partners in building peace in the world,” Dr. Ngurliana said.

Dr. Joseph Manickam, Director of the Institute of Religion Culture and Peace (IRCP), spoke on Interreligious Engagement for Peace and Justice. He challenged the tendency of Asian societies to recognise the humanity of everyone, regardless of their faith, and emphasised upon engagement as the motivator of mutual transformation.

“Being curious about each other is the key to peace building. Peace in itself is not a goal, it is a journey and it starts from going from intolerance (Sameness) to tolerance (Manyness) to engagement (Oneness). To be able to transform conflicts, we must all talk in a common language,” Dr. Manickam told the participants.

Dr. Rey Ty, Program Coordinator of the CCA said that, “the course outline of YAPA – 2017 has been designed to empower the participants to be committed to work for structural transformation that promotes communal harmony and peace based on justice in their communities.”

The young ambassadors will prepare action plans during the training and present their plans of action towards the end of the training in order to develop a strategy to implement them upon return to their respective communities and countries.

The training will end on 3 June 2017.