Payap University Archives

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:
Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF)
Second Preference:
Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy (PD)
01 April 2013

 

Inauguration of the New office of the Payap University Archives on 27th March 2013

At Payap University, Sirindorn Building

Chiang Mai 

Payap University (PYU) founded in 1974, by the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT), launched the opening of the new office of the Payap University Archives on 27th March 2012. Around 100 guests attended the Opening worship and the Official inauguration of the new modern and hi-tech Archives in the spacious Library complex.  Rev. Dr. Henriette Hutabarat Lebang, General Secretary CCA, and Ms. Janejinda Pawadee attended the function and offered felicitations on behalf of CCA.

Payap houses the University Archives, the only fully operational private archives in Southeast Asia, and second only to the National Archives in Bangkok. It has one of the world's largest collections on Northern Thailand and adjacent areas and is a depository of the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT).

 The history of the Payap University Archives is 35 years old. The Archives was established in 1978, by Rev. Herbert R Swonson, around the same time when the Protestant churches in Thailand celebrated its 150th Anniversary. When the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) conducted a research and collected books, they found many old documents of Missionary work from American Presbyterian in Thailand.

The CCT Officers realized the importance of the documents and contacted Payap University (PYU) to help with the Archives. Rev. Herbert R Swonson, who was teaching History at PYU and was trained in the US in Archiving, suggested that PYU preserve all the church documents at the Campus of the Crystal Spring House of PYU located in Chiang Mai.

In 1982, the Archives was moved to Kaew Nawarat Campus of PYU (former Nursing Dormitory) and in 1997 again to another building. Since 2003, the Archives stopped receiving documents from both PYU and CCT when they found out that the building where the Archives were stored was not strong enough to bear the load.

In 2012, CCT and PYU agreed to provide a new office of the Archives at the Mae Kao campus of PYU adjacent to the university library at Sirindorn Building for which financial support of 2.2 Million Baht was allocated. Since 1978, the Archives of PYU-CCT is the only one that keep documents and all historical documents of the Protestant churches in Thailand. Ms. Jitra Samsa has been appointed as Acting Manager of the Archives Center.