Physical health is foundational to meeting emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual needs, affirm experts of modern and traditional medicines at CCA’s Symposium

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).

No preference updated.

05 August 2021

Health and wellness offer a clear path towards healthy aging, and physical health is foundational to meeting emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual needs, affirmed experts of modern and traditional medicines at the CCA’s online Symposium on ‘Family Life and Family Values: Transition from Tradition to Modernity’.

The three-day event, focused on the challenges to family life and family values, addressed the impact of changing healthcare on family in tradition and modernity.

Health and wellness offer a clear path towards healthy aging because it recognises that building and maintaining physical health is not an end unto itself. Physical health is foundational to meeting emotional, social, intellectual, environmental, and spiritual needs of all members in a family, especially the elderly. This was emphasised by two speakers who deal with traditional and modern medicines.

Dr Wen-Fu Wang, a neurologist at Changhua Christian Hospital in Taiwan, in his presentation on ‘Healthcare for the elderly and advanced medical care’ shared the best practices followed in his medical centre for addressing the health and wellness of the aged.

Dr Wang emphasised the necessity of comprehensive long-term care systems that would engage hospitals and churches in strategic partnerships to cater to the critical needs of the elderly populace. Hospitals, especially Christian hospitals, had the mission to provide health promotion programmes and case management for elderly patients.

The Director of the Long-term Care Centre and Dementia Centre of Taiwan’s leading Christian hospital, Dr Wen-Fu Wang, further added that community members must be actively engaged in looking out for the elderly, as frailty and dementia could be prevented through early detection and aggressive intervention.

Dr Sarala Samuel, Senior General Manager of India’s leading Kerala Ayurveda Pharmaceuticals, who is responsible for overseeing research and development, in her presentation on ‘Healthcare and Traditional Medical Care’, deliberated on the value and the effectiveness of traditional medicine and its extensive accounts of use and experiences from generation to generation in the Indian context.

A botanist specialised in medicinal plants, Dr Samuel shared several traditional medicinal practices in India and the scientific bases for the efficacy of traditional medicines that benefit the physical, physiological, sensorial, and spiritual health of all family members irrespective of their age.

While enlightening the participants on the ancient practices of Ayurveda, one of the world’s oldest holistic healing and healthy lifestyle systems that originated over 3,000 years ago, Dr Sarala Samuel, who has been heading a research team instrumental in developing more than fifty Ayurveda proprietary formulations, told the participants, “God has woven an intricate tapestry which is interdependent and co-dependent with nature.”

The Symposium will conclude on 5 August 2021, and the final round of presentations will include topics such as ‘Tradition and Values in Transition: Intergenerational relations with aged family members’ and ‘Churches’ role and engagement in accompanying families’.