Pray for Peace in Orissa

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:
General Secretariat (GS)
Second Preference:
Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy (PD)
30 January 2008
christian conference of Asia, Asia christianity

January 24, 2008

To All Member Churches and Member Council of CCA.

With this letter I'm calling the member churches of Christian Conference of Asia to work, hope and pray in solidarity with those suffering from the very tragic Orissa Communal violence in India. Churches, houses, shops, and food grains burned to ashes; people have been live in trauma; people suffering from tremendous violence are in urgent need of basic supply.

Not only responding to the official Letter of appeal of NCC-India and Joint Statement of Jan 7, 2008 by NCCI, CBCI and UCC, but also to take our initiatives in solidarity, this appeal is to call for a resolution of the conflict and peace building and reconciliation in Orissa.

The world in Orissa seems to be divided between Christians and non-Christians;
The minority and majority.
The victims and perpetrators.
The world in Orissa seems to be facing the most severe burden for countless people, who ought to live in peace and harmony.

The world is not to be lived in exclusive diversity but in inclusive variety - for we are not called to live in this world without our neighbors. It is God who turned through grace and mercy our enemies into friends. It is God who turned us, who remained alienated as enemies to God, to human beings in God's Righteousness. It is God who set us free from any criteria dividing, excluding and discriminating.

As Christians we are invited to live in communion of joy with God, called to live in peace and harmony with God's whole creative, for we are set free to live the life of love.

Herewith the CCA (Christian Conference of Asia) is calling for a prayer in solidarity during the week for Christian Unity for the victims of violence, the people in pain and suffering in Orissa. We call on our CCA member churches and councils to assist the rehabilitation by sending their support to NCCI.

Let us pray:

For peace in your country For the victims of violence everywhere For those struggling for peace and justice For churches in conflict situations For a world without war and violence

Let us hope in obedience and confidence that:

God will deliver us from death to life,
from falsehood to truth, from despair to hope,from fear to trust. God will turn hate to love, enemies to friends,
and will fill the world with peace and love. Amen.

Bible text which can be used in prayers and worship in solidarity with the people's Orissa Communal Violence.

Happy are you who are hungry now: you will be filled!
Happy are you who weep now: you will laugh!
Happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and say that you are evil,
all because of the Son of Man! Be glad when that happens and dance for joy because a great reward is kept for you in heaven. (Luke 6:20-23a)

All this is done by God, who through Christ changed s from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also. Our message is that God was making all human beings his friends through Christ. God did not keep an account of their sins, and he has given us the message which tells how he makes them his friends. Here we are, then, speaking for Christ, as though God himself were making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ's behalf: let God change you from enemies into his friends! Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God.
(2 Cor 5: 18-21)

Faithfully,

Dr. Prawate Khid-arn,
General Secretary
Christian conference of Asia