The Second School for Ecumenical Leadership Formation [SELF], 21st September to 12th October, North Sumatra, Indonesia

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.

20 November 2003
christian conference of Asia, Asia christianity

The Youth Department of the Christian Conference of Asia conducted the Second School for Ecumenical Leadership Formation [a.k.a. SELF]. The School was a 21-day intensive training program, organized amidst the scenic hill-station surroundings of Sukamakmur, near Medan, the capital city of the western Indonesia Island of North Sumatra. Dominated by a majority Christian population, North Sumatra is the home place of the Batak Karo Christians in Indonesia.

The SELF is a leadership development program, which aims to train and empower first line national ecumenical youth leaders with international training, preparing them to take prominent leadership roles in the ecumenical movement, nationally and internationally. The SELF aims to facilitate ecumenical leadership formation.

SELF-2003 consisted of the following topics:

1. Reading the Signs of Our Times: Deciphering the challenges of our times and the issues that the churches in Asia face.
2. Feminism and Gender Sensitization and Mainstreaming: Analyzing, and responding to, the role and place of women in the Asian societies and churches.
3. Globalization and Economic Injustices: Analyzing, and responding to, the realities of the economic effects of globalization in Asia. Globalization is also understood as a process affecting not just the economic being of people, but also their culture, language, society, safety, and security.
4. The Ecumenical Movement: An anamnesis (memory) of the global ecumenical movement based on the ideology that youth leaders should know where the movement comes from so as to be able to lead her.
5. Interfaith Dialogue and Peace Building in a Multi Religious Context: Responding to the issue of facilitating peaceful communities in Asia and around the world.
6. Networking and Communicating the Ecumenical Vision: Analyzing and preparing oneself to be able to encourage people to become part of the ecumenical movement, and especially studying how one can communicate the ecumenical vision to the youth and other parties.
7. National Projects/Action Plans: Finally, at the conclusion of the theoretical and experiential input (through exposure programs and field trips), putting together concrete and pragmatic strategies for youth work in the national and international context. Emphasis on individual responsibility in the individual and organizational or group action plans.

The SELF 2003 incorporated the use of Bible Studies, exposure programs, field trips, session inputs by thematic experts, continuous theological reflections and understanding the theological and Biblical underpinnings of the SELF components, and sharing of personal and organization real-life experiences to undertake the study of the courses according to the topics included in the program.

An important element of the School was the learn-as-you-do pedagogy of learning. This required the participants to lead the general program and conduct the day-to-day activities. For this four groups of four participants each were formed balancing gender and sub-region. Hence, there was leadership development by practicing how to lead an international program along with the theoretical inputs on different topics provided by resource people. The organizers maintained the overall facilitation of the duration of the School. (This style of leadership on the part of the organizers is commonly described as servant leadership)

The SELF-2003 engaged in building a community of friends among the participants as concentric circles, yet co-joined with other circles of leaders.

The SELF-2003 included 16 participants representing 12 national councils/conferences of churches/Christian councils/conferences in Asia and one participant from the South African Council of Churches Youth Forum. Participant demography consisted of 6 females and 10 males. Background represented included youth leaders, student leaders, lawyers, trained-theologians, seminarians, educators, laymen and women, and Pastoral ministers. Work demography consisted of full-time/part-time staff of national ecumenical organizations, teachers, social workers, volunteers in church youth committees and various youth and student organizations and initiatives.

Countries/regions represented at the SELF-2003 consisted of Australia, Aeotoroa New Zealand, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand. The age group ranged from 21-38 years.

SELF-2003 was hosted by Youth Wing of the Gereja Batak Karo Protestan [GBKP] (a.k.a. Permata (youth) GBKP). Mr. Jan Putra Perangin-angin, General Secretary of the PERMATA GBKP, headed the Local Hosting Committee [LHC] for the SELF-2003.

SELF-2003 was co-hosted by the Youth department of the Communion of Churches In Indonesia (CCI) under the leadership of Ms. Widowati Suwandi, Youth Secretary, CCI. Ms. Wido served as the national contact person for all arrangements regarding the SELF-2003 and played an important intercessory role between CCA and the Permata GBKP during the preparation stage.

Among the various challenges faced by a program of the duration and nature and composition of participants as the SELF, the most prominent were cultural and language barriers, cultural communications, the mental and physical stress of the long duration of the program, lack of modern communication facilities at the venue, different expectation levels, previous exposure to some topics being discussed, and other general adjustment challenges to the food, the weather, and the location.

The SELF-2003 provided a strong bonding among the participants, where the participants mutually supported each other in their stay and learning.