Training of Nepalese church leaders in ecumenical formation and capacity building

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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11 May 2018

NR_EETA (May)

While being strengthened in their faith and witness, how the minority Christians in Nepal could witness together in unity in a multi-faith society was the focus of the national ecumenical enablers’ training programme organised by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA).

The ecumenical enablers’ training organised in collaboration with the National Council of Churches in Nepal (NCCN), and held from 8 to 11 May 2018 at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Kathmandu, Nepal was part of CCA’s Ecumenical Enablers’ Training in Asia (EETA) programme to develop ecumenical leadership at grassroots. About 90 participants from various parts of Nepal attended the training.

“First of all we need to build our unity as Christians belonging to different denominations in Nepal, for which ecumenical formation is important” stated Rev. Simon Grung, President of NCC Nepal in his opening address.

R. C.  Acharya, General Secretary of NCC Nepal, in his introductory remarks emphasized the need for the togetherness of Nepalese Christians as witnesses in God’s mission and to seek ways in prayer to heal the divisions among Christian communities in Nepal.

“We are here to confirm our calling as ‘partakers’ in God’s mission, witnessing the Gospel, serving the people and transforming the communities. We have a great commission as God’s servants to revive the Church in Nepal and embrace all in our communities as we journey together in our faith.”

Being one of the fastest growing Christian communities in the world, there is a great need to strengthen theological training and ecumenical formation in Nepal, where the pastors and congregational leaders are not formally trained as many of them have had no access to formal theological education.

It is in this context that CCA initiated the ecumenical formation and capacity building training for pastors and lay leaders to equip them with a more holistic understanding on ecumenical theology and leadership.

EETA aims to develop ecumenical leadership at various levels, reach out to more people at the grassroots level and to equip them with a better contextual biblical theological understanding.

Training sessions were facilitated by Rev. Dr. Roger Gaikward, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in India, Rev. Vinod Victor of the Melbourne C.S.I Congregation / Anglican Church in Australia Melbourne Diocese, and Rev. Grace Moon, Programme Coordinator of CCA.

Despite strict laws that ban religious conversion in Nepal, Christianity has been spreading rapidly over the last two decades in Nepal; one of the major factors behind Nepal's deteriorating religious freedom rights in recent years has been due to a legislation signed into law that criminalizes religious conversion.

The founding of the NCC Nepal was facilitated by the CCA during 1998-1999.