Young Pakistani Christians discuss on ‘Role of Youth in Nation 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).

No preference updated.

13 July 2018

Election Awareness Seminar

Role of young people in nation building in Pakistan, in the context of the forthcoming general elections in the country, was the theme of a seminar held on 11 July 2018 at the National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP) with the participation of young people from various churches in Pakistan.

 Organised by the NCCP and the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) in collaboration with the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), the seminar was aimed at building awareness among young Christians to exercise their democratic rights to choose the future leaders of the country.

Sunila Ammar, Programme Consultant of CCA introduced the theme, ‘Elections 2018: Role of Youth in Building Nation’s Future’ and outlined various issues in Pakistan’s present context, especially the  vital role the young Pakistanis could play in building the future of the nation.

Victor Azaria, General Sectary of NCCP stated that Christians in Pakistan, although a minority, should participate in strengthening democratic governance for which exercising their voting right was one of the most important factors.

Fahad Shahbaz and Kafeel Rana from the Youth General Assembly spoke on the need for youth to play their part in the strengthening of Pakistan’s democracy, more so as the democratic pillars of the country were facing dire internal and external threats now. They urged the youth to actively participate in the forthcoming elections in order to form a truly democratic government.

Representatives of   political parties such as Pakistan Tehreek –e- Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) shared election manifestos with the participants and expounded their parties’ plans and programmes for the youth from the religious minority communities.

Peter Jacob, Executive Director of Center for Social Justice added the grim realities of structural and constitutional biases against the religious minorities in Pakistan, and he gave suggestions to improve the situation.

A representative of religious minorities in the Provincial Assembly of Punjab, Shunila Ruth emphasized the importance of confidence building measures among the young Christians in order to steer their active participation in nation building.

The seminar was attended by 40 participants from two CCA member churches - the Church of Pakistan and the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan, and the Roman Catholic Church.