CCA Assembly Delegation visits Malaysia

The General Secretary of Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), Dr. Prawate Khid Arn led a delegation to meet with the CCM Executive Committee to discuss the possibility of Malaysia hosting the forthcoming 13th General Assembly of CCA scheduled for the year 2010.

from the left: Ms. Chrisanne (CCM), Rev. Dr. Prawate Khid-Arn (CCA), Ms. Sheila Ramayah (CCM), Mr. Anthony Row (CCM/CCA), Mr. Sharad Khurram (CCA), Prof. James Haire (CCA), Rev. Dr. Rienzie Perera (CCA), Rev. Dr. Thomas Philips (CCM)

Rev. Dr. Thomas Philips, the President of CCM, welcomed the prospect, and should it happen, the 2010 Assembly would be the third time Malaysia will be hosting such an event. Previous CCA Assemblies held in Malaysia were: 1959 in Kuala Lumpur, and 1977 in Penang.

Dr. Thomas emphasized that such an event, “will enable the churches and the nation to come to know of the ecumenical regional body which has 100 member churches and 19 national councils representing all the Asian countries.”

“Asian Church leaders from within the same denomination do meet each other at scheduled meetings, but seldom do they have an opportunity to meet ecumenically,” he added.

Dr. Prawate, shared at the meeting that there were two other countries that have officially indicated interest in hosting the ecumenical Assembly, namely Taiwan and India.

The General Committee of CCA scheduled to meet in November in Chiangmai will review and weigh the prospects of each country.

The CCA general Secretary was accompanied by Rev. Dr. Rienzie Perera (Associate General Secretary for Finance – Sri Lanka), Rev. Dr. James Haire ( Australia), and Mr. Shahrad Khurram (Pakistan).