Letter from CCA

(“A Letter from CCA” is a sharing message of the CCA General Secretary to update member churches and ecumenical friends about the life and works of CCA. It is electronically published every Wednesday.)

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ!

CCA looks lively again as executive secretaries return to the office.

CCA-EGY Joint Executive Secretary, Moumita Biswas has recently concluded Indigenous Women’s Alternative Leadership for Transformation (IWALT)–Regional Follow up Training, held from 4-8 February in Chiang Dao District, eighty kilometers away from Chiang Mai. Twenty church women leaders from eleven countries participated in the program. Dr. Hope Antone, Joint Executive Secretary for CCA-FMU was also invited as one of the resource persons. 

CCA-JID Joint Executive Secretary, Rev. Freddy de Alwis is back from Geneva, where he participated in the World Council of Churches-AGAPE (Alternative to Economic Globalization Addressing Peoples and Earth) workshop on “Wealth, Poverty and Ecology” from 5-7 February. Around twenty-five participants from WCC member churches and church-based organisations participated in the event. The workshop discussed the ways on how churches can respond to the issues of poverty and ecological crises.

CCA-FMU Joint Executive Secretary Rev. Dr Park Sungkook and Rev. Dr. Rienzie Perera, Associate General Secretary for Finance and Relationships concluded a National Theological Workshop on “Naming, Unmasking and Engaging with Principalities and Powers” held from 7-9 February in Candy, Sri Lanka. Around fifty participants took part in the workshop. “It was a good discussion that reflected on social problems and theological needs of the churches at the local level,” Rev. Park commented.

Tony Waworuntu, Joint Executive Secretary for CCA-JID attended a seminar on “Peace, Unification and Social Development – Models of the future on the Korean Peninsula” from 5-7 February in Stuttgart, Germany. He also attended a program on “Ecumenical Consortium for Peace Building and Social Development in the Korean Peninsula” from 7-9 February organised by Arnoldshain Academy, Frankfurt, Germany.

We are pleased to introduce Mr. Adam Anand Row, our newly appointed EGY-Youth Consultant from Malaysia. He commenced his work from 1 February 2008 in CCA office in Chiang Mai, and can be contacted at his e-mail at adam@cca.org.hk

Prayers for East Timor and Sri Lanka

It was shocking to hear the news about President Jose Ramos-Horta being wounded on 11 February in a rebel attack at his home in Dili. He was sent to Royal Darwin hospital for treatment. The President is reported to be stable, with a minor injury in his abdomen, according to the news sources.

Rev. Dr Jayasiri Peiris, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, Sri Lanka sent us a message on the National Independence Day of Sri Lanka on 4th February. The message says, “Sri Lanka continues in a volatile situation. The hostilities have escalated. Aerial bombings in the North continue, claymore mines go off killing many innocent civilians in many parts of the country including the South. People are arrested and detained. Freedom of expression is curtailed. Journalists are harassed. People live in fear and life has been desecrated.”

Please remember the people of East Timor and Sri Lanka, and continue praying for sanity, justice and peace for them.

Asia Pacific Graduate School 

Dr. Kim Yong-Bock, the Chancellor of Asia Pacific Graduate School for Integral Study of Life has invited CCA to pray for and support the ground breaking ceremony of their main campus of Graduate School in Hwacheon, Korea. The ceremony will be held on 14 February. Asia Pacific Graduate School will be offering degree programs on the multidisciplinary study on life, including the life in theological perspective, social sciences and history in ecological perspective.

School of Peace 2008

Max Ediger, Coordinator of Interfaith Cooperation Program (ICF), updated about the School of Peace 2008. He said, “The program [SOP 2008] has started off well. Some of the participants had difficulty in getting visas. …so we now have seventeen participants from seven countries. It is a good group; however some are struggling with language barriers. This means that we must move slowly.” ICF is a joint CCA-YMCA-Asia Pacific Training Program which began in 2005. SOP 2008 is the third training in a row.

EWN Summer School on Water

Preserving the world’s water resources and securing access to water for all is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. In 2008, the Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) will therefore bring together twenty young people from all over the world in the first EWN Summer School on Water. 

The participants will have the opportunity to study - in a regionally and confessionally diverse group - the local, regional, and international manifestations and causes of the water crisis. They will examine the situation and challenges from a perspective of faith and ethics, and search together for possible ecumenical responses. 

The Summer School on Water will take place from 27 July-5 August 2008 at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey, Switzerland. 

Participants have to be between 18 and 30 years old. English is the working language of the programme and its good knowledge is required. The deadline for the application is 24 March and the link to additional information and the application form on their website is available on http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=5520.

CCA would like to thank Maike Gorsboth for this information.

Asia Sunday 2008

Since 1974, on Sunday before the Pentecost, member churches and councils of CCA observe Asia Sunday to commemorate the birth of CCA, then the East Asia Christian Conference. This year on Asia Sunday CCA constituency and partners are urged to pray for Japan with a theme “Peacemaking in Asia and the Realization of Article 9.” Article 9 is a ‘No War’ clause of the Japanese Constitution, which took effect on 3 May 1947, immediately following World War II. The move to revise the Constitution, particularly Article 9, can result into Japan’s potential involvement in wars, which is clearly connected to the US strategies related to the ‘war on terror’.

The CCA member churches and Christian council in Japan are part of the ongoing movement to keep and realise Article 9. They asked for Asia Sunday 2008 to focus on this issue with the hope that other member churches and councils in Asia can express solidarity with them in their struggle. 

A copy of the complete Asia Sunday 2008 booklet is downloadable at www.cca.org.hk/resources/liturgy/lit.htm

Business with dignity

Payap University in cooperation with Expressive Business Strategies, USA is organising a conference on “Just Business: Doing Business with Dignity and Honour”. It will be held at the Payap University campus in Chiang Mai from 12-14 February 2008. Adam Anand Row, the new EGY Youth Consultant will represent CCA in this conference. 

WCC Central Committee Meeting

The WCC Central Committee Meeting begins today at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, and will conclude on 20 February. The central committee serves as the main decision-making body of the WCC between assemblies. This is the second meeting of the new committee, elected last February at the 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Please keep the meeting participants, member and staff in your prayers, so that God’s wisdom and blessings guide them in their ecumenical journey.

Prawate Khid-arn
General Secretary

No. 7/13 February 2008