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!

The newly elected Executive Committee Members of the Kampuchea Christian Council (KCC) met at the KCC Office in Phnom Penh last Monday, June 9, 2008. Other KCC invited guests include the women secretary, youth secretary, Rev. Huh Chung Jung and Ms. Janejinda of the Mekong Ecumenical Partnership Program (MEPP) and myself. 

The meeting was extremely needed as the KCC was facing challenging situations. “Without immediate assistance from the WCC and CCA, we may collapse anytime soon” was the message we received from the administrative staff.

I personally feel that the first and greatest challenge for KCC is a theological one. On the road to the KCC office, we will saw many “mission centers”. Many denominations and missionaries are establishing organizations, associations and networks here in Cambodia. Some of them have shorter history than the KCC but with big investments, their missions are more attractive and more visible in Cambodia.

The new leaders (Executive Committee) for the next five years were elected during the General Assembly held last March 27-29, 2008. They comprise both old and new members but many of them have little experience and understanding of the “ecumenical movement”. They also have limited experience in project planning, monitoring and evaluation. 

The major agenda of the meeting were: a) an introduction to the KCC operational structure; b) identifying issues and needs of KCC; c) program plans 2008 and d) identify budget and sources of income. 

At the moment, KCC has five fulltime staff. KCC is in the process of recruiting the “General Secretary”, hopefully, by September 1. They have mutual feeling that without the fulltime General Secretary, the KCC’s vision and mission will not be achieved. 

KCC is the Council of Churches in Cambodia, established in 1998. Two years later, in the 11th CCA General Assembly in Indonesia, it received a full membership status in CCA. Since then around eighty churches have become members of KCC. The KCC General Assembly is held once in five years to formulate programs, envisage new vision and elect new leaders.

In order to help KCC prepare good project proposals, Mr. Noel Ilagan, the CCA Consultant to the UN/ESCAP and Ms. Janejinda of the MEPP will be facilitating the Proposal Writing Workshop for KCC’s leaders. The workshop is scheduled for June 23-27, 2008 in Phnom Penh.

Another urgent challenge, the KCC building needs to be renovated or rebuilt. The ground floor of the building is now about 50 cm lower than the new surrounding developed land. Last week the ground floor was flooded. The water is seeping in from the ground and from the walls whenever it rains. It's difficult to work in such situations, no activities can be held and nobody wants to visit the office.

On June 10 we were able to visit three KCC’s member churches located about 60 kilometers from Phnom Penh. They were new churches of about four years old. We were warmly welcomed by church members, mostly women and children. The men and husbands are working in Phnom Penh as the construction workers. They normally visit their families only once a month.

The women have no permanent jobs. They are free after the harvesting season. Those who own the land may grow other crops like beans, water melon, cucumbers, squash and so on. Aside from occupational training, they also need basic health care services, language (Khmer) and other life-skill development training.

Mission trip to Myanmar

Rev. Freddy de Alwis, Executive Secretary for CCA-JID, Miss Naveen Qayyum, CCA-Communication Consultant and Rev. Sung Kook Park, Executive Secretary for CCA-FMU are now on a fact finding mission trip to Myanmar. Some delegates from the National Council of Churches of Korea also joined in this trip.

They will meet Rev. Mar Gay Gyi, the General Secretary of the MCC and other church leaders responsible for humanitarian assistance and long-term rehabilitation for the cyclone Nargis’ victims.

However, recognizing our limited capacity, the CCA as a regional ecumenical organization will not duplicate the work of humanitarian or developmental organizations already operational in Myanmar.

New assignment, new responsibility

Congratulations to Rev. Dr. Wati Longchar, the former WCC-CCA joint Ecumenical Theological Education (ETE)! Dr. Longchar was appointed as the Dean for Extension Program of the Serampore based in Calcutta , India on June 2, 2008 . We pray that God’s wisdom and blessings continue to be upon him.

Prawate Khid-arn
General Secretary

No. 24/11 June 2008