WCC NEWS: Vast challenges in Asia call for unity

By far the largest region, both in terms of population and geographical size, the Asia region faces an array of pertinent issues for the churches to address and engage in. Stretching from Iran in the west to Japan in the east and from Nepal in the north to New Zealand in the south, the region encompasses a wide range of cultures and religions 24 June 2023, Geneva, Switzerland: WCC president Rev. Dr Henriette Hutabarat-Lebang of Toraja Church (Indonesia) shares on behalf of the Asia region as the World Council of Churches central committee gathers in Geneva on 21-27 June 2023, for its first full meeting following the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe in 2022. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 29 June 2023 Common challenges, where coordinated efforts are needed, were discussed at an Asian regional meeting in connection with the World Council of Churches central committee meeting in Geneva, last week. “As the ecumenical movement, locally, regionally, and internationally, we are obliged to respond to God’s call today, to the needs in our different contexts, to fulfil our mission calling with unity, integrity, and solidarity,” the general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia, Dr Mathews George Chunakara, said in his initial overview of Asian regional concerns. The following summary of the discussions in the Asia regional meeting and the challenges posed were presented last Friday by the WCC president for Asia, Rev. Dr Henriette Hutabarat-Lebang: The radicalization of faith communities, where Christian and other religious and ethnic minorities face oppression and persecution, continues. Many governments are silently or tacitly - and in some cases overtly - encouraging violence against minorities. Human rights continue to be flagrantly violated in several countries, for instance in Manipur in India, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Rohingya crises in Bangladesh, the Philippines, West Papua, and other regions in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and elsewhere. In Korea, there are worries that the young generation is becoming increasingly pre-occupied with its daily existential concerns and less and less engaged with concerns related to peace and reunification of the Korean Peninsula. Although climate change and systemic economic injustices are areas of deep concern to Asian youth.   Responses to gender injustice need to be strengthened at church and community levels, throughout the region, especially to overcome domestic violence. Human trafficking to, from, and within Asia needs to be addressed and combatted at national, subregional, regional, and international levels.   Indigenous people’s concerns to be addressed more substantially with strengthening the function of the Indigenous People’s working group.   Furthermore, it was underlined that the WCC must strengthen the work responding to these concerns in close collaboration with member churches, the Christian Conference of Asia, and national councils of churches in Asia, and as an integral part of the strategic planning. As one ecumenical family, the member churches were also reminded to be actively engaged in the processes and communications with the WCC. It was also pointed out that the ecumenical movement should not only provide a platform for lifting up voices and inspired joint action regarding key concerns, it should also catalyse introspection and lasting transformation of policies and praxis to cascade from the church and community level, upwards to the wider society. Photo gallery of the WCC Central committee meeting WCC Central committee meeting, June 2023 See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.  Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland