CCA-FMU organized the Southeast Asian sub-regional consultation-dialogue on "Holistic Mission in the Context of Asian Plurality," at the UCCP Shalom Center in Manila, Philippines on March 24-29. It was hosted by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and supported by Kerkinactie/ICCO.

The objectives of the consultation were: (i) To review, assess and critique the impact of traditional and narrow mission orientation and practice in Asia; (ii) To confess our participation in such traditional and narrow mission orientation and practice; (iii) To equip ourselves, our member churches and their related agencies (e.g. Bible schools and seminaries) with holistic mission understanding and practice in view of the context of Asian plurality; and (iv) To share and publish stories and experiences of alternative forms of mission that are more holistic but less known in Asia.

Participants included staff of mission and ecumenism of the national councils or national churches, professors of mission from church-related theological institutions and representatives of mission-sending churches in Korea and Taiwan.

Countries represented were Indonesia, East Timor, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Philippines. Cambodia could not be present because of their General Assembly held at that time. Of the 34 participants, 11 were women and three younger people.

Resource persons were: Rev. Fr. Rex Resurrection Reyes (General Secretary of NCC Philippines) who gave the keynote speech; Rev. Dr. Robinson Radjagukguk (visiting professor in the Philippines from Indonesia through UEM) who gave the biblico-theological foundations of mission from Asian eyes; Rev. Dr. Cung Lian Hup (professor at Myanmar Institute of Theology) who gave an input on "holistic mission in the context of poverty and injustice in Asia"; Rev. Dr. Erick Barus (staff of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia) who gave an input on "holistic mission in the context of Asian plurality."

A panel of representatives from mission-sending churches consisted of Rev. Shin Seung Min (staff for ecumenism of the Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea), Rev. Kim Kyung In (staff for ecumenism and policy of the Presbyterian Church in Korea), and Rev. Dr. Chuang Hsiao-Shen (representing the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan).

Sharing some alternative ways of doing mission were: Rev. Son Sung Kyu (from PCK doing natural farming among the poor, including Muslims, in Davao, Philippines) and Rev. Kim Hyun Sook (from PROK, doing accompanying work in Iloilo and Bukidnon). The group visited a number of depressed communities in Manila: a Muslim migrant community, a slum/squatter community, a fishing community, and a garbage community.

Based on their evaluation, participants found the consultation helpful and meaningful. The time and space together was one of open and honest sharing (a trusted space). The visit to the depressed communities touched many participants – someone said experiential learning is more powerful than classroom discussion.

The visit evoked many feelings, including a questioning of 'where is God' in such inhuman situations. It challenged some to concretize their theology of incarnation and encouraged others to strengthen their mission in holistic aspects. The sharing of mission journeys, panel sharing and Bible study were specially cited as most helpful and meaningful. However, the lack of evangelical presence in the consultation was noted. FMU staff did try to invite two Korean missionaries in the Philippines from the Assembly of God and while they had sent in their confirmation already, they finally pulled out due to some emergency at their mission field.

A number of participants mentioned how the consultation encouraged them to continue to provide re-orientation to their local churches which tend to focus only on evangelism work; and to continue interfaith dialogue at the grassroots level. An indigenous priest from Malaysia said he now wishes to learn more about contextualization of mission. The group requested that Bible study materials and stories on holistic mission be produced by CCA to help guide the local churches in re-orienting members towards more holistic mission.

posted by hope at Thursday, April 10, 2008

CCA-FMU hosted meetings of the Asian Women's Resource Centre for Culture and Theology on 18-21 February at the McGilvary College of Divinity, Payap University, in Chiang Mai, Thailand along with the Rev. Dr. Chuleepran Srisoontorn, academic dean of McGilvary College of Divinity and a member of CCA-FMU program area committee.

The meetings were aimed to assess the modules project on Asian feminist theologizing, of which Hope Antone has been a part. This project has produced two module booklets: (a) an introduction to Asian feminist theologizing and (b) an introduction to an Asian feminist re-reading of history. Two other modules are still in process: (c) on Asian women and religions; and (d) an Asian feminist view of leadership.

Another part of the meeting was to plan for the workshop on leadership since the writing of the module usually follows a workshop where resource persons and participants struggle with identified issues and texts.

A one-day seminar with Thai women was held on 19 February, starting with a feminist worship at the chapel -- including a dramatic rendition of the biblical text on "who will roll the stone away?" (Mark 16:1-4), a short reflection by Hope Antone and a dance in celebration and commitment by everyone.

After the worship, the main input was made by Dr. Hisako Kinukawa, a feminist theologian from Japan, who gave a comprehensive Bible study on leadership using the biblical stories of Miriam, Aaron and Moses.

The afternoon was spent with a smaller group of Thai women sharing stories and experiences of the women's struggles in Thailand.

posted by hope at Monday, March 10, 2008

Hope S. Antone served as resource person at the regional workshop on Indigenous Women's Alternative Leadership for Transformation (IWALT) on 4-8 February in Chiang Doi, Thailand.

As in the previous sub-regional training workshops, Hope S. Antone served as resource person on Asian feminist theologizing at this CCA-EGY organized program.

This regional program was the culmination activity after a series of sub-regional activities and follow-up activities at the national and local levels by participants in the sub-regional programs.

See EGY report for more on this program or the CCA News (March 2008, pp. 6-8).

posted by hope at Thursday, February 28, 2008

As part of the mandate from the CCA General Assembly, the need to develop more intrafaith relations with Catholics as well as with Evangelicals and Pentecostals remains an important concern of CCA.

CCA-FMU staff, Hope Antone, as convenor of the CCA-FABC (Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences) Relations Committee, co-organized with the FABC Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs the meeting of the Asian Ecumenical Committee (AEC) on 20 September 2006 in Bangkok, Thailand.

This committee, set up as part of the partnership of CCA and FABC which was forged in 1993, comprises 7 representatives from each body (CCA and FABC).

The AEC re-confirmed the ongoing work for unity and cooperation between the two bodies through joint projects, cooperation in each other's projects, and joint staff meeting. Among the decisions made at this meeting are: (a) to hold the fourth Asian Movement for Christian Unity [AMCU] in 2007; (b) to jointly hold the third Asian Conference of Theological Students in 2007; and (c) to plan for a joint staff meeting and retreat in Chiang Mai in 2007.

After the one-day meeting, the whole of AEC participated in the Global Christian Forum in Asia which included 6 representatives from the Evangelicals and Pentecostals. This was also held in Bangkok on 21-23 September.

Hubert van Beek, the secretary of the Global Christian Forum (GCF), provided the historical background of GCF, which had met in Hong Kong in 2004. Part of the recommendation of the GCF meeting in 2004 was for CCA, FABC and the Evangelical Fellowship in Asia (EFA) to work together on the follow-up activities. Hence, this 2006 meeting in Bangkok.

This was basically a time for getting to know each other, building friendship and trust, and finding ways of working together, with the theme, "Affirming Our One Savior in Common Witness." Despite the irreconcileable differences, there was a growing sign of openness and genuine desire to continue the relationship. In fact, one of the recommendations is for the Evangelicals and Pentecostals to be invited to the AMCU and ACTS.

posted by hope at Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The Fifth Congress of Asian Theologians (CATS V) was held at the Divinity School of Chung Chi College in the Chinese University of Hong Kong on 21-26 August 2006.

As in the tradition of CATS, a one-day Women's Forum was held on 21 August to provide women participants time for sharing their pain and gain in a usually male-dominated field of theology and theological education.

Four theologians provided theme presentations on the congress theme, "Sharing Hope for a New World." An interfaith panel consisting of scholars from Chinese Buddhism, Thai Buddhism and Islam provided an opportunity to hear from other theologians on the hope of their respective faith communities.

For a longer report on this event, please visit the CATS webpage in the CCA website.

posted by hope at Sunday, September 10, 2006

Part of the concern of CCA-FMU is the growing mission expansion in Asia that is carried out not only by Western mission organizations but also by various Asian mission bodies. In order to situate mission work in the overall ecumenical movement in Asia, CCA-FMU staff has tried to make linkages with CCA member churches that are now among the "mission-sending bodies" in Asia and elsewhere.

In response to this, the Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea (PROK), through the office of Rev. Shin Seung Mi who is in charge of ecumenical relations of the PROK General Assembly, invited the CCA-FMU staff to provide a keynote presentation at a retreat of the PROK mission co-workers in Indochina in Pattaya, Thailand, on August 1, 2006. Rev. Jeong Jin-Woo from the PROK headquarters was also there to give the opening message. Rev. Kim Hyung Ki, an ecumenical church pastor now based in Phnom Penh, served as coordinator of the meeting.

The title of the keynote presentation made by Hope Antone was "Challenges and Issues for Indo-china Mission Works in the Wider Asian Context." She began by recalling the rich legacy of the PROK in its involvements as a church in human rights advocacy, minjung theology, care for migrants, and empowerment of women, among other things. She then reminded the group of the perennial challenges and issues in mission in Asia which are the context of Asian plurality and the context of Asian suffering and struggle for life.

With these, Asian churches and their mission agencies face ecumenical challenges. Borrowing the shifts in mission thinking from Wesley Ariarajah, these are ecumenical challenges are: (a) from an exclusive to an inclusive understanding of God's mission; (b) from conversion to healing as our objective of mission; (c) from desiring to be majority to contentment with being minority in the community; and (d) from mere doctrinal issues to deep spiritual concerns.

Hope went on to share four more shifts needed for Asian churches to be in tune with Asian plurality: a) shift from competition to cooperation among denominations; (b) from condemnation to dialogue with other religions; (c) from isolation to collaboration (working with) with civil society or ideology-based groups; and (d) from disintegration to integrity of creation.

She challenged the PROK missioners that "the type of mission we do in Asia should not simply repeat the mission orientation that we inherited from the past. Our context in Asia has its own peculiar issues and challenges and we need to address them accordingly as people and churches of Asia. We need to guard against the conquest approach and to be open to the possibility of the dialogical approach."

posted by hope at Tuesday, August 15, 2006

My apologies for the long silence.

The relocation to Chiang Mai in early July kept all the executive staff and support staff very busy -- e.g. setting up our temporary office at Payap University, renovating the office, unpacking our boxes of books and files, settling down as families, getting the team work going with a new set of administrative assistants (support staff), etc.

Even while we were yet getting online and connected with the rest of the world, both in the office and at our homes, work on programs and other activities already planned still continued. And so from August onwards, we have had various activities held, as scheduled and as planned.

Following will be some short repors on some of the activities carried out by FMU.

posted by hope at Thursday, August 10, 2006