Dr. Prawate Khid-arn, the seventh General Secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) would like to be remembered as a leader who made visible the plight of the people in the margins.
During his watch, he provided an ecumenical space for the visible unity of member churches in Asia in working together to share the concerns of people living with HIV and AIDS, migrant workers, people who have been trafficked and abused, people suffering from environmental calamities, people in conflict situations, people unjustly detained and suffer repression and oppression, refugees who have been ignored and rejected, and people who live in poverty because of unjust structures.
According to him, CCA had its ups and downs in the course of its long ecumenical journey. He noted this even during his leadership. He started the weekly letter to member churches and councils of churches to provide updates and stimulate the involvement of the
churches in the vision of building communities of peace for all.
Dr Khid-arn sees a lot of challenges ahead such as in the area of developing a Christian theology that is prophetic and relevant for the people. Together with ecumenical leaders from Asia and church leaders in South Korea, Dr. Khid-arn visited North Korea during his
term as General Secretary.
The visit encouraged him to support the idea that isolating North Korea is not the solution. He sees the need for dialogue of people with different ideologies for the sake of uplifting human dignity. He expressed solidarity with Philippine churches struggling with extrajudicial killing and illegal detentions as in the case of the illegal arrest of Rev. Berlin Guerrero and the current detention of 43 health workers, among them Dr. Alexis Montes, a member of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.
Dr. Khid-arn hopes that the theme of the 13th General Assembly will encourage the churches to work together towards being prophetic, reconciling and healing communities in the midst of our broken world.
~ Berita Terkini CCA 2010 Day 1
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