The Organisational Structure, Committees and Office Bearers of the CCA (Updated since the 13th General Assembly 2010)

The Organisational Structure,
Committees and Office Bearers of the CCA

• Member Churches and Councils
• General Assembly
• General Committee
• Executive Committee

• Officers
• Program Area Committees
• General Secretary
• Executive Staff
• Consultants

Member Churches and Councils

For a full list of member churches and councils see Member Churches and Councils.

General Assembly

The General Assembly is the supreme body of CCA. It meets every five years to celebrate the unity of the church in Asia in worship, study and action, and to review and set directions for the work of CCA. The last General Assembly was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand in April 2005. See General Assembly.

Officers

Presidium

Fr. Rex REYES, National Council of Churches in the Philippines
Dr. K.B. Rokaya, National Council of Churches of Nepal
Ms. Van Arun Rasmey, Kampuchea Christian Council
Ms. Retno Ngapon, Pasundan Christian Church, Indonesia

Honorary Treasurer

Mr. Augustine KARMAKAR, Church of Bangladesh

General Secretary

Dr. Prawate KHID-ARN, Church of Christ in Thailand (until November 2010)
Rev. Dr. Henriette Hutabarat LEBANG, Toraja Church, Indonesia (from November 2010)

General Committee

The General Committee has the powers of the General Assembly between meetings of the Assembly. The current membership is:

The Officers (see above)
Rev. Prince Devananda, Methodist Church of Aotaeroa New Zealand
Ms. Svenja von Dietze, The Anglican Church of Australia
Mr. Joyanta ADHIKARY, Bangladesh National Council of Churches
Rev. Lhatru, National Council of Churches in Bhutan
Mr. Phally Som, Kampuchea Christian Council
Rev. PO Kam Cheong, Hong Kong Christian Council
Bishop Philip Phembuar Marandih, The Church of North India
Rev. Gomar Guktom, Communion of Churches in Indonesia
Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian, Armenian Orthodox Church of Iran
Rev. Hiroko Ueda, United Church of Christ in Japan
Rev. KWON Oh Sung, National Council of Churches in Korea
Mr. Kingphet Thammavong, Lao Evangelical Church
Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri, Council of Churches of Malaysia
Rev. Saw Shwe Lin, Myanmar Council of Churches
Ms. Tara Bhushal, National Council of Churches of Nepal
Bishop Samuel Azariah, Church of Pakistan
Ms. Johanna May Cantor de la CRUZ, National Council of Churches in the Philippines
Ms. Devashire de SILVA, National Christian Council of Sri Lanka
Ms. Natalie (Ming-Chu) LIN, Presbyterian Church of Taiwan
Dr. Penpilai Rithakatanont, Church of Christ in Thailand
Mr. Admin Pinto, Igreja Protestante Iha Timor Lorosae
Rev. Dr. Pradit TAKERANGRANGSARIT, Church of Christ in Thailand

Executive Committee

Fr. Rex REYES, National Council of Churches in the Philippines
Dr. K.B. Rokaya, National Council of Churches of Nepal
Ms. Van Arun Rasmey, Kampuchea Christian Council
Ms. Retno Ngapon, Pasundan Christian Church, Indonesia
Mr. Augustine KARMAKAR, Church of Bangladesh
Rev. Dr. Henriette Hutabarat LEBANG, Toraja Church, Indonesia
Rev. Dr. Hermen SHASTRI, Council of Churches of Malaysia
Rev. PO Kam Cheong, Hong Kong Christian Council
Ms. Natalie (Ming-Chu) LIN, Presbyterian Church of Taiwan
Rt. Rev. Dr. Philip P. MARANDIH, The Church of North India
Ms. Svenja von DIETZE, The Anglican Church of Australia

Program Area Committees

Program Area Committees are responsible to develop and implement programs in accordance with the mandate of the General Assembly.

Faith, Mission and Unity

Rev. Mangisi Simonrangkir, Christian Protestant Church in Indonesia GKPI (Moderator)
Rev. Tobias BRANDNER, Hong Kong Christian Council
Rev. Subodh Mondal, Methodist church in India
Rev. LEE Se Young, Korea
Rev. Jason Selvaraj, Anglican Church of Malaysia
Rev. Dr. San Myat Shwe, Myanmar
Rev. Pamela TANGKERSLEY, Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand
Rev. Saman PERERA, National Christian Council of Sri Lanka
Rev. Dr. CHU Shu Ping, Taiwan
Ms. Prescila, National Council of Churches in Bhutan
Ms. Kitani Kanan, United Church of Christ in Japan
Ms. Nary Sous, Kampuchea Christian Council
Ms. Anashe Begjannian, Iran

Justice, International Affairs, Development and Service

Ms. Vijula Arulananthan, Sri Lanka (Moderator)
Rev. Timur Citra Sari, Indonesia Christian Church GKI
Rev. HO Baekki, Japan
Rev. BAE Tae-Jin, Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea
Rev. Saykham Singtthiphon, Lao Evangelical Church
Rev. Augustino de Vasconcelos, Igreja Protestante Iha Timor Lorosae
Ms. Tess KEAM, Uniting Church in Australia
Mr. Rakesh, National Council of Churches in Bhutan
Dr. James Tejos Das, Bangladesh
Mr. Saw George Shey, Myanmar Council of Churches
Dr. Rommel LINATOC, Philippines
Mr. Taweechai Termkunanon, Church of Christ in Thailand
Ms. Shunila Ruth, National Council of Churches in Pakistan

Ecumenical Formation, Gender Justice and Youth Empowerment

Rev. Diana TANA, Methodist Church of Aotaeroa New Zealand (Moderator)
Rev. Dr. J Fortis JYRWA, Presbyterian Church of India
Mr. Angus BROWNLIE, The Anglican Church of Australia
Ms. CHUAH Ee Chia, Council of Churches of Malaysia
Mr. Asher Qadir Bakhsh, Church of Pakistan
Mr. Warit Anuchiracheewa, Church of Christ in Thailand
Ms. Araz Khodabakhshian, Armenian Orthodox Church of Iran
Mr. Rajesh Rai, National Council of Churches of Nepal
Mr. Ronald CARIAIG, National Council of Churches in the Philippines
Ms. Elora Antonia, Bangladesh
Ms. TONG Wing Sze, Hong Kong Christian Council
Ms. Clare YEH Jia Yann, National Council of Churches of Taiwan
Ms. Elen ira Maia, Igreja Protestante Iha Timor Lorosae

Executive Staff

General Secretary

Dr. Prawate KHID-ARN, Church of Christ in Thailand (until November 2010)
Rev. Dr. Henriette Hutabarat LEBANG, Toraja church, Indonesia (from November 2010)

Associate General Secretary (Finance)

Dr. Rienzie PERERA, Anglican Church, Sri Lanka

Joint Executive Secretaries for
Justice, International Affairs, Development and Service

Mr. Charlie O'CAMPO, Uniting Church in Australia
Rev. Freddy de ALWIS, Baptist Church, Sri Lanka

Joint Executive Secretaries for
Faith, Mission and Unity

Dr. Hope ANTONE, United Church of Christ in the Philippines
Rev. PARK Sung Kook, Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea

Joint Executive Secretary for
Ecumenical Formation, Gender Justice and Youth Empowerment

Ms. Moumita BISWAS, Church of North India

Consultants

Communication

Liza B. LAMIS, Baptist Convention, Philippines

Ecumenical Formation, Gender Justice and Youth Empowerment

Mr. Adam ROW, Methodist Church, Malaysia

HIV/AIDS Concerns

Dr. Erlinda SENTURIAS, United Church of Christ in the Philippines

Project Coordinator for Mekong Ecumenical Partnership Programme

Ms Janejinda PAWADEE, Church of Christ in Thailand

New leadership for 2010 to 2015

The Rev. Rex RB Reyes, Jr is an Anglican priest and currently the General Secretary of NCC Philippines, the first indigenous person to hold that position. He was formerly the Program Secretary for Christian Unity and Ecumenical Relations of NCC Philippines and also taught Ecumenics at St. Andrew’s Theological Seminary.

 

 

 

The Rev. Ms Retno Ngapon is 28 years old and a pastor of the Pasundan Christian Church in Jakarta, Indonesia. She is currently the Moderator of the Jakarta district of GKP (Gereja Kristen Pasundan) consisting of 12 local congregations.

 

 

 

 

Mr Augustine Karmakar holds a masters degree in accounting from the University of Dhaka and is a partner in a chartered accountants firm. He is also currently the honorary general secretary of the Church of Bangladesh and a member of the NCCB Executive Committee. He has been honorary treasurer of NCCB and of the national council of the YMCA.
He is keen to develop the accounting and financial management system of CCA and find creative means to raise funds in addition to promoting CCA Sunday and focusing on members’ contributions.

 

Formerly the Vice Chair of the Kampuchea Christian Council (KCC) and Chair of its Women’s Committee, Ms Van Arun Rasmey is currently its acting General Secretary.

 

 

 

 

Dr Kali Bahudar Rokaya is General Secretary of NCCP Nepal, lay pastor of Sagarmatha Church, Vice-President of the Interreligious Council of Nepal, National Coordinator of Nepal Intellectuals’ Forum, and Member of the National Human Rights Commission.
He is part of the Concern Movement for human rights and is founding member of the University of Christian Students Fellowship. He is married to Draupadi Rokaya and has two sons.

Worship with meaning and creativity in an Asian Way

 

Dr Rommel Linatoc from the Philippines is actively involved in the liturgical renewal work of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, and is currently the program secretary of the Unit on Christian Unity and Ecumenical Relations of NCC Philippines. He holds a doctor of philosophy in theater and media for development, and had been an artistic director of various people’s theater groups in
the Philippines. His other passions include ecological justice and peace and human rights advocacy. Rommel facilitated the creative ministry topic of the 2010 Asia Ecumenical Course. CCA appreciates
and enormously thank Rommel for helping make the Assembly worship experience meaningful and truly creative in the Asian way.

“Mutual fertilisation”

Dr. U Kyaw Than was associate general secretary (later general
secretary) of the East Asia Christian Conference (now the CCA) at
a time when there was no Internet and mobile phones.

But he and the late D.T. Niles, the first general secretary were
so efficient and effective in their work of promoting and nurturing
ecumenism in the region that they made an impact both at the
regional and grassroots level. What could have been their secret?

“Part of the secret was that we were in our own country so were
part of our own context,” Dr. Than said in an interview.
At that time Niles, who was the general secretary, was based in Sri
Lanka, and Dr. Than, in Myanmar. “Our country was our own base
so we were in touch with the grassroots,” Dr. Than said. “Since
we were in our own communities, we were able to implement our
programs even with shoestring budgets.”

Under the setup then, Dr. Than said the EACC leadership and the
grassroots “mutually fertilised” each other. “We were acting on real issues from the grassroots and not on imagined problems,” he said. “The issues of the grassroots thus defined our programs, instead of us defining them.”

Maurice Malanes

~ Berita Terkini CCA 2010 April 19

Moderator seeks consensus

 

Lu Yueh Wen from Taiwan has been the youth member of CCA’s
Presidium for the past five years. She doesn’t want to be known
as the “youth president”; rather, she sees herself as president on
behalf of those who are under 30.

Ms Lu said the past five years had been a very rich journey
together with friends. “It is amazing to see and witness how
churches respond to events and suffering in their own countries
and in others,” she said. “It shows a spirit of solidarity.”

The five years of being president have sometimes been painful for
her. She has had to negotiate the obligations and responsibilities
of being an officer of CCA with her job as a product manager for
a company in Taiwan.

Her role in the Assembly’s hot seat has not always been easy.
Moderating plenaries could make her nervous at times, she said,
but it was interesting to see people’s responses to questions and
discussions.

Even being a good English speaker, she still needed help sometimes understanding what people were talking about. But being in such a position was how young people learned, she said.

Ms Lu said would really like to see CCA adopt the consensus model of decision making because it created a friendlier opportunity for newcomers to express their opinions. She was nurtured in the consensus model by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and sometimes found moderating in CCA’s parliamentary style confronting.

Ms Lu had dedicated one of the most valuable periods of her life to the church and hoped and appealed to church leaders to understand that, as a young woman, she didn’t want to carry so many “categories”. She said, “It is not fair for a young person and a woman. I know there are category requirements to meet but, if
we are serious about gender and age justice, this is not the way to reconcile them.”

Ms Lu regards being a member of the Presidium a privilege because not many young people received that amount of trust from their church. She is very grateful to the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan for trusting and supporting her.

Stephen Webb

~ Berita Terkini CCA 2010 April 19