A doyen Asian ecumenist Prof. Dr Kim Yong-Bock passes away

Programme Review and Programme Direction

Two key deliberative sessions during the 15th CCA General Assembly are the Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions.

The Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions will both be conducted in three groups relating to the CCA’s programme areas, namely, (i) General Secretariat (GS), (ii) Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF); and (iii) Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia (PD).

Assembly participants will have the option to join one of three groups for both the Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions. For the sake of coherence, the assigned group will remain the same for both sessions.

General Secretariat

The General Secretariat oversees the coordination of programmatic, administrative, and financial activities of the organization. The GS comprises various departments such as church and ecumenical relations, relations with ecumenical partners, finance, administration, and communications, which provide crucial support and services for the implementation of programs and contribute to the overall functioning of the CCA.

Programmes: Relations with member churches and councils, ecumenical partners; advocacy at the United Nations; ecumenical responses to emerging issues in solidarity; income development and finance; and communications.

Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF)

Under the MU programme area, the CCA accompanies Asian churches to strengthen their mission and witness in multi-religious contexts, revitalise and nurture church unity and the Asian ecumenical movement, and develop contextual theological foundations.

Programmes: Asian Movement for Christian Unity (AMCU); Congress of Asian Theologians (CATS); Asian women doing theology in the context of wider ecumenism; contextualisation of theology in Asia and ecumenical theological education.

The EF programme area focuses on nurturing and developing ecumenical leaders in Asia. The programme aims to enhance spiritual formation and theological understanding, enabling people to actively engage in ecumenical dialogue and collaboration.

Programmes: Ecumenical Enablers’ Training in Asia (EETA); Asian Ecumenical Institute (AEI); Youth and Women Leadership Development; Ecumenical Spirituality and Nurturing of Contextual Liturgical Traditions; Asia Sunday

Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy (PD)

The BP programme area is dedicated to promoting peace, justice, and reconciliation in Asia’s diverse contexts. Through training, advocacy, and dialogue, the programme addresses the root causes of conflicts, empowers communities, and fosters sustainable peacebuilding initiatives.

Programmes: Pastoral Solidarity Visits; Churches in Action for Moving Beyond Conflict and Resolution; Young Ambassadors of Peace in Asia (YAPA); Ecumenical Women’s Action Against Violence (EWAAV); Eco-Justice for Sustainable Peace in the Oikos.

The PD programme area focuses on promoting justice, human rights, and social transformation in Asia. Through advocacy, capacity-building, and raising awareness, the programme addresses systemic injustice, empowers marginalised communities, and advocates for prophetic actions and meaningful change.

Programmes: Human Rights advocacy; Migration, Statelessness, and Trafficking in Persons; Asian Ecumenical Disability Advocacy Network; Asian Advocacy Network on the Dignity and Rights of Children (AANDRoC); Ecumenical Solidarity Accompaniment and Diakonia in Asia (ESADA); Health and Healing; Good Governance; Action Together to Combat HIV and AIDS in Asia (ATCHAA).

No preference updated.

07 April 2022

Prof. Dr Kim Yong-Bock, doyen of Asian ecumenism and prominent theologian, passed away in the afternoon of 7 April 2022 in Seoul, Korea. He was 84 years old.

Born in Cholla province in 1938, Kim Yong-Bock had been actively involved in the Asian and global ecumenical movement in various capacities. Dr Yong-Bock was President of Hanil University and Theological Seminary in Chonbuk, Korea from 1992-1999.

As far back as the early Seventies, after finishing his study of theology in the USA, Dr Kim worked as a consultant for the Urban Rural Mission (URM) programme of CCA, based in Tokyo, Japan. He set up CCA’s center of Documentation for Action Groups in Asia (DAGA) and oversaw a URM research project on the role of transnational corporations in Asia; Ever since then, Kim had been active in the Asian ecumenical movement.

Expressing condolences on the passing away of Dr Kim Yong-Bock, Dr Mathews George Chunakara, General Secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), stated that Dr Kim Yong-Bock was an ecumenical guru who inspired and motivated many Asians to take Christian faith and witness seriously in emerging socio-political contexts. He was a pioneer in developing and popularising the “Minjung theology” as early as in the 1970s through CCA platforms.

Dr Mathews George Chunakara recalled that Dr Yong-Bock Kim was instrumental in motivating generations of young Asians, articulating and pursuing a vision of a political theology. He consistently pointed out that Christ’s suffering was more than just spiritual suffering; the suffering of the Messiah must be understood politically and historically in the Asian context.

“It was in such a context that Prof. Yong-Bock articulated that the minjung in Korea suffered under the unjust political-religious-social power of the rulers,” added Dr Chunakara.

Dr Kim received his Master of Divinity and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University. He has been a teaching fellow at Princeton Theological Seminary, an international consultant to the Commission on Ecumenical Missions and Relations, National Board of Missions of the United Presbyterian Church (USA), and was Founder and Director of the Christian Centre for Asian Studies, and Director of the Doctor of Ministries Studies, a joint programme with San Francisco Theological Seminary. He was also President of the Asia Pacific Graduate School for the Study of Life and Peace, Seoul, Korea and editor of Madang, Journal of Contextual Theology in Northeast Asia.

He lectured at various universities, institutions and seminaries in the USA and Asia. Besides academic activities, he had been actively involved in various other areas, especially in relation to studies on peace, development, ecological, and economic justice.

Dr Kim Yong-Bock served as a member of CCA’s Commission on Theological Concern (CTC) from 1976-1981. Together with Dr Feliciano V. Carino, he took the leadership in initiating and founding the Congress of Asian Theologians (CATS) under the auspices of CCA, and organized the first CATS summit in Seoul, Korea in 1997. He was elected a co-moderator of CATS from 1997 to 1999. He was also involved in WCC-URM and in the World Association of Reformed Churches (WARC) for decades.