Christian Conference of Asia & Thailand

We welcome James Ellis back after being an intern with the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA). James was part of the Uniting Church’s contribution to the preparation for the 13th Assembly of the CCA held in Kuala Lumpur in April. CCA began in 1959. The Uniting Church is one of 4 churches in Australia who are members. The others are the Churches of Christ, the Anglican and the Armenian Churches.

The theme for this Assembly was “Called to Prophesy, Reconcile and Heal”:

God’s call to people to prophesy, reconcile and to be a healing community is a tremendous challenge and a call to costly discipleship. The theme is a reminder as well as a call to the churches in Asia to respond to God’s call and engage in prophetic, reconciling and healing ministries without counting the cost.

This theme has been particularly underlined for the CCA this year by the current situation in Thailand where the CCA has its offices (although those offices are in Chiang Mai not Bangkok where the confrontations between government authorities and protesters have been occurring).

The Church of Christ is the only member church of the CCA in Thailand. On 15 May, their General Secretary wrote:

Our society is presently marked by divisions and mistrust of one group against another... At the moment the government and the red-shirts have reached an impasse and the tension is escalating. Please pray for us—that people will remain calm and a peaceful and just solution will be found to the present conflict. Pray also for a long term reconciliation, that our nation once again will be united for the common good.

Just 2 days later, the CCA reported:

As of yesterday, Sunday, about 29 people died and over 200 injured. The situation has yet under control. The Government has announced a public holiday for today (Monday) and tomorrow (Tuesday). The government also declared announced a state of emergency in 20 provinces including Chiang Mai… Please keep Thailand in your daily prayer.