Churches Must Recover Missionary Vision, Says Church Alliance Head

The chief of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) has called for discussion and action to renew mission among Asian churches, Asian Ecumenical News reported.

Speaking at the CCA meeting November 8-9 in Hong Kong, CCA general secretary Dr. Ahn Jae Woong criticized the division among Asian churches, saying that many had lost their missionary vocation and become corrupt.

Woong said he felt it was time to discuss and to act to recover the lost mission of Asian churches situated in secular environments.

Churches are divided, he noted, between liberals, conservatives, ecumenicals, evangelicals, people-oriented and congregational-oriented. And they focus energy on the wrong things.

"They eventually are more concerned about managing, or rather mismanaging their infrastructure and assets," the Woong stated.

The general secretary urged the Asian churches to become instruments for building peace and justice in societies and to create networks among people of other faiths or no faith and among civil society groups.

The CCA, which began in March 1957 as the East Asia Christian Conference, represents over 100 churches in New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, East Timor, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand. It also includes fourteen national councils.