1st Assembly: Prapat, 1957

Prapat is a small fishing village in North Sumatra, Indonesia, on the banks of the beautiful crater lake Toba in the mountains. Prapat itself means ‘coming together’.

The theme of the Prapat Assembly, ‘The Common Evangelistic Task of the Churches in East Asia’, was not a definition of a goal to which the churches were to move, but was a starting point as they manifested in their life and mission the already-given unity because of their common membership in the body of Christ. The Bible Studies during the Assembly focused on the ministry of the Apostle Paul, centring especially on the meaning and content of the total Christian mission, helping to re-emphasise the nature of the common task of churches all over the world. The Prapat Assembly was therefore an act of faith and obedience on part of the churches in Asia and the rest of the world.

The Assembly spent most of its first two days surveying the situation of the churches in Asia. The circulated reports from the different churches and questions during each session on surveys helped the delegates to get a general idea of the variety of the total Christian situation in Asia.

In his speech, Dr D.T. Niles of Ceylon, who was elected as the first General Secretary of the CCA, spoke of churches and ‘missions’ as instruments of evangelism. The unity of the church was determinative in its mission.

Relations between the regional and the ecumenical, between churches and missions, between service, fellowship, and proclamation in the total Christian mission, organisation, and community, the form and content—all these were very much in the minds of the churches and councils which sent their delegates to the Prapat Assembly.

As the first Assembly drew to a close, the Batak congregation of 200 members at Panahatan brought the first contribution to the East Asia Christian Conference as it presented a small bullock brought all the way in a boat across the lake to the assembled conference members. In an atmosphere of drums and gongs along with local dances, Dr D.G. Moses, the Vice-Chairman, responding on the behalf of the delegates was led to say that the young calf, very much alive and kicking, portended well for the life of the organisation which was being born at the Assembly. A gift coming from ordinary members of an ordinary congregation in an Asian country symbolised the spirit of mutual sharing which was hoped to be characteristic of the future activities of the East Asia Christian Conference.