linguistic:translation, stylistic:style_transfer, quality:correction, structural:expansion, structural:scholar_edition
Asia

At their assembly in Bandung, Indonesia, in 1990, the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences endorsed the promotion of Small Christian Communities (SCC) throughout Asia.as a new way of being church, as a "communion of communities"—participatory, ecumenical, and a leaven for the transformation of the world. Then in 1999 after the meeting of the Asian Synod of Bishops in New Delhi, Pope John Paul II wrote in his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Asia that "the Synod Fathers underlined the value of basic ecclesial communities as an effective way of promoting communion and participation in parishes and Dioceses, and as a genuine force for evangelization. These small groups help the faithful to live as believing, praying and loving communities like the early Christians (cf. Acts 2:44-47; 4:32-35)." John Paul II went on to describe them as "a solid starting point for building a new society, the expression of a civilization of love,... and I encourage the Church in Asia, where possible, to consider these basic communities as a positive feature of the Church's evangelizing activity."