Page 15 - Preservation for the Documentation of Chinese Christianity

VI* WORK OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES
1, Christian Centre Committee The idea o f building a Christian Centre-
was introduced by Dr. S.C. Leung, Chairman
of the Hongkong Christian Council, in order to bring together a number of
C h ristie organizations and mission o ffice s now scattered widely. A special
Committee was appointed and careful investigation was made concerning
availability of land, size, location, cost of construction, etc.

During this period, it was found that the Kowloon Union Church was
hoping to develop her Church site which is centrally located at the corner
of Jordan Road and Cox’ s Road, Kowloon. Representatives of both the Council
and the Kowloon Union Church have met several times exploring p ossib ilitie s
of carrying out this Christian Centre scheme. Now that a tentative agree-
ment has been worked out, the proposal is to erect a 12 storey building
with the 4 top floors set aside for the Church’ s use and the remaining 8
floors for the Council’ s permanent occupancy. The total area available
for the building is estimated to be 4, 850 sq. f t .

It is estimated that the tota l cost for this Christian Centre building
w ill be HK$2,682,000.- which is about US$470,000,-

• As the Council is now in the process of finding resources to meet this
commitment, we sincerely hope that members and friends w ill fu lly support
this project so that a concrete mile-stone in the history of church co­
operation may thus be soon set up in Hongkong

2, Christian Cemetery Committee Friends of the Hongkong Christian
Council w ill remanber that the Council
was founded in the year 1954 partly because of the common need for a
Christian Cemetery! Yet the wonderful guidance of God should be praised,
fo r He has brought life out of death ! During these nine years the churches
have been drawn together in many ways, yet after prolonged negotiations
with the government and having given up several sites suggested by govern­
ment we s t i l l lack our cemeteryl Nevertheless, the Committee is continuing
to look for and is prepared to negotiate with govenment fo r a suitable site
fo r a Christian Cemetery when opportunity arises.

The new Christian Crematium has been opened at Cape Collinson. It was
dedicated at a service conducted by the Dean (Rev. Barry T ill), the Rev, Lee
Ching Ming and the Rev. Wong Tsok, on behalf of Hongkong Christian Council.

3, United Protestant Hospital Committee We believe that Christianity is
. . • a ca ll to wholeness and must

o ffe r to sick people a special kind of healing which gees beyond ordinary
medical practice; that Christian compassion demands that we offer this g ift
to the best of our a b ility to the poor, the homeless and the needy.

Many churches have already tried to give expression to their faith by
opening c lin ic s , but for many reasons these often fa ll short of the ideal.
Several years ago a group of Christian fe lt strongly the need for medical
care and hospital service to be provided by the Christian churches here
in Hongkong. But owing to the heavy load of operating expenses and the
lack at that time of a co-ordinated government medical plan, the matter
* did not go any further.

Later, the American Methodist group wrote to Church World Service
suggesting further discussions among interested persons regarding Christian
medical work in Hongkong, An Ad Hoc Committee was formed in 1962, and
study and discussion of the problems involved was undertaken.

The result was the preparation of a "Study in a United Protestant
Hospital in Kowloon” . The Ad Hoc Committee then dissolved it e s lf and
submitted the Study to the Hongkong Christian Council for whatever action
it deemed appropriate.

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