Page 17 - Preservation for the Documentation of Chinese Christianity

V I I . WORK OF AUXILIARY ORGANIZATIONS
1. Hongkong Christian Welfare & Relief Council The Christian Welfare and
R elief Council now in its
ninth year, has twenty six member churches and Christian agencies, a ll concerned
in the alleviation of suffering and the restoring of the individual to the
normal dignity of self-support. It is the service arm of the Hongkong Christian
Council, and has four main functions. It is the meeting place, in respect of
their welfare and r e lie f work, of the principal Protestant churches and Christian
agencies of Hongkong. It is the agency through which inter-church aid funds
for its members’ work are obtained from overseas. It is the voice of the churches
in the social fie ld in relation to the government and the non-Christian public.
It is the joint agency of its members in carrying out certain much needed pioneer
and exploratory social projects.

The fir s t purpose the Council carries out through monthly meetings of
members’ representatives, ard by additional meetings of monbers concerned
in particular aspects of the total v;ork such as disaster aid, education,
r e lie f, rehabilitation, vocational training, and agricultural settlement.

The second purpose is carried out through the machinery for inter-church
aid set up by the World Council of Churches, whereby the needs in Hongkong are
made known worldwide and funds are collected from many countries to help meet
them.

The third purpose is carried out by the Council's sta ff through contact
with government departments, articles and correspondence in the press, and
wherever possible the presentation of a common Christian viewpoint and the
offer of common Christian action in the problems and needs o f the community,
part of this work is the active promotion of youth work as a citizen-duty, as
a community responsibility. Another part is joint action and the presentation
of a reasoned Christian viewpoint on such occasions as the mass influx of
Chinese refugees over the border.

The fourth purpose, that of pioneering projects of common interest and
concern, is carried out through the four joint projects of the Council fo r
agricultural resettlement, rehabilitation of cured drug-addicts, rehabilitation
of needy persons through self-help projects, and vocational training.

Five committees of the Council deal with special aspects o f join t work,
problems, and emergencies as they arise; these are the committees for disaster
r e lie f, for emergency cash assistance, for youth work , for the annual ecumenical
work camp, and fo r vocational training.

The whole of the administrative cost of the Council is met by the Division
o f Inter-Church Aid o f the World Council of Churches and by the British Coun c il
of Churches. This enables the whole of the donations received to be applied
to the work, either through the Council's member churches and agencies, or
directly on their behalf by the Council in join t projects.

Disaster R elief Committee The Disaster R elief Conmittee meets immediately
on news o f a disaster and musters a ll the help
available for the victim s. For efficien cy of working, different d istricts
of Hongkong and Kowloon are allotted to different churches and agencies for
immediate help, and where a disaster affects only one d is tr ic t, as with a
squatter fir e , a ll members work through one agency to alleviate its distress.
First shelter and the fir s t few days’ meals are given by the govrnment, but
it is to voluntary agencies - civic or Christian - that the people turn for
anything like rehabilitation, and here the churches are able to give food and
clothing, buy new building materials to patch up wooden shacks, and build new
stone cottages where land and funds are available. In turn the churches appeal
to the world for support fo r this work and during the year help was promptly
and generously forthcoming from Great Britain - both the churches and the
Oxford Committee for Famine R elief - Australia, New. Zealand, and Burma, and
the Council’ s members were able to put to immediate good use every bit of
help received.