Page 17 - Preservation for the Documentation of Chinese Christianity

8

to purchase four flo o rs , with 2,832 useable square feet of space
on each flo o r, in the Metropole Building at 57} Peking Road, Kowloon.
The agencies now occupying space in the Christian Centre are
the Hong Kong Christian Council, the Hong Kong Christian Service,
the Audio-Visual Evangelism Committee, and the Chinese Christian
Literature Council. There are also three important fa c ilitie s in
the Christian Centre.

- Two conference rooms which w ill be of immense benefit and
convenience to many Christian groups.
- An ecumenical reference library made possible by a special
g ift . Much h istorical Church data and contemporary reading
w ill be available to interested readers.
- A recording studio is planned to provide wide services, not
only for Hong Kong but for other Chinese areas as w ell.

The Methodist Church, Hong Kong D istrict (WEI LI HUI) and
the Hong Kong Chinese Christian Churches Union have also purchas­
ed two floors in the Building immediately above the Hong Kong

Christian Council flo o r s a /This wise decision encourages the spirit
of cooperation immensely «•/ / _ '
The purchase price of the four floors is HK$882,800. Adding
to this other costs, such as stamp duty, lawyers fees, furnish­
ings, e tc ., the tota l transaction has approached the m illion
dollar mark.
Financial underwriting for the project came from three sources
mainly - the Mission Boards through the China Committee of the Asia
Department, National Council of the Churches of Christ in New York;
a sizeable grant from the Kresge Foundation in the United States and
the loca l campaign.
The Christian Council at its Executive Committee February
meeting decided to dissolved this Committee and appoint a Christ­
ian Centre Management Committee to take over the continuous task
of this Committee.
It is hoped that the Christian Centre w ill be a Christian
symbol, a constant witness, a place of Christian service and a Centre
of Christian nurture in international and interdenominational relat­
ions radiating to every corner of Hong Kong.

2. Committee for a United Christian Hospital
The task of establishing a united ministry of healing for the
period under review has been most challenging, but very rewarding
in numerous ways. The preliminary general program and plan develop­
ment have been completed, loca l and overseas interest and support
have further increased, and. the organizational fundation of the
project has been braodened.
The Brief for the Architect was revised in order to incorporate
suggestions from the Medical & Health Department; the Medical &
Health Department then accepted the Revised B rief. Our Architect,
the loca l firm of W.Szeto is now completing the sketch plans. Our
Consultants made trips to Hong Kong in January, April and December,
1966 giving direction and broadening our concept of the plan. We
now know what the floor lay-out w ill be for the main building, the
nurses’ training school, the nurses’ quarters, the doctors’ quarters
and the domestics’ quarters. With the completion of the sketch plans,
we w ill proceed no further with plan development u n til the capital
funding requirements have been met. The site, formation of the land
to be granted th is hospital by the Government is scheduled for com­
pletion this year. Formal application for the site has been submitted
to Crown Lands & Survey Department together with a recommendation
from the Medical Department. Steps toward incorporation of the hos­
p ita l board are being taken as th is is necessary before the grant
can be made.
An important question regarding capital funding involves the
status of our request to the German Central Agency. In August 1966
Dr. Leslie Cooke informed us that the Central Agency w ill present
our project to the German Goverrment in t he fa ll of 1967, and we were