Page 18 - Preservation for the Documentation of Chinese Christianity

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subsequently informed by the WCC that we should. complete our
sketch plans as soon as possible for study by the Central
Agency. In November 1966 we learned that the German Government
has decided that projects from Hong Kong cannot be supported out
o f their funds. However we understand that there is s t i ll a chance
for us to obtain funds from this source and are pursuing this ques­
tion diligently. We are grateful that the Hong Kong Christian
Council Executive Committee approved on 23 January 1967 a res­
olution indicating grave concern and dis appointment about the
Central Agency developments; it reaffirmed that this project is
one of high priority and one which has its fu ll support; that the
steady growth in population makes this hospital more urgent, while
the necessary medical fa c ilit ie s cannot be provided without assis­
tance from outside sources; that the land, personnel and. running
expenses are available, and that it only remains to find the
capital funds to in itiate a healing ministry and training program
which would serve the people of Hong Kong for many years. The
Committee fo r a United Christian Hospital is considering alter­
natives in capital funding in the event of a fin al, negative answer
from the Central Agency. We are pleased to report that interest
is developing in a number of additional countries including Australia
_Japan, the Netherlands and New Zealand;.

As the development of th is project proceeds, it has been nec­
essary to broaden the organizational framework by creating a Build­
ing Committee, a Finance & Promotion Committee, and a Staffing Com­
mittee. Also as.our program concerns deepen, we have found i t nec­
essary to appoint three ad hoc study groups to investigate what the
relationships with loca l churches should be, to define the service
which should be given by the Chaplain’ s Department, to study how
we can best work with Christian clin ics, and to studjr possible re­
lationships with community medical practitioners.
We are deeply grateful for the continuing support and encour­
agement being shown by so many here in Hong Kong and around the
world that these human needs of the people of Hong Kong can be met.

Committee on Missionary Orientation and Language Study

This Committee was formed some time in June 1966 when the
Committee Chairman wa.s s t i ll in the United Kingdom. The Committee
was not able to have it s fir s t meeting t i l l January the 20th after
the busy weeks of the Faith and Order Conference mid other Con­
ferences of the EACC held here in November, and the Christmas season
when most of it s members were very busy.
At our fir s t meeting on January the 20th, we had to fe e l our
way round as this is indeed a ’ new' Committee, existing for the
fir s t time in the history of the Hong Kong Christian Council. How­
ever, we explored various aspects of the work we could and should
do in the future.
The second meeting was held on February the 3rd when we dis­
cussed possible programmes of Missionary Orientation. It w as-felt
that we would need to co lle ct information about the kinds of Orient­
ation Programmes being conducted abroad for Missionaries so as to
see how the loca l programme can be better related. The Committee
had worked out questionnaires and sent them out to the churches and
individual missionaries in the middle of February. We hope to
start arranging something once these forms are returned to us.
At our meeting on March the 3rd, we gathered some ideas from
the questionnaires returned, and we are in the process of arrang­
ing a Missionary Fellowship in order to know each other as persons.
The Committee consists of representatives from a ll the major
church groups in Hong Kong. Namely: the Methodists, the Church of
Christ in China-groups, the Baptists, the Lutherans, and the Basel
Mission e tc.. We are trying to relate our programme on Language
Study with New Asia College. However, the study of dialects other
than Cantonese has to be dealt with by special arrangements.