Page 25 - Preservation for the Documentation of Chinese Christianity

W ork am ong local congregations belive this project has a positive influence in
facilitating social commitment among the youth.
To facilitate cooperation and mutual support among
pastors, we attempt to bring church workers Second, innovative retreat and camps for secondary
together on a district basis. Two districts have been students. These are extremely well-planned

holding pastors’monthly fellowship meetings. occasions done twice a year, with the purpose of
communicating the Christian faith in depth in small
A related project is a lay training programme geared group situations. The first annual occasion has 100
at helping local congregations, especially those in students from the graduating class meeting for a full
public housing estates, maximize their resources for week, the other a five-week camp for forty. These
outreach in the community among the poor. The model retreats and camps have captured the
programme is designed by staff, consisting of a attention of professionals. We are contemplating the
number of evening courses on Bible studies, the publication of manuals in the near future for
parish and the congregation, group work, etc. In a extensive use by churches and schools.
three-month period, four courses were conducted in
Wongtaisin, Shumshuipo, Hunghom and Mongkok Third, our Communications Department has
for 150 lay people from thirty local congregations, continued to provide schools and youth fellowships
some from non-member churches. with gospel films, filmstrip and slides. New slide
series and 16mm films are in the works.
Our Communications Department has continued
production of religious programmes for Radio In addition, staff of the Department have offered a
Television Hong Kong, featuring pastors from many series of workshops on the use of audio-visual equip­
churches. ment and communications theory to churches with
good responses. They have also taught about
W ork am ong schools communications in Baptist College and Lutheran
Theological Seminary.
The Council has programmes in support of Hong
Kong's 400 secondary schools, many of which are Y outh w ork
church related.
The Youth Committee organized a youth consulta­
First, the provision of textbooks and resources. tion prior to the Church Consultation in November
After much preparation by the Education Secretary 1980, with a special emphasis on social responsi­
and other staff members, the Faith & Life series bility. To implement some of the findings, a youth
made its appearance. The Form One book came out camp and a new task force on Mass Media were
first in 1980, used by twenty secondary schools. convened subsequently.
Form Two and Form Four have been scheduled for
this summer. This series is published by Federal There was also a serious attempt to bring Christian
Publications Ltd, has a holistic gospel approach and youth from different traditions together. Beginning
should be of great value to religious and biblical with a seminar on faith and order, with participants
education in our schools. from the Church of Christ in China, the Lutheran
The topical information sheet Economic and Public Church, the Adventist Church, the Methodist
Affairs Resources entered its third year of publica­ Church, the Salvation Army and the Anglican
tion. Thirty topics per year, it provides the most Church, six exchange visits took place among youth
up-to-date information on statistics, policies, of different congregations.
critique and Christian reflection on a given topic.
Now it has a subscription list of one thousand five For next year, the Committee envisages the
hundred including all the schools offering EPA. We formation of different groups of youth from many