Page 131 - Preservation for the Documentation of Chinese Christianity

4th group: H ow to m aintain strong January 14, 1995 in order to raise m ore m oney to
pastoral m inistry in allocate to needy churches.
uncertain tim es during the
transitional period
Social Concerns Committee
5th group: Issues o f social services and
educational services
provided by the H ong K ong O rganized by the Social C oncerns C om m ittee, the
C hurch during the A gape Social Service C entre Support G roup w as
transitional period established this year. T he purpose o f this support
6th group: Issues o f freedom , justice group is to assist the future developm ent o f the
and rule o f law in building a A gape C entre in G uangzhou. M em ber o f this
dem ocratic society in HK support group include the follow ing church social
7th group: E nglish-speaking group on service organizations:
related topics in
international churches in Hong Kong Christian Service
H ong K ong Yang M em orial Methodist Social Service
St. Jam es' Settlement
2. Project N eheraiah H ong Kong Lutheran Social Service
T his is a new ly im plem ented fund-raising project Wai J i Training Centre
to help rebuild som e churches badly in need o f
repair in C hina, especially for those in the T he support group w ill assist A gape C entre in staff
m ountain and rural areas. T he L ongxian C hurch training and developm ent o f new areas o f w ork. In
in W engyuan C ounty is the first church A pril 1994, three staff from A gape w ere in H ong
supported by the project and the renovation has K ong for a short train in g session. T he first project
now been com pleted. T he second project w ill be w hich the group plans to support is a physical
the reconstruction o f the H exi C hurch in therapy clinic for the elderly.
L ongchuan County. T he total sponsorship for
the L ongxian C hurch is R M B $240,000. Seven D ue to the rapid change in the social and political
representatives from m em ber churches form ed a environm ent, the ch u rc h 's social concern has
delegation to participate in a dedication entered a new era.. W hat w e have done in the past
cerem ony o f the L ongxian C hurch on A ugust 28, m ay no longer be suitable for today. A new
1994. Rev. D aniel Chow , m em ber o f the fram ew ork has to be identified and consensus
Executive C om m ittee, gave the serm on in the am ong the churches has to be draw n up before we
native dialect during the Sunday Service. T he can m ove forw ard. B ecause o f this, the Social
delegation also visited other churches during the C oncerns C om m ittee organized a brainstorm ing
trip. It w ill take approxim ately R M B $500,000 to session on M ay 10, 1994 inviting people concerned
rebuild the H exi C hurch due to its large size. It in this area. T he discussion can be sum m arized as
is hoped that the reconstruction w ill be follows:
com pleted by the end o f 1994. T he church in
Y inde only needs RM BS 100,000 because o f 1. H ong K ong church social concerns should be
available funds already raised by the church focused on issues in H ong K ong only.
itself. T his church can accom m odate 2. In the long term , the m ost im portant issue of
approxim ately 800 people and the reconstruction the ch u rc h 's social concern is the human
project w ill also be com pleted in 1994. rights o f the H ong Kong people.

T here are m any churches in rural areas w aiting
Women's Committee
to be supported by the Project. T herefore, the
C om m ittee resolved to initiate a "N ehem iah
T he C om m ittee has planned and been involved in
W alkathon" fund-raising project to take place
m any events in the past year. B ecause o f increasing

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