Page 68 - Preservation for the Documentation of Chinese Christianity

(I Cor. 12: 12) C hurch - the body of C hrist - is agencies) and other religious bodies. In
one, b u t His members (churches) exist in different addition, they also had the o p p o rtu n ity to
places all over the w o rld. God allow s the m eet w ith the SAR C hief Executive Mr. Tung
C ouncil to take up the role as a bridge linking the C hee-hw a. The C ouncil w ill contin ue to be a
local, overseas and the m ainland China churches. bridge of the C hurch th a t helps link Hong
Through m utual visits, churches in different places Kong w ith overseas churches and keeps in
care, supp ort and pray for each other. partnership w ith them .

(a ) F e llow sh ip w ith C h u rch in M a in la n d C h in a The Executive C o m m itte e appoin ted the Vice-
C hairperson Rt. Rev. Thom as Soo, the General
The C ouncil was invited to v is it churches and Secretary Rev. Eric S.Y So, the y o u th
Bible schools in Jiangxi Province during representative Rev. Lam C h u n -w a i, together
O ctober 8-15, 1999. This year during w ith Rev. Luk Fai from C hurch o f C h rist in
February 24 - March 2, the C ouncil hosted China, Rev. Ralph Lee from the M e th o d ist
the Jiangxi delegation and arranged for them C hurch, and Rev. T im o th y K w ok from Hong
to v is it local churches and the m inistries these Kong Sheng Kung Hui, to attend the 11h
t
churches provide. General A ssem bly o f the C hristian Conference
o f Asia durin g M ay 3 I to June 6 in Tom ohon,
This year d urin g A p ril 10-14, the C ouncil was N. Sulawesi, Indonesia. D uring the
invited by the China C hristian C ouncil to form Assem bly, Dr. W o n g W a i-ch in g (m em ber of
a delegation of the Executive C om m ittee H ong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, Lecturer of
M embers to v is it H angzhou, Shanghai and Theology D ivision, Chinese U n ive rsity o f Hong
N anjing. This trip was the firs t tim e th a t the Kong) was elected as m em ber o f the Presidium,
leaders of both C ouncils made co n tact since the General Secretary Rev. Eric S.y So as
the delegation of China C hristian C ouncil paid m em ber of "Faith, M ission and U n ity
the ir v is it to Hong Kong in the early 90's. It C o m m itte e ", Mr. Y N. C heung from C hurch o f
opened a new era for futu re com m unication C hrist in C hina as "General C o m m itte e "
and cooperation. member.

(b ) F e llo w sh ip w ith Overseas C hurches The C o uncil's delegation form ed by the
Chairperson Rev. Li P ing-kw ong, Executive
The General Secretary visited churches and
M em bers Lt-C ol. Ian S outhw ell and Rev. Bob
attended conferences in South Korea, Thailand, Lo C ho-ching , and the General Secretary Rev.
M yanm ar and Indonesia respectively. Eric S.Y So, was invited by the Korean

C hristian Federation (KCF) to pay a v is it to
This year durin g March 5-11, the six-person N o rth Korea during July 18-25 th is year.
delegation of the Churches Together in Britain This is the first tim e in h isto ry th a t a church
and Ireland (CTBI) visited Hong Kong, delegation from Hong Kong paid a v is it to
fo llo w in g up on the v is it they made before the People’s D em ocratic Republic of Korea
return of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997. (P.D.R.K). W e tru ly believe th a t th is v is it n o t
Their m ajor purpose was to understand the o n ly c o n trib u te d to the b u ild in g o f the m utual
situ a tio n of the church and the social changes co m m u nica tion betw een H ong Kong and
after the handover. The C ouncil arranged for P.D.R.K. churches, b u t also helped prepare the
them to v is it different churches, organizations C hristians in P.D.R.K. to begin th eir
(including churches organizations and social involvem ent in the global ecum enical

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