292
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
The growth in the size and vigour of the Chinese-speaking Churches, so marked in recent years, has continued. Official, comprehensive statistics are not available but a private survey on January 1st 1959, showed that there are more than 250 Churches with a membership of over 70,000 (excluding children under 12). This constitutes an increase of 10% each year since 1956. During the year 1959, the Church of Christ in China laid the cornerstone for the new Morrison Memorial Centre with the Rev. M. O. Janes, General Secretary of the London Missionary Society of Great Britain, officiating; the Lutheran Church dedicated a new Church building at Yuen Long; the Baptists broke ground at the site where their new College and Hospital will be built; and the Methodists began two new schools. These are indicative of the large number of new projects developed by the Protestant Churches. In addition to the major denominations there is a large number of smaller groups whose total Christian work is not inconsiderable.
Co-operation among the Protestant Churches continued during 1959 in the Chinese Christian Churches' Union and in the Hong Kong Christian Council. This latter body sent two delegates to the Inaugural Assembly of the East Asia Christian Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, and sponsored the Annual Prayer for Church Unity and a public meeting on the occasion of the visit of Dr. E. T. Dahlberg, President of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. The interdenominational Chung Chi College is playing an important role in the development of a second University which was approved in principle by Govern- ment during the year. Other co-operative ventures include the Study Centre on Chinese Religion, the Council on Christian Literature for Overseas Chinese, the Audio-Visual Evangelism Committee, and the Student Christian Centre.
Outside observers are always impressed by the very diverse projects that are being undertaken by the Protestant Churches in the fields of welfare, refugee relief and rehabilitation. Co- ordination of these efforts through continuous consultation in the Hong Kong Christian Welfare and Relief Council, with a mem- bership of twenty four Churches and Christian agencies, prevents overlapping. Self-help projects have been given priority and, with