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RELIGION AND CUSTOM
churches are responsible for more than 150 primary schools, some 100 secondary schools, and three post-secondary colleges. The training of church leaders is carried out by several seminaries and Bible schools.
A wide variety of service programmes are sponsored by the churches. These include clinics, homes for the aged, vocational training centres, family service centres, aid for the handicapped, hospitals, community health programmes, youth centres, counselling centres and scholarship aid for students. Historically, the Salvation Army has been one of the leaders in these areas of Christian service, and this year the Army recorded the 50th anniversary of its work in Hong Kong.
Co-operative work is facilitated by two organisations, the oldest being the Hong Kong Chinese Christian Churches Union with a membership of more than 200 congregations. Work is carried out through its departments of evangelism, Christian education, charities, cemeteries and information.
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The second ecumenical organisation is the Hong Kong Christian Council. The major denominations, plus the Young Women's Christian Association, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Bible Society, the Chinese Christian Literature Council and other groups, form its membership. The Christian Council is committed to building a closer relationship between all churches in Hong Kong as well as with churches overseas, and to stimulating local Christians to minister to the needs of the people of Hong Kong. This is achieved through several operational bodies including the Hong Kong Christian Service, the Communications Department, the Industrial Committee, and the United Christian Medical Service.
During 1980, the churches continued to act on their concern for refugees here and abroad. They improved conditions at the Sham Shui Po Transit Centre, operated by the Hong Kong Christian Service, and continued their efforts to assist the Hong Kong Vietnamese refugee population by offering various services and contacting overseas govern- ments and agencies to step-up their resettlement programmes.
The churches also launched a special appeal to alleviate the suffering of the Kampuchean people. The $35,000 raised was used to buy food, medicine and other essentials and dis- tributed to the Kampucheans through the service agency of the World Council of Churches. In November, 1980, the Hong Kong Christian Council sponsored a four-day conference on the mission of the Church in Hong Kong in the 1980s, with delegates from all of the major Protestant churches and organisations in attendance.
The wider ecumenical movement continues to flourish in Hong Kong. The Protestant and Roman Catholic churches have a Joint Committee on Development, which plans joint action in areas of mutual concern. Church leaders again issued joint pastoral letters during the year, and various bodies of both churches co-operated on a number of mission and service projects.
Muslim Community
There are about 30,000 followers of Islam in Hong Kong. The majority are Chinese, with the rest from Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Middle East. During 1980, they mainly gathered for prayers at the Shelley Street Mosque on Hong Kong Island, following demolition of the Nathan Road Mosque during the year.
Built in 1896 for use by Muslim soldiers of the former Indian Army, and subsequently handed over to the Muslim community, the Nathan Road Mosque had badly deteriorated with age. Rebuilding is currently going ahead on the site and it is envisaged a beautiful new mosque will be completed early in 1982.