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a stronger preference on the importance of education (with a total of 51.11%). The Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China has also a high percentage in the columns ‘regard education as very important' and 'regard education as quite important' (32.26% in each column). Only one interviewee belongs to 'regard evangelization as quite important'. So, comparatively speaking the Church of Christ in China is the denomination which lays the greatest emphasis on education as its prime objective. The figures also reveal that 60% of the interviewees from the Baptist Convention are under the columns, 'regard education as very important' and 'regard education as quite important'. There is only one who belongs to 'regard evangelization as quite important'. The Baptist is therefore the second denomination which puts most emphasis on education. On the other hand, the Methodist Church is the only denomination which has more members under the columns ‘regard evangelization as important' than those who belong to 'regard education as important'. (The percentages are 57.15% and 42.85% respectively). It is therefore a denomination which shows a preference for evangelization. The Lutheran Church obtains the highest percentage in the column 'regard evangelization as quite important' (with 42.86%, whereas the overall percentage in this column reads only 9.79%). Hence, the Lutheran Church is the denomination which puts the greatest emphasis on evangelization in running schools.
Table 2 shows a comparison of priorities given by the various denominations on the objectives in running church schools. On the whole, the first priority is given to ‘education for the whole person' (with a mean score of 1.2378). 'Evangelization' comes second (the mean score is 2.27), followed by 'service to the society' (3.18) and 'providing Christian nurture among students' (3.31). Among the various rankings, the Lutheran Church stands out in setting "evangelization' as the first priority (the mean is 1.43, whereas the scores of the other denominations all read 2 or above), suggesting a remarkable difference when compared with the other denominations. Similarly, the Methodist Church also shows a marked difference from the other denominations in ranking 'providing Christian nurture among students' as the first priority. (The mean score is 2.57, whereas the scores of the other denominations all read 3 or above). These differences suggest that there is an outstanding emphasis on the objectives of involvement in education upheld by the Lutheran Church and the Methodist Church.