The Association is willing to receive contributions from christian organisations outside China.
Pastoral Ministry Support
There is a growing awareness that churches in China are going to face considerable difficulties in raising money for pastors' salaries. The present intention is that when students leave the national and regional theological seminaries, they will become full-time church workers supported by the churches. However, the standard of living of many christians in rural congregations, and also in some urban congregations, is low, and their level of giving reflects this.
Tao Fong Shan
During my visit to Hong Kong I discovered that the future of this Study and Research Centre is much less secure than I had thought.
That Tao Fong Shan had financial difficulties came as no surprise, since such centres, by their very nature, can always use more resources than are available. However, the problem is much more serious than that. The Norwegian Lutheran Church owns the property on which Tao Fong Shan is located, though the Swedish Church has largely subsidised the work. The Norwegians have given notice of their intention to repossess the property on the grounds that it is needed for a Lutheran Seminary. The real reason appears to be dissatisfaction with Tao Fong Shan's record of not being sufficiently critical of mainland China, and not affirmative enough of Taiwan.
It is odd that a nation associated with the Nobel Peace Prize, and involved in awarding that recognition to Bishop Desmond Tutu, should produce a church so conservative and unperceptive in its attitudes to mainland China.
CONVERSATIONS WITH CHURCH LEADERS
Whilst I was talking with Philip Lam, appointments covering the next two days were arranged for me with a number of church leaders:-
1. Rev. Lincoln Leung, President of the Conference of the Hong Kong Methodist Church and Mr. Martin Chen, Administrative Assistant.
2.
Dr. William Cheng, President of the Hong Kong Baptist Convention.
Rev. Lee Ching Chee, General Secretary of the Church of Christ in China, Hong Kong Council.
3.
Lt. Col. Lim Ah Ang, Officer commanding the Hong Kong and Taiwan section of the Salvation Army.
A.
My conversations with these church leaders, who were very generous in the time they made available to me, confirmed that there has been a wide variety of responses to the Draft Agreement on the Future of Hong Kong. The responses fall into three broad categories.
1.
Rejection
From the people I spoke with, I heard no such total rejection of the Draft Agreement. On the other hand, in the Leglisative Assembly debate on the Draft Agreement, two of the non-official members had said that they could not commend the proposals to the people of Hong Kong, and we must assume that they do represent a body of opiniin Hong Kong.
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