ENG-1978 — Page 258

RELIGION AND CUSTOM

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the handicapped, hospitals, community health programmes and scholarship aid for college students.

The oldest co-operative Protestant grouping of churches is the Hong Kong Chinese Christian Churches Union. It is made up of some 200 individual congregations as members. Its departments are evangelism, Christian education, charities, cemeteries and information.

The Hong Kong Christian Council is a council of major denominations together with organisations such as the Young Women's Christian Association, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Bible Society and the Chinese Christian Literature Council. It is committed to building a closer relationship among churches in Hong Kong as well as with churches overseas. 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.

The year 1978 saw a growing role for Hong Kong's Protestant churchmen in inter- national religious affairs. During the year, a Lutheran pastor was elected vice-president of the Lutheran World Federation, and the former General Secretary of the Hong Kong Christian Council, a Methodist minister, was called to a staff position with the World Council of Churches. During 1977 a Baptist layman was elected president of the Baptist World Alliance. Other Hong Kong leaders serving in world organisations include the General Secretary of the Hong Kong Bible Society, a layman of the Church of Christ in China who is a member of the World Association for Christian Com- munication's Central Committee; and a Church of Christ in China woman pastor who is serving with the Education Department of the United Church Council for World Mission in England.

Increasingly, Hong Kong is serving as the venue for regional and world Christian meetings. It also serves as a base for regional offices. In 1978 a Chinese Co-ordination Centre of World Evangelism was set up as a direct outgrowth of a Chinese Congress of Evangelism held here a few years ago. The United Bible Societies also made Hong Kong the site of their regional office.

Locally, the churches are making a renewed emphasis on the training of laymen for leadership in the church. There is also a common effort at evangelism. During the year, one of the ways this was shown was in the form of the 'Here's Life, Hong Kong' campaign.

The Anglican Church in Hong Kong, which in 1971 took the historic step of ordain- ing and recognising the world's first two Anglican women priests, elected and consec- rated a Chinese Bishop in Hong Kong in 1978.

The ecumenical movement flourishes in Hong Kong. In 1978, in addition to the annual observance of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, there were two joint pastoral letters issued over the signatures of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Bishops and the General Secretary of the Hong Kong Christian Council. The two letters were issued as calls for the observance of World Peace Sunday and World Communications Sunday. The World Communications Sunday pastoral letter was a natural outgrowth of the fact that all religious programmes broadcast locally are planned and produced together throughout the year. There is no effort to promote any one Christian denomination.