July 1961.....began the cooperative efforts of the American Baptist's in Hong Kong to share their work and a little of the life of Hong Kong.  This is how they described their efforts:

...the Hong Kong Peak, which is really a Peek at Hong Kong.  It is our desire to introduce to you the work of representatives of the A.B.F.M.S. (the former name of International Ministries - American Baptist Foreign Mission Society), in Hong Kong.  The Peek will give glimpses into our churches and Christian Centre, and into Chung Chi College of which we are a part; it will help you to meet some of the fine Chinese leaders, and to feel the challenge of the broader outreach as we join with other Christian groups in serving this refugee community.

We Have a Noble Heritage
     Work among the Swatow-speaking people in Hong Kong began with the arrival of Dr. William Dean in 1843.  Dr. Dean had been in Bangkok where he had established the first Baptist church for Chinese, anywhere in the world.  In 1860 the port of Swatow was opened, and the center of work was transferred to that city.  The churches in Hong Kong gradually became assimilated with the Cantonese-speaking Christian group.
     Almost a hundred years later, a group of Christian churches, founded and growing under the leadership of Christians from the Swatow area, asked the ABFMS to send missionaries to Hong Kong.  This was 1952.  Now (1961) The missionaries assist in 5 churches and 11 chapels which cooperate in a Joint Committee of Swatow Baptist Churches.

Kowloon City Swatow Baptist Church
     The church began as a prayer group in 1938 in a small frame building near the (Kai-Tak) airport.  Those who gathered  had come from Swatow, 150 miles north on the coast of China, speaking a dialect different from the local Cantonese.  The group soon outgrew its meeting place, and in time two others, and plans were made to build.  The present building was dedicated in 1953.  
     It is already too small!  Two services each Sunday morning serve the more than 1,500 members.  Sunday School classes scatter about he auditorium and small side rooms, but are inadequately housed.  On Easter Sunday, 140 were baptized.  Of these most worship in the mother church, but others hear the gospel in 6 chapels established by the church and served by laymen (sic) of the church.
       The most recent project is the Kwun Tong roof-top school.  Kwun Tong is a government resettlement area, where refugees from the mainland are housed at low rents in crowded but safe conditions.  Each building (called 'blocks') houses two or three thousand people.  With government permission, rooms have been built on the roof of one block.  A small school uses them during the week, and on Sunday there is Sunday School and worship.  Some of those baptized in Easter came from this chapel.

Chung Chi Notes
     The exchange student program with Redlands has weathered one year.  The Baptist boy we sent there, Darcy Wong, seems to have done well, and is getting his degree there.  Toni Merril, a junior girl, was sent from Redlands to Chung Chi.  Next year Miss Yeh Shui Mei will go to Redlands.

Ling Ling Say Say ...which is, broadly interpreted, Miscellaneous
....A census taken in February of this year (1961) showed the total population of the colony was 3,128,000.  Thirty years ago, in 1931, it was 500,000; in 1946, it was 2,500,000.  In recent years the largest increase has come from those entering from mainland China.  Some arrive with permits, legally, some just cross the border.

Missionaries....
Miss Edna D. Smith - she worked among the Swatow speaking people in the South China Mission and in Hong Kong.  Working primarily with women and children.
Miss Sara B. Downer- she headed the physics department of Chung Chi College.  She was formerly with the West China Mission.
Rev. and Mrs. Hugh W. Smith- were in their first term in Hong Kong.  They were assigned to the Christian Centre, youth work and other responsibilities.
Miss Mildred Proctor- was transferred from the Philippines to work on Chinese Sunday School material.  She was first in East China.
Rev. and Mrs. Loren E. Noren- were on furlough in 1961.  They first began work in Hong Kong in 1954, after years in South China.
Rev. and Mrs. Elbert E. Gates- were not under appointment with the ABFMS but were with the Church World Service.  They joined with the other missionaries and fellowship and support.