| May
1975.....the Hong Kong Peak is
issued by missionaries of the ABFMS.
Rev.
Lee Chun Tsek "Retires"
Probably no other Swatow Baptist Minister has had the breadth of
experience working with Swatow (Teo Chiu) speaking people in China, Hong
Kong and Southeast Asia as Pastor Lee, as he is affectionately called by
many. On December 29, 1974, the Kowloon City Swatow Baptist Church, where
he has served for the past 21 years, hosted a retirement dinner in his
honor. Pastor Lee spoke movingly and with good humor about his more than
40 years ministry in Swatow Baptist Churches.
He received his training in the University and Theological Seminary in
Cheeloo, Tsinam, Shantung, China, graduating in 1931. He then returned to
Swatow, Kwangtung Province, where he taught in the Ashmore Baptist
Theological Seminary, conducted Laymen's Training, and served as the
Pastor of the Baptist Church in Kachieh, the one at the Swatow Christian
Institute, and Trinity Baptist Church in Swatow.
In 1947 he was called to be the Minister of the Thomson Road Swatow
Baptist Church in Singapore, a Church founded in 1937 by Christians who
had migrated there from the Teo Chiu (Swatow) district of China. Following
a fruitful and effective ministry there, he was called in 1953 to be the
Minister of the Kowloon City Swatow Baptist Church in Hong Kong. This
Church, founded in 1938 by Swatow Christians who had migrated to Hong Kong
from China, had grown rapidly to several hundred members and had just
completed its new church building in 1952. During Pastor Lee's ministry
the Church has grown to almost 3,000 members, has established other
churches and now operates five additional chapels or missions.
Rev. C. T. Lee attended the first Consultation on World Mission at
Green Lake in 1957. There his contribution and warm spirit was so
impressive that everyone began calling him "Dr. Lee". Over his
protests' the group "conferred" on him the title, "Dr.
Lee". The following year and again in 1973 he did advanced study at
Berkeley Baptist Divinity School.
No sooner had Pastor Lee "retired" than he was invited to
become a kind of coordinating Pastor for three Swatow Baptist Churches and
six Chapels who wish to do more joint ministries in sharing the Gospel
with the Swatow people in Hong Kong. -Loren Noren.
A New Pipe Organ
At the regular Sunday morning worship service in the Chung Chi College
Chapel on February 16th, the new pipe organ was dedicated.
Built in Germany, it is equipped with 18 stops, two manuals and a
pedalboard. It is specially designed for tropical climate with all the
pipes being metal, all moving parts of aluminium, and the tracker action
and windchests of synthetic materials. The purchase and installation costs
(about US$50,000) were fully met by donations from interested friends of
the College, predominantly living in Hong Kong. That it is a valuable
asset for the whole community was evident by the packed Chapel for the
first recital. The Music Department of the College, with over 50 students,
will make much use of the organ in teaching and recitals, and needless to
say worship services and assemblies will be enhanced. Early in March an
assembly demonstration compared the new pipe organ with the former
electronic organ. The electronic organ was better in only one
aspect-noise!
Perhaps it should be added that, although the organ represents a
considerable initial investment, conservatively estimated it has a life of
at least 150 years. Due to its construction, maintenance costs will be
minimal.
-John Olley
The Asian Baptist
Fellowship
The Asian Baptist Fellowship Provisional Committee hosted a
consultation meeting in Hong Kong on December 1, 1974. More than. fifty
participants joined the one-day meeting. Five new Baptist Unions were
received into membership, bringing the total number of Asian Conventions
and Unions in the ABF to 21.
Since December, the Malaysia and Singapore Baptist Conventions have
been welcomed. We hear also that Baptist groups in Thailand are moving
toward the formation of a Thailand Baptist Convention and when this is
finalized they will seek membership in the ABF.
The stated purpose of the ABF is to be incorporated as a region within
the proposed new structure of the Baptist World Alliance. A meeting of the
ABF Committee will be held in connection with the Baptist World Congress
in Stockholm to complete the work of this incorporation.
-Hugh Smith
Braille
During the. past year two of our missionaries have become involved in
the brailling of textbooks for Hong Kong students. Ruth Espy started her
training course in October 1973, and Elaine Olley entered the training
program in October 1974. Ruth has completed the brailling of five volumes
(out of six) of her first textbook to be transcribed. Next fall both will
be quite fully committed to the program, proofreading the work of other
braillists and assisting in other details of processing books for the
blind people of Hong Kong. Next fall, too, Estelle Schock hopes to learn
Cantonese braille in order to help with the books in Chinese that are
needed. The Hong Kong Society for Blind is the umbrella organization under
whose auspices the braillists operate; the American Women's Association in
Hong Kong contributes volunteers to the work and a sizable monetary gift
each year for braillon and Perkins machines.
People sometimes ask why Hong Kong doesn't order books already brailled
from the Library of Congress or from London's Royal Society for the Blind.
The fact is that the schools here use textbooks that are written
especially for Hong Kong. The same title by the same author in a London
edition will be somewhat different from the Hong Kong edition, because the
author will have inserted material of local interest and relevance. The
braillists here are transcribing books for use in the schools of Hong
Kong, and our Mission is glad to be able to participate in this work.
-Ruth Espy
English
Classes (Tailor-Made) in Hong Kong
English classes taught by missionaries in Hong Kong are tailor-made to
suit the needs of each student in his own situation:
-Teaching English continues to be one of the attractions at the Chuk
Yuen Christian Center. Harold Schock has two classes per week, about two
hours each, the concluding half-hour for discussion of some Bible subject.
His current classes have ten members each, about half of whom are
Christians. This mix not only helps to stimulate discussion, but also
gives a valuable opportunity for Christian witness.
-June Sutton teaches an English class in the Kowloon City Swatow
Baptist Church each Sunday morning. The course is based on The
Christian and the Bible, The Christian and Witnessing, and The
Christian and Prayer. The class meets a real need for young people who
no longer fit in the Chinese class for high-school students and who still
do not want to be Sunday-School teachers.
-Ann Smith has seen progress in her students in Bible and English
conversation.
-June Gates tutors several students, two of them new arrivals from
China.
-Ruth Noren has thirty English students (20 hours weekly) in various
combinations of Swatow youth, young career women, Housewives and students.
They study current events, occupational topics, seasonal Bible lessons,
Christan family life and communication in the home, essays about Christian
values. They have fun with role-playing, sentence pattern games,
blackboard cartoons, and many other kinds of group sharing.
Our experience is that both students and missionaries gain new
understandings through "dialogue". It is through these new
understandings that the Holy Spirit achieves conversion. Students who are
already Christian have found in these classes more effective ways to apply
the Bible to daily living in this complicated city.
-Ruth Noren
* * * *
In a recently published history of the Church of Christ in China,
entitled Adventure in Unity by Dr. Wallace Merwin, mention is made
of two outstanding Baptist leaders who were involved in ecumenical work,
Dr. T. C. Bau and Dr. Chester Miao. Dr. Miao, formerly Secretary of the
Christian Education Department, National Christian Council of China, is
the father of Estelle Schock.
Kindergarten
Education in Hong Kong
One of the greatest needs in Hong Kong is for the education of children
at the pre-primary level. What may be a luxury in the States is considered
a necessity here. Before a child enters first grade he is expected to have
attained a certain level of knowledge. Although the Primary one written
entrance exam has recently been abolished, a child still must pass an
interview in competition with many others in order to gain a place in a
good school.
At Christ Church Kindergarten there are more than 1000 applicants for
100 places for 4-year olds! Two hundred children are enrolled in two
grades there and all of them are scheduled to have one period each week
for a Scripture lesson. This represents a rare opportunity to share the
Christian faith, for the large majority of the children come from
non-Christian homes. Trying to present the Bible message through
activities that are creative and interesting is something of a challenge,
and much use is made of pictures, handwork materials, music, and
roleplaying.
It is interesting to note that Kowloon Union Church has recently
approved plans for the establishment of a similar kindergarten and it is
possible that this program may be started by the fall of 1975.
-by Am Smith
Relationships
With Hong Kong’s Business Community
For several years John Espy has served as Associate Director of the
Lingnan Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), a graduate division
of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. During this time, one of his major
concerns has been to establish arid strengthen relationships between LIBA
and the business organizations which employ its graduates. John has found
that one of the most effective means of making contact with business
executives at all levels is by offering to teach courses sponsored by the
Hong Kong Management Association. His use of the "case method"
in teaching business subjects has proved popular in Hong Kong, and he now
teaches two courses each year, each course meeting one evening a week for
four weeks. His most recent course, "Case Studies in Business Policy
and Strategy," drew twenty-one participants from a wide variety of
Chinese and foreign companies. Participants in these courses frequently
show an interest in the work of LIBA and are invited to visit the campus
and meet other faculty and students. Some of them eventually offer
employment to the Institute's graduates or assist LIBA in other ways. John
feels that these activities are essential if LIBA is to establish a
reputation as a source of highly qualified young people who have
good potential as managers.
-John Espy.
Ling Ling Say Say - which, broadly interpreted, means Miscellaneous
After serving as a lecturer in Sociology at Chang Chi College since
coming to Hong Kong from Burma in 1967, Bill Hackett has been invited to
be Senior Lecturer and Head of the Sociology and Social Work Department at
Hong Kong Baptist College. He and Marion will move to an apartment in
Kowloon during the summer, although he is already involved in the work of
the Department.
Prayer is especially requested for preparations for the visit of Billy
Graham to Hong Kong. Evangelistic meetings are planned for November 12-16.
Hugh Smith is one of the Crusade Executive Committee members.
Missionaries....
Mr. and Mrs. John Espy (Ruth)
Dr. and Mrs. Elbert E. Gates (June)
Dr. and Mrs. William D. Hackett (Marion)
Rev. and Mrs. Loren E. Noren (Ruth)
Rev. and Mrs. John Olley (Elaine)
Rev. and Mrs. Harold Schock (Estelle)
Rev. and Mrs. Hugh W. Smith (Ann)
Miss June M. Sutton
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