October 1966.....the Hong Kong Peak is issued by missionaries of the ABFMS. Greetings at Christmas! "Joy to the world! The Lord is come! " Let us reaffirm this with all we have, until peace reigns in the hearts of men, and between nations, and good-will prevails. "No more let sins and sorrows grow" - - for - - "He rules the world with truth and grace." May the deep joys of Christmas be yours. New Places of Worship On Sunday afternoon, October 2nd, several hundred people gathered for a formal worship service, to officially open the new premises of the Shaukiwan Swatow Baptist Chapel. This is the third home for this active group of Christians, who continue to grow in number. This place, on the second floor of an apartment building, provides far more space than they have had before. On October 30th, another apartment-chapel will be dedicated. This is for the use of the Castle Peak Swatow Baptist Chapel. An apartment on the second floor of a large building has been bought, and arranged to provide a place of worship. Instead of the small room in which children and adults crowded together each Sunday, the church will have a much larger and more suitable area. The piling has begun for the new church building in Kwun Tong. The construction contractor has been chosen, and it is hoped that work on the church structure can begin before November 1st. We are grateful for the dedication of Swatow Baptists and American Baptists who together are providing places of worship for Swatow Christians here in Hong Kong. They Sing a New Song The highlight of the summer for 80 of the Swatow Baptist young people was a Music Conference held at Chung Chi College. Coming from the crowded areas of the city, the spacious campus, the view of the sea, and the comfortable living conditions of the college gave them opportunity for physical refreshment and spiritual growth. The choirs of the Swatow Baptist churches are composed entirely of young people. Each choir sent representatives to this conference which assisted these young singers, therefore, in their service for Jesus Christ. The program began each morning with a time for private Bible reading and prayer, after which the young people had breakfast. Then they proceeded to the chapel for a devotional session led by the Rev. Alvin Koons. He selected four Psalms, told how these were used by God's people in Bible times, and then brought out the message of these Psalms for us today. At 9: 30 the music training sessions began. Under the leadership of Miss Louise Giffin, who had come from the American Baptist Mission in Thailand as guest leader, Mrs. Alvin Koons, and Mr. Gabriel Chi, the young people learned to read music, and to sing correctly. They also learned the rudiments of conducting, music theory, the playing of accompaniments, and the composing of hymns. During the afternoon the young people had some free time when they rested, walked, played games, rowed boats or swam in nearby Tolo Harbor. Later they gathered again for discussion groups, followed by practice of a combined choir. They seemed to have a gift for music, and quickly learned such anthems as "Send out Thy Light." After supper the program included the singing of favorite hymns, a short lecture on music in other countries, and a devotional message. These messages were interestingly presented, and challenging as the speaker asked such questions as, "Have you a new song to sing?" Refreshments, and devotion,- ended the day. After five days of fellowship, listening to God's word, and learning to use their gifts better, the young people returned to their homes and churches. The anthems they had learned were used in a concert given for members of all the churches, and also at the opening ceremony of the new Shaukiwan Baptist Chapel building. The young people will continue to learn, as the materials prepared for the conference, having been put into fuller form, are made available. They will continue also, by life and lip, to C, sing a new song" - - the song of God's love as seen in His sending of Jesus Christ as Savior of the world. Pastor Lee – Senior Minister The Rev. C. T. Lee was born into a devout Buddhist family in the city of Kityang, Kwangtung Province, China. As a child he participated in the ancestor worship, and the worship of idols practiced by his family and the influential clan to which they belonged. He first learned of Jesus Christ in a primary school which had been established by the Baptist Church. He was married at the-age of eighteen and, according to traditional Chinese custom, met his bride for the first time at the wedding ceremony. One year later he accepted Christ as Savior and followed his Lord in baptism. Shortly afterward he won his wife to the Christian faith. By the age of twenty-one he was teaching and preaching his f aith. In 1927 Mr. Lee entered Chee Loo University in Tsinan in Shantung Province. Returning to Swatow in 1931, he served on the faculty of the Baptist Seminary. He was ordained in 1943. In 1958 Mr. Lee again had an opportunity to study, and spent several months at the Berkeley Baptist Divinity School in the United States. Mt. Lee had left South China in 1943, to go to the Overseas Baptist Church in Singapore, later known as the Thomson Road Church. He came to Hong Kong in 1953, when he became pastor of the Kowloon City Swatow Baptist Church. In the years since, the membership of the church has increased from one thousand to more than two thousand two hundred persons. Mr. and Mrs. Lee have four daughters, two of whom are studying at present in the University of Miami, Florida. A third is married to Marvin Koo, son of the late Rev. Koo, and embroidery merchant in Kowloon. The fourth lives in Singapore with her family. Pastor Lee is the senior Swatow Baptist pastor in Hong Kong, and is greatly respected and loved by all who know and work with him. Ling Ling Say Say - - which, broadly interpreted, means Miscellaneous - - - Dr. Prentiss L. Pemberton, professor of Christian Ethics and Sociology of Religion at the Colgate Rochester Divinity School, is teaching at Chung Chi College during his sabbatical year in the department of sociology. Mrs. Pemberton has found a place of service in one of the college offices. We are delighted to have the Pembertons with us in Hong Kong this year. The Third Asian Baptist Youth Conference is scheduled to be held in Iloilo City in the Philippines during the last week of December, 1966. Young men and women will explore the questions of Christian obedience in the relationships and tensions that prevail in Asian lands today. They will examine the responsibility of Asian Baptist youth living amidst changing patterns of thought and life. The conference is sponsored by the Asian Baptist Youth Fellowship in cooperation with the Baptist World Alliance. The Swatow Baptist churches of. Hong Kong will send representatives. The alumni of the University of Shanghai will recall the founding of that institution at a dinner on November 19th. This is the 60th anniversary of the joint Southern Baptist and American Baptist university located in Shanghai. Although the university is no longer in existence, the alumni are grateful for the training they received there, for the teachers, the supporting Mission Boards, and for all who made the school possible. - - - Mr. Chiang Pao-Lin and Miss Diana Cheung were married on October 15th. Mr. Chiang is a top staff member of the Student Christian Center, coming to this position after graduation from Chung Chi College. His family became Christians in the Hakka work of the South China Mission. - - - The Noren family left for a regular furlough on July 6th. Their address is: Central Baptist Theological Seminary, Seminary Heights, Kansas City, Kansas. - - - The Hugh Smith family returned from a short furlough on September 4th. They now occupy the apartment vacated by the Norens, at #3 Lancashire Road. Little Timothy Smith, aged 2, narrowly escaped serious injury on October 15th when he was struck by a car. We are most grateful that his injuries were very minor. - - - There is great anxiety on the part of Hong Kong Christians, over the activities of the Red Guards in these recent weeks within communist China. Attacking the "Four Olds" (old culture, old thinking, old customs, and old habits) these young people have apparently dealt ruthlessly, and often cruelly with persons who clung to anything differing from the teachings of Chairman Mao. Pray for these folk, that understanding of true values might prevail. Language Study "How do you go about learning to speak Chinese?" is a common question asked by visitors to Hong Kong. New Asia College, which is one of the colleges joining with Chung Chi College in the new Chinese University of Hong Kong, has established a Chinese language institute under very competent leadership. Intensive teaching under qualified teachers is given in two dialects: Cantonese and Mandarin. Mr. and Mrs. Espy studied in his program, learning Cantonese. Mrs. Espy has given invaluable assistance to Jennie Ling, the director of the school, in the revision of a textbook used in the school. The learning of the Swatow dialect is a different matter. American Baptists work with this language group, of which there are at least half a million in the colony. To learn the Swatow dialect it is necessary to find people who not only speak clearly, but who can teach, and have time to do private tutoring. One teacher is not enough, for the student needs a variety of contacts, and ways of teaching. For example, June Sutton has one teacher who comes two hours each morning for study of prepared lesson materials. Another teacher comes two hours a week for conversation, and to help her understand Chinese customs and ways. A third teacher comes four hours a week to teach her to read, and later to write the Chinese characters. In addition to these June often gets the generous assistance of the mission office secretary in conversation, and in the reading of hymns. Lessons are recorded on tapes, and these provide opportunity for repeated listening. The Rev. Alvin Koons has made the learning of the language much easier by careful preparation of materials in phonetic script. The teachers who taught Mr. and Mrs. Koons, and helped Mr. Koons work out these materials, are now using the lessons with June Sutton, and find them very helpful. No one learns the language unless he has opportunities to talk! When shopping, or visiting in the resettlement estates, one finds people who understand and speak the Swatow dialect, and the informal conversations which ensue are excellent helps. And of course the worship services, and all contacts with the people of the church - the children, the young people, and the adults all help the new missionary to learn. East Asia Christian Conference Late October and November will bring to Hong Kong a number of Christian leaders from all parts of Asia for meetings of the East Asia Christian Conference. "Confessing the Faith in Asia Today" is the theme for seven lectures by world-famous thinkers, and also for the public rally to be addressed by Dr. Visser 't Hooft, the retiring secretary of the World Council of Churches. Other meetings, which are not open to the public, will take up the many interests of the E.A.C.C., such as the work of the laity, inter-church aid, church and society, cooperation of men and women in the church, home and society, and youth work. The churches of Asia are primarily small churches. In the E.A.C.C. they band together for mutual understanding and challenge, in the mission of the church. Many people mistakenly think that the E.A.C.C. is a section of the World Council of Churches. This is not the case. It is a separate organization, although its purposes are similar to those of the World Council. Dr. D. T. Niles of Ceylon is the general secretary; U Kyaw Than of Burma is his associate, with his office in Bangkok. Other staff members are from Indonesia, India, Japan, and other countries. Missionaries.... Mr. and Mrs. John Espy
Rev. and Mrs. Frank Knight
Rev. and Mrs. Alvin D. Koons
Rev. and Mrs. Loren E. Noren
Miss Mildred Proctor
Rev. and Mrs. Hugh W. Smith
Miss June M. Sutton | 
