Summer 1973.....the Hong Kong Peak is issued by missionaries of the ABFMS.

Over 7000 People Attend Reconciliation Rally

A colorful and impressive "Inaugural Rally" was held by Baptists of Hong Kong in April, to mark the official beginning of the World Mission of Reconciliation through Jesus Christ. The "World Mission" is a three-year emphasis sponsored by the Baptist World Alliance, similar to the "Key '73" program being conducted in North America, emphasizing the application of Christian principles to all of life. Both Gospel outreach and community action are inherent in the reconciliation theme.

The photo above is of Chinese pastors and missionary co-workers marching together to the, center of stadium where they received the charge given by Dr. Joseph Underwood, Chairman of the World Mission of Reconciliation Through Jesus Christ Committee of the Baptist World Alliance. The Baptist Church people, as well as their leaders, were charged to rededicate. their lives to the task of reconciling men to each other and to God.

-Hugh Smith

Sunday School Seminar in Thailand

June Sutton was invited by Rev. Robert Cullen, Promotion Director for Christian Education of the Thailand Baptist Mission, to conduct a seminar for Sunday School teachers emphasizing the use of Bible centered creative activities.

Fifty Thai and Chinese Sunday School teachers and several national pastors attended the seminar held at the Baptist Camp at Pattaya Beach, 75 miles from Bangkok on the Gulf of Siam, from May 7-11.

Miss Sutton used group and participation methods in the Bible Study hour each day, as well as in sessions on teaching methods, with emphasis on the use of creative activities to teach Bible truths.

In afternoon sessions, one workshop gave the teachers opportunity to apply new ideas and methods they had experienced in planning their next week's Sunday School lesson. In another workshop session small groups planned an activity or game for different age groups that would enable children to think about the teaching of one Bible story and apply it in their own lives.

On the final night, the teachers became students and enjoyed a time of fun and leaming as they participated in the games and activities planned by the various small groups.

Evaluation sheets filled out by each participant showed that all had received new understanding of how to teach the Bible and its truths, and a number of teachers had decided to use creative activities in their Sunday School classrooms so that children they teach can more effectively learn about God, His Son Jesus Christ, and what it means to live for Him each day. -June Sutton

New Premises for Shamshipo Church

Formed in 1952, the Shamshuipo Church was one of the three Swatow Baptist Churches which invited the American Baptist Mission to work in Hong Kong to carry on the long association between American Baptists and Swatow-speaking Chinese.

The church has continued to grow and recently it was necessary to look for a new location in Shamshuipo, a densely populated area of North Kowloon. However, booming land and building prices make it very difficult to find suitable places at a reasonable price. (Businesses can cope by increasing the prices of their products churches can only increase their giving!)

Thus World Mission Campaign funds came at a most opportune time. The church was able to buy seven small apartments on the third floor of a multipurpose building (the cross can be seen on the wall in the photograph). By removing apartment walls and other alterations this gives a church auditorium of 64' x 30', a youth activities room 16' x 25' (a movable partition enables the enlarging of the church auditorium to seat 450), an office and Sunday School room 16' x 30', and quarters for pastor and family of 16'x34'. Why not compare these sizes with your own church premises?.

The total cost including alterations, was HK$ 500,000 (U.S.$ 100,000 approx.) with WMC funds contributing HK$150,000 towards this total.

The building was first used on Christmas Day 1971, but the official dedication coincided with the church's 20th anniversary celebrations in Nov. 1972. A stirring service was held with representatives of other Swatow churches, the Baptist Association, and the mission participating.

Already the church is frequently comfortably full, and this has shown the value of relocation. The sermon every Sunday is now bilingual (Swatow and Cantonese) to try to reach Cantonese speakers, especially the younger generation. (Cantonese is the major Chinese dialect spoken kin Hong Kong, while the Swatow-speaking community is about 800,000.)

The pastor, Rev. John Wong, and the deacons look forward to the future in the new premises with the prayer that many more will come to know Christ through the witness of the church.

-John Olley

Religious News from China

For several years following the Cultural Revolution (1967 - 1969) there was practically no news of any kind about religious activities in China. Then reports appeared of a Roman Catholic service held in November, 1971, and the beginning of a regular Protestant service in Peking on Easter Sunday, 1972. Later numerous visitors reported attending this service on different occasions and there was quite a large group of African Christians at the Christmas service. Apparently, the sermon has been dropped as being "too subjective"' but otherwise, the order of service is much the same as before.

A Canadian Mission executive who recently visited China also reports that worship services are being held in Nanking, though not in church buildings as the Christians are not yet sure the buildings are that important for their Christian witness. The theological seminary is undergoing a period of self-study and looks toward reopening in the near future.

A recent bit of news is that the government's Bureau of Religious Affairs, which is one of 24 offices directly under the State Council, is operating. One of the leading members of the Bureau, Mr. Hsiao Hsien-fa, is reported to have met "with a delegation of The Forum of Japanese Religious Believers Friendly to China" who had been invited to visit China by a leading Buddhist, Chao Pa-chu. A high ranking government official, Kuo Mojo, also met the group.

John Strong, a young Christian scholar in world religious at the University of Chicago, wrote in the January issue of The Atlantic on his research into present-day Buddhism in China during his recent visit there. Some temples are showpieces, some are used for other activities, and some are functioning. Buddhists are reexamining their own tradition in the light of present-day events and, if present trends continue, may continue to resurface slowly and cautiously.

The present more relaxed and open atmosphere in the People' Republic of China seems to have spread in small ways to the realm of religious affairs.

-Loren E. Noren

Espys Assist the Mara Institute of Technology in Malaysia

John and Ruth Espy were invited to spend two weeks during May at the. Mara Institute of Technology near Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, speaking and consulting with the Institute's staff. John, Associate Director of the Lingnan Institute of Business Administration, worked with faculty and administrative staff of their School of Accountancy and Management on problems relating to recruiting and training of faculty, admissions policies, curriculum, teaching methods and materials, and placement of graduates. He also gave several lectures on topics relating to business and finance.

Ruth, who is an Assistant Librarian at the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Central Library, worked with faculty of their school of Library Science and with their own library staff on problems relating to university libraries in Southeast Asia. There are a number of unique problems in libraries here in which faculty and students are multilingual and use one language for normal communications and another for studies and professional work.

The Mara Institute of Technology is particularly concerned with preparing young people for positions in government, business and industry in a rapidly developing agricultural and mining country. The opportunity to work there in an advisory capacity for a brief period was a challenging one, and they felt their contributions were well received and helpful. -John and Ruth Espy

Olleys Leave for Furlough in Australia

John and Elaine Olley and their three children left Hong Kong on June 15th for Australia on completing their first five year term of service at Chung Chi College. They write, "We are looking forward to meeting relatives and friends and showing the children something of their home country. It will be a privilege to share with many churches news of Christ's work in Hong Kong, especially at the college. For the first six months we will be living in Sydney where John hopes to complete a Theol. M. thesis and then in January we will move to Melbourne where John will undertake further Old Testament studies in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Melbourne, University. This will be of much help in the developing graduate programme of the Theology Division, Chung Chi College, to which we plan to return in August 1974. Furlough address: c/-74 Oliver Street Bexley North, N.S.W. 2207."

Thousands of Burma Chinese Migrate to Macao

The Portuguese Colony of Macao, a 30 mile trip westward by hydrofoil ferry across the Pearl River estuary, has become a Mecca for Burma Chinese who find making a living in Burma almost impossible in these days. Almost every plane flying into Hong Kong from Rangoon carries these refugees; but Hong Kong regulations do not allow them to stop here, even for one night, so they hurry to the Macau ferry pier from the airport. Macau government authorities say that more than 10,000 have traveled this route. And United Nations refugee workers predict that many more thousands will come in the next few years.

Macau seems to be the only place in this part of the world that will accept these "stateless" people. Though many of the younger refugees (under 30) have never lived anywhere but in Burma, and speak Burmese better than any Chinese dialect, they are not citizens of Burma, and travel to Macao on a Certificate of Identity issued by the Burma Government, but not recognized by most countries of the world.

Fortunately for these immigrants, Macao is riding a business boom, so that almost all who arrive can get work, usually at the lower end of the economic scale. They live in exceedingly crowded quarters, and every able-bodied person 14 or over in the family must work. Many work long hours for approximately U.S. $2.00 per day; even after three, or four years of work, training, and promotions, one rarely makes more than U.S.$100.00 per mouth.

When Millie Lovegren, Southern Baptist Missionary in Macao, became aware of this invasion, she contacted Harold Schock and Bill Hackett, formerly of Burma, and asked them to come to Macao to help these people, some of whom are Christians, and all of whom are having problems of adjustment, especially with language. For two years Schock and/or Hackett have been spending an occasional weekend (at least once a month) in Macao, visiting the refugees in their crowded living quarters, sitting and talking to any and all who want to talk, usually in tea shops and cafes where Burmese foods are served and Burmese is the language of communication, and meeting with the Christains in a Southern Baptist Church, preaching and discussing the Bible in Burmese. Recently we received a shipment of New Testaments from Thailand through the Bible Society of Hong Kong, so everyone who wants one can now have one.

It is almost impossible for persons like ourselves to understand the spiritual and mental pain these people are experiencing. May I share some what I have learned from calling in the homes of these people.

Most of them were from the business and professional class in Burma, with good incomes and comfortable houses. They arrived in Macao with nothing except a few items of clothing; a few manage to get out some of their assets illegally, but this is not true of the vast majority. They now do piece-work at sweat wages, or work in crowded factories, and live in such crowded conditions that often each individual has only 24 sq. ft. - - -

Though many young people are bright and should have further schooling, they are forced to work in drudgery to feed themselves and younger siblings. - - - Many families are divided, for they could not get enough money to pay goverment fees and transportation for all. They hope to earn money to send to those, left behind, but it is a slow process when you earn so little. - - - There is so little hope for the future, for most countries require passports, and they have none. They are "stateless" and doomed to be without a country and freedom and opportunity for themselves or for their children.

What is our Christian responsibility to such people? Those of us who speak Burmese and have known some of these refugees in Burma feel we must find ways to help them to find meaning in life in the face of devastating problems. This means sharing the knowledge and love of God with them; it means introducing them to our matchless Savior and Friend, Jesus Christ. Pray for us as we try to do this.

-Bill Hackett

Seminar on Teaching and Training

At the conclusion of the Planning Committee meetings of the Asian Baptist Fellowship a one day seminar was held for delegates and observers who were especially interested in Christian Education.

In the morning sessions representatives from Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and India gave brief reports on different aspects of Christian Education programs conducted in their countries. In the afternoon, discussions were held on problems in Christian education for Baptists in Asia. As needs were expressed, concrete suggestions were made, and the participants expressed the hope that the Asian Baptist Fellowship would:

1. Consider ways to encourage the exchange of Personnel between member countries to conduct seminars and short term training programs.

2. Consider arranging a seminar for Baptist leaders engaged in theological education.

3. Consider the promotion of workshops or seminars for Baptist leaders engaged in specialized areas of Christian education such as youth work, student work, etc.

Several delegates expressed appreciation for the insights gained through sharing of problems and hearing of programs being undertaken in Christ's name by fellow Baptists in other countries.

As a result of attending these meetings, Rev. Bob Cullen of the Thailand Baptist Mission invited Miss June Sutton to conduct a seminar for Sunday School teachers emphasizing the use of Bible centered creative activities. (See report on page 2.)

Missionaries....
Mr. and Mrs. John Espy (Ruth)
Dr. and Mrs. William D. Hackett (Marion)
Miss Martha Jane Hackett
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