Earth in heaven, Clowns do serve God

 The presence of a clown presents people with happiness no matter if it is a birthday party, a circus, or a performance on the sidewalk. As a matter of fact, clowns act not merely as a cause of happiness, they could also be a channel for sharing the gospel. The American couple, John and Janine Gravley came to HK with a dual mission: to use clowns to serve God as well as to train locals to pass the message of God to others.

 Clowning has its own theological basis. The white face represents Jesus' death as the other colors symbolizing the new life he gave us; all the colors on the clowns' face express the whole life journey from death to life. Janine said that she began clowning while she was in high school, simply because the hard-sell presentation of the gospel often meets with resistance and lack of interest. However, clowning does not cause audience pressure, Clowns can communicate God's love in a very unique way to show concern to people through their smiles and actions.

 Clowns do communicate God's message

 Janine's husband, Rev. John Gravley a minister from the American Baptist Mission said, 'clown ministry is way to mould you to be a fool and to be humble, in order to promote others to a more important position. It is a way to make them happy and to understand God's love is for all to receive.

 The Gravleys are American Baptist missionaries , they have been involved in clown ministry for eleven years already. They are under God's calling to come to Hong Kong to preach the gospel. In the last two and a half years they have been able to promote and share with local churches the clown ministry.

With her twenty five years of experience , Janine is responsible for training the clowns and is the consultant for clown's make-up and clothing as well. And John writes some of the skits. While the husband is serious, the wife is very active. They are very good partners. Katelyn , their one year old daughter, is just as cool as her mother.

 'Clowns never looks down upon others, but always praise people, and will do almost anything to make people laugh loud', said Janine. There was a time, they went to a hospital to visit a dying cancer patient. John knocked off Janine's big green hat foolishly, the man felt it was funny and laughed a lot. Certainly the foolish act could not help reducing his pain, but that comforted him a little bit. And that was what made them happy.

 Their clown ministry is not merely for church, kindergarten, high school, they also do it for elderly people. Janine said, 'nothing, races, nationalities, languages or age , can restrain clown act. The response is very positive perhaps because it is still fresh in Hong Kong. Further more, John points out that people in church and school just sit there and listen all day long. The uniqueness of clowning is that they use no words, just act. Even if they do not know Cantonese, the audience still can understand the communication through acts, no translation is needed.

 'Kids are usually faster than adults in getting the message through the act. They are more open to receive and to accept, but adults find it not so easy to go without verbal communication', said Janine.

 God is also a humorous God

The following Hong Kong young adults Eva, Winnie, and Bingo are from different churches and have been trained under the Gravleys.  They praise much about clown ministry. Eva said, 'In October last year, our church was planning for a evangelical meeting. Through the internet we found out about clowning, then contacted John and Janine. They taught us how to act. Eighty some attendants came to our meeting in December and the response was very good. Now we have four clowns in our church'.

 Eva also said that during Christmas time last year in Ching Yi City, their church shared a drama up on the stage, she acted clown down among the audience and to attract them by blowing and twisting balloons. For four hours long, the response was very good.

 Wendy, who learned about clown ministry in a Christian English camp while she was in Form 7, thinks ,'Tell others about Jesus on street, they have no fun at all, but if it is expressed in a more comic way, it will make it much easier for them'.

 Bingo, never thought of being a clown, said that he was part of a short-term mission team sent to Vietnam in 1999, he was pushed to act clown simply because it was short-handed at the spot. But then he came to realize that God is also a God of  humor. He said,' I always see God as a serious and merciful God, not acknowledging him with any sense of humor. In fact, man is made by God, it is normal to have such an image of his.