The Protestant Community
The presence of the Protestant community dates from 1841. About
300 000 Protestant Christians currently live in Hong Kong. The Protestant
Church is made up of over 1 300 congregations in more than 50
denominations with many independent churches. The Baptists form the
largest denomination, followed by the Lutherans. Other major
denominations are Adventist, Anglican, Christian and Missionary Alliance,
Church of Christ in China (representing the Presbyterian and
Congregational traditions), Methodist and Pentecostal. With their emphasis
on youth work, many congregations have a high proportion of young
people.
Protestant organisations operate three post-secondary colleges: Chung Chi
College at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist
University and Lingnan College. They run 144 secondary schools, 192
primary schools and 273 kindergartens and 116 nurseries. They also
operate 13 theological seminaries and Bible institutes, 16 Christian
publishing houses and 57 Christian bookshops.
They run seven hospitals with 3 749 beds, 18 clinics and 59 social service
organisations which provide a wide range of social services, including 227
community, family service and youth centres, 74 day care centres, 17
children's homes, 35 homes for the elderly, 106 centres for the elderly,
two schools for the deaf and one for the blind, 47 training centres for the
mentally handicapped and disabled. There are also 15 camp sites. Five
international hotel-type guest houses are managed by the YMCA and
YWCA.
Ninety-six para-church agencies and various Christian action groups
minister to the Protestant community and respond to current issues and
concerns within the Hong Kong society at large. The church supports
emergency relief and development projects in third world countries. The
'Five Loaves and Two Fish' Campaign, sponsored by the Hong Kong
Christian Council, was the first overseas aid project initiated in Hong
Kong. Two weekly newspapers, The Christian Weekly and The Christian
Times, present news and comments from a Christian perspective.
Two ecumenical bodies facilitate co-operative work among the Protestant
churches in Hong Kong. The older one, dating from 1915, is the Hong
Kong Chinese Christian Churches Union with a membership of 275
congregations. The second co-operative body is the Hong Kong Christian
Council, formed in 1954. Major mainline denominations and ecumenical
services constitute the membership core of the council, which is
committed to building closer relationships among all churches in Hong
Kong as well as with churches in the mainland of China and overseas.
The HKCC also encourages local Christians to play an active part in the
development of Hong Kong society. It seeks to serve the wider
community through its auxiliary agencies such as the Hong Kong
Christian Service, Christian Industrial Committee, United Christian
Hospital, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital and Alice Ho Min Yee
Nethersole Hospital and the Christian Family Service Centre. The council
runs weekly 'Alternative Tours', which give visitors and residents an
opportunity to see how the church serves the community.
In recent years, there has been the trend of more young people becoming
Christian or identifying themselves as Christians. This is most obvious in
the university campuses.
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