Modern Church History

1. Modern Church History Professor: Dr Dieter Mitternacht Student: Wendy CheungDate: 27.4.2010 Topic: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong

2. The Lutheran Church of Hong Kong • the Chinese Rhenish Church • the Tsung Tsin Mission • the Lutheran Church-Hong Kong Synod • the Hong Kong and Macau Lutheran Church • the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong

3. The First Lutheran Missionary to China • Karl F. Gutzlaff (1803-1851) • joined the Dutch Missionary Society to Asia. • A secretary for Chinese Affairs in H.K. Government. • Contributions: 1. stressed the principle of self-propagation. 2. translation of Christian literature. 3. Promotion of China Missions

4. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong (ELCHK) The Beginnings • based on the 16th century Martin Luther’s Reformation. • Lutheran missionaries from Germany, Northern Europe and the United States to China. • In 1920, the Chinese Lutheran Church was formed, along with a seminary and the Lutheran Publishing House.

5. The Lutheran Theological Seminary in Shekow, moved to Hong Kong in 1948. (Tao Fong Shan) • In 1955, the LTS moved to Pak Tin Village, Shatin. • students graduated, the work of spreading the Gospel expanded throughout Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. • In 1954, at Tao Fong Shan to formally establish the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong (ELCHK).

6. The first church was Tong Lo Wan Lutheran Church (predecessor of Living Spirit Lutheran Church) in Shatin, which began worship on 20 October 1949. • The first church in Kowloon was the Mandarin Union Lutheran Church (predecessor of Truth Lutheran Church).

7. The first church on Hong Kong Island was Saukiwan Lutheran Church (predecessor of Faith Hope Lutheran Church). • Ma On Shan Lutheran Church was the first church to have a specifically built building (predecessor of Yan Kwong Lutheran Church) in the New Territories in 1952. • The ELCHK established the firstprimary school in Shatin in 1950, the predecessor of today’s Shatin Wo Che Lutheran School.

8. The Development A. Church Structure i.Head of the ELCHKPeng Fu Wu Ming-Chieh • Peng Fu, Wu Ming-Chieh, Jiang Zhong-Yuan, Charles Guo, Paul Hu, Xie Yue-Han (John Tse) and Gai Yin-Kui (Koy Ying-Kwei). • President change to Bishop from 2005. • Dr. Tai Ho-Fai is the first Bishop.

9. ii.Organization • Annual Assembly • Representative Assembly • Church Council • Administration iii.Others • ‘Ten-Year Self-Support Scheme’ • In 1989, Ms. Chan Sik-Moi was ordained to a pastor, the first pastor of Chinese woman of the Lutheran churches in Hong Kong.

10. In 1996, elected Ms. Josephine Tso as a president, the first womanto head the ELCHK, the first womanto become top leader of all mainline churches in Hong Kong. • Evangelism Outreach • the ELCHK has 52 congregations with a membership of over 15,000 and almost 100 evangelists and pastors as co-workers, including about 10 missionaries.

11. Overseas Mission • In 1999, we had sent Rev. Ip Ching-Wah and his family serving in Thailand. • In 1998, ELCHK sent Rev. Ian Cheung and family to serve the Chinese community in Germany. • In 2003, we sent Rev. Tsang Kwok-fai and family to Fiji Island to serve the Chinese community there. • In 2007, we sent two lay missionaries, Ms. Lam Wing-man and Au-Yeung Suet-ling to serve in Thailand. • In 2008, we also commenced our mission in Phnom Penh, Kampuchea.

12. B. Education • 5 secondary schools • 7 primary schools • 7 kindergartens • In the 2008/2009 school year, we have a total of 8,300 students and 532 teachers. C. Social Services • early 1950s, the ELCHK has actively taken part in the refugee relief programme of Lutheran World Service in Hong Kong.

13. in August 1976, with the establishment of a youth centre in Shatin. • Other community services: school social work, hostels for the elderly, child care centres, children and youth centres, outreach teams, homehelp teams, and services for the mentally handicapped.

14. D. Theological Education • The Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) was first established in Shekow, Hupei Province in 1913. • in 1948, LTS was moved to Hong Kong. • 1953, the Lutheran Bible Institute (LBI) opened in Tai Po to meet an urgent need for more evangelists. • In 1968, when the Rev. Wu Ming-Chieh was the president, the LBI and the LTS merged. • In 1971, Dr. Andrew Hsiao was the first Chinese LTS president.

15. LTS moved to its new campus on Tao Fong Shan in 1992. E. Literature Work • Taosheng Hong Kong began operating independently. • Taosheng is one of the oldest Chinese Christian publishing agencies outside mainland China. • Taosheng Publishing House is the publishing arm of the ELCHK. • Taosheng specializes in books for theological education, personal and spiritual guidance and Lutheran theology.

16. F. Church Co-operation • ELCHK was a member of the Hong Kong Christian Council and the LCC-HKA in 1954. • a member of the LWF in 1957－the first Chinese Lutheran church to join that world organization beside the LCC. • keeps close relations with other mainline churches and also takes part in activities of conservative evangelical churches.

17. Mission partners • The Lutheran World Federation • The Hong Kong Lutheran Federation • Hong Kong Christian Council • Hong Kong Chinese Christian Churches Union

18. Belief • The foundation of the Lutheran Church: Holy Bible, Creeds and Confessions. • Holy Bible: Holy Bible is the highest norm of the church. • The Three Ecumenical Creeds: The Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed and Athanasian Creed. • Lutheran Confession s (Book of Concord): The Augsburg Confession, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Large and Small Catechism, the Schmalkald Articles and the Formula of Concord.

19. The End Thank you! Good-bye!