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Our mission is to follow the Great Commandment of Jesus Christ ( Matthew 28 : 16 - 20 ), and to imitate His example of teaching and serving. Through the help of the Holy Spirit, by establishing churches, schools and social service projects, we adress the physical and spiritual needs of our society and lead people to accept the Gospel, the Good news of Jesus Christ. |
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The Lutheran Church is a Protestant church that is based on the 16th century Reformation. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, Lutheran missionaries came from Germany, Northern Europe and the United States to spread the Word of God in China. In northern China, and in the provinces of Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Hunan and Guangdong, they established churches, schools and hospitals. In 1920, the Chinese Lutheran Church was formed, along with a seminary and the Lutheran Publishing House. The Lutheran Theological Seminary in Shekow, Hupei province, moved to Hong Kong in 1948, and was relocated on Tao Fong Shan in Shatin. As class after class of students graduated, the work of spreading the Gospel expanded throughout Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. On Feb. 27, 1954, representatives from all the Lutheran congregations in Hong Kong gathered at Tao Fong Shan to formally establish the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong (ELCHK). |
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ANNUAL ASSEMBLY: carries the highest authority within the ELCHK and convenes once a year. REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY: meets once a year and is attended by all co-workers as well as lay representatives from congregations. CHURCH COUNCIL: holds meetings once a month for the purpose of facilitating administration. ADMINISTRATION: The President oversees the whole church, assisted by the Vice-president, Secretary, Treasurer, and directors of 10 administrative departments (Evangelism and Pastoral Care, School Education, Personnel, Overseas Missions, Discipleship and Nurture, Youth and Teenagers, Family Ministry, Mass Communication, Finance & Stewardship and Social Services).
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EVANGELIZATION Our ministry of spreading the Gospel in the different areas of the territory
began with work among refugees who came from China in the early 1950's.
At present, the ELCHK has 54 congregations with a membership of over
12,000
and almost 100 evangelists and pastors as
co-workers, including about 13 missionaries. The work of the Overseas Missions Department is to promote mission work in the congregations, organize mission fellowship, arrange short-term mission visitations, form prisoner concern groups and oversee a host of other programs. In 1982 an agreement was signed by the Norwegian Mission Society(NMS) and the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission(FELM) and ELCHK to form the Lutheran Mission in Thailand. In 1987 the ELCHK began financial support for Lutheran mission work in Thailand and by 1988 sent its first missionary. At present, we have Rev. Ip Ching-Wah and his family serving in Thailand. In 1997, ELCHK sent another missionary family to serve the Chinese community in Germany.
SCHOOL EDUCATION Hong Kong churches play an important role in the field of education.
About 50% of the schools SOCIAL SERVICE The social service ministry of the ELCHK began in August 1976, with
the establishment of a
youth centre in Shatin. On this foundation for social service, other
projects and service units
were developed including community development projects, school social
work, hostels for
the elderly, child care centres, children and youth centres, outreach
teams, homehelp teams, In 1996, NMS and FELM began to transfer their social services units to
the ELCHK. With this transference, the ELCHK now has 27 service units
and 370 social workers serving among us. Tao Sheng Publishing House The Tao Sheng Publishing House is the publishing arm of the ELCHK. In
addition to publishing Christian literature, Tao Sheng specializes in
books for theological education, personal and spiritual guidance and Lutheran
theology. Tao Sheng operates a bookstore on the ground floor The Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) was first established in Shekow,
Hupei Province in 1913, and in 1948, was moved to Hong Kong. In 1977 the
ELCHK, the Chinese Rhenish LTS moved to its new campus on Tao Fong Shan in 1992. LTS's goals are
to recruit more |
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RELATIONS WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS - MISSION PARTNERS The growth and rapid development of our ministry has been due both to
the grace of God and The ELCHK joined the Lutheran World Federation in 1957 and thus became a member of this worldwide Lutheran family based in Geneva, Switzerland. THE HONG KONG LUTHERAN FEDERATION This cooperative organization is comprised of the ELCHK, the
Chinese Rhenish Church, the In the spirit of one holy catholic church, the ELCHK has joined this
ecumenical organization HONG KONG CHINESE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES UNION Nearly half of our congregations are members of this local church organization.
As a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China,
we Christians of the ELCHK living in Hong Kong look forward to more opportunities
for ministry and service. July 2001 |
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