In Hong Kong, Christian Youth Ministry “Breakthrough” and “Fellowship of Evangelical Students” started in a joint-program called “Kindle The Future,” which will start from April, 2005 to August, 2006. Both ministries focus to train young and educated Christians to take part in social endeavors.
On March 11, the joint-program took place at the Breakthrough headquarters where one hundred twenty-seven college students attended. The whole training program includes social research, instructions on lecture-writing, self-growth training, and social issues. At the end of the program, students have the chance to intern in nine different Christian organizations, subsequently submitting reports after their research.
The speakers in the conference include Breakthrough General Director Wing-tai Leung, Honorary President Dr. Yun-wen Choi, coworker Ging-chun Chan, and coworker Wa-yen Chan of FES. They emphasized that society not only needs intellectual leaders, but ones who have social awareness. Many of them feel that college students who have strong social insights should take responsibility in social leadership.
Mr. Wing-tai Leung said, “Complete salvation does not only talk about the spirit, but of the spirit, the soul and the flesh. The work of Jesus is only to spiritually save souls, but it also is going out into the community and helping the minorities.”
Mr. Wa-yen Chan encouraged young Christians to remember the last words of Jesus Christ: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’
“If we remember the sufffering and loneliness that Jesus went through for His commission, we won’t feel so hard to practice our faith in today’s world,” he said.
Mr. Chan urged believers that if they have not faced persecution, they should examine their path of following Christ. “If we only sing and praise, we will never face any persecution, because the things we do cannot change the world,” he said.
Mr. Ging-chun Chan said, “We are not expecting the world to change all of a sudden. But we really want to gather the students and let them grow, unite with God and people….Through this course which will last for sixteen months, we wish to form a group that cares for the society and changes it, letting the public knows what is right, what is wrong, what we should support and what we should oppose.”
The organizers felt satisfied with the number of attendees in the conference and expressed hope for most students to join their program as well. However, Mr. Wa-yen Chan said, “We wish that the students can go back and reflect upon the questions that were discussed. If they have already started to seriously think about ‘What can we do?’ then, I feel that this conference has already succeeded.”
