Tale of Two Fellowships (1976-85)

Appendices

A. List of Chaplains and Advisors since 1950

B. List of Chairmen of Christian Union since its establishment

Tale of Two Fellowships (1976-85)

“It is hoped that, through this division, our members can learn more from our general meetings as well as understand and communicate better with each other. We are still One in the Spirit. We are One in the Lord. We are bound together by His gracious Love.” (1)

Junior and Senior

In October 1976, the Christian Union was divided into Senior Section and Junior Section. The Junior Section comprised of members from Form one to three and met every Thursday after school. On the other hand, the Senior Section met every Friday after school for members from Form four to six. (2)

Each section had its own Chairman and committee, and was run independently. However they were not separated. Very often they had joint meetings and activities to promote a better understanding between the seniors and juniors. Some seniors might participate in the Junior section at times, and vice versa. They even had football match between the two sections! (3)

It was a period of great evangelistic zeal. Not only in terms of number of evangelistic meetings held, but also in terms of the creativity shown in these meetings. Great variety of activities was available. Quite a number of students believed in Christ through the mission of the Christian Union. (4) Here is an exciting example in 1980-81.

“During the past year, we organised three series of Gospel Meeting: the first was in October, 80. A slide show called ‘In Search of Life’ started this series. The slide show described the process of conversion of a young philosopher. Following the slide show was a panel discussion, in which both Christian and non-Christian teachers were invited to talk abo0ut their own philosophies of life. This series is completed by two crusades and some students decided to accept the faith.

The second series was held in March. The first meeting was a slide show called ‘Evidence that Demands a Verdict’. In the slide show, certain archaeological evidences were given to claim that the bible is the word of God. This was a challenge to Paulines --- to think seriously about Christianity. The second meeting was a talk given by a lecturer of Philosophy Department of the Baptist College, who discussed about ‘Why I become a Christian’. The series was again completed by a crusade.

The last series was held in July, 81. It consisted of a Folk Hymn meeting and a crusade.” (5)

The quality of the committee members was also important. At the beginning of the school year in 1977, a leadership-training course was run for the committee members of the Junior Section. (6)

Meditation is also important to a Christian spiritual life. In December 1977, the Junior Section started a “morning meditation hour” every Wednesday morning in the chapel. They found it “splendid to have gatherings in the morning for we can really prepare ourselves for the work of the day.” (7)

Beside the general meetings, cell groups were another important means to strengthen the relationship between the members. Members from the same form or class met weekly on a particular day to share with each other. In 1982-83, the number of cell groups even exceeds ten. (8)

Special Activities

1976 was a year of great celebration. To mark its 125^th anniversaries, the school held a Thanksgiving Service at St. Stephen’s Church in two sessions. The first was attended by students from Form one to three, and the preacher was Revd. Allan Ho. The second was attended by senior students and members of staff. The preacher was the Rt. Revd. Gilbert Baker, Bishop of Hong Kong and Macao and Chairman of the College Council at that time. In his sermon, Bishop Baker paid tribute to the founder of our College and its previous principals. He made an analogy between “the race we run in life” and the “Marathon”, and encouraged the congregation, in the race we run, to bring good news of a victorious way of life: a way of love and fair play which one would have learned at St. Paul’s College. (9)

There was much creativity in innovation of new activities. In 1976, a Career Seminar was organised for Form 5 members. They discussed the various courses available in the Hong Kong Polytechnic, and also shared the experience of Form Six lives. A similar one was held the next year. (10)

In November 1976, Christian Union paid a visit to the Far East Broadcasting Company, the largest gospel broadcasting company in the world. They were shown how the radio programmes were produced, recorded, and distributed to various stations to be broadcast all over the world. (11)

In March 1978, the Junior Section also initiated a book-study course “through which we could know and understand more of growing towards maturity in our spiritual life.” (12)

On June 23^rd, 1981, Rt. Rev. Peter Kwong, paid a visit to the school and spoke about how he became an ordained minister of the Church. (13)

The only joint-school activity ever took place in this period was the summer camp, jointly organised with St. Stephen’s Church College, in July 1982 at Junk Bay. (14)

Dr. Michael Poon

In September 1984, Dr. Michael Poon replaced Rev. Fisher and served as Chaplain for two years in St. Paul’s College. He obtained the Principal’s approval to invite Chinese-speaking speakers to the morning assemblies. This was a breakthrough at that time. (15)

Under Dr. Poon’s guidance, two important activities were initiated. First, a Morning Prayer was held once a week from March onwards (when there no Morning Assemblies). It was led by Dr. Poon and Mr. Yuen. (16) Second, with the help of Christian Union members, teachers of the Religious Studies Department organised Bible Study Groups for students of different Forms. “Pastoral care and evangelistic outreach became an integral dimension of the work in the Religious Studies Department.” This mission work took place for 3 consecutive years, and evolved into lunch time interest groups and Bible Study groups in 1987-88. (17)

Footnotes:

1. Christian Union, Wayfarer 1976-77, pg. 82-83.

2. Ditto.

3. Inter-section football match were held in 1977, 78 and 79. See Christian Union’s report in Wayfarer 1976-77, 77-78 and 78-79.

4. In the academic year of 1976-77, over 40 students believed in Christ through Christian Union activities. Within the year 1978, there were over 30. See Christian Union, Wayfarer 1976-77, pg. 83; Christian Union, Wayfarer 1978-79, pg. 140.

5. Christian Union, Wayfarer 1980-81, pg. 115.

6. Principal’s report, Wayfarer 1978-79, pg. 6.

7. Christian Union, Wayfarer 1977-78, pg. 120.

8. The presence of cell groups was recorded in Christian Union’s report of 1981-82, 82-83 and 83-84. See Christian Union, Wayfarer 1981-82, pg. 118; Christian Union, Wayfarer 1982-83, pg. 116; Christian Union, Wayfarer 1983-84, pg. 96-97.

9. The Thanksgiving Service was held on December 17, 1976. See Wayfarer 1976-77, pg. 8-9.

10. Christian Union, Wayfarer 1976-77, pg. 83

11. Ditto.

12. Christian Union, Wayfarer 1978-79, pg. 140.

13. Principals’ report, Wayfarer 1981-82, pg. 3.

14. Ditto.

15. “The development of St. Paul’s College Christian Union in the recent twenty and more years --- a dialogue with three alumni”, by Chun-hai Fung, Wayfarer 1996-97 (Chinese Section), pg. 30-33.

16. This practice had last for 4 years (1985-88). In 1985, it was led by Dr. Poon every Friday. In 1986, Mr. Yuen also involved in leading it and it was held every Monday. In 1987, beside Rev. Jenny Wong, the Chaplain, other Christian teachers were involved as well. Again it was on Mondays. In 1988, it started in February instead of March. See Christian Union, Wayfarer 1984-85, pg. 139; Christian Union, Wayfarer 1985-86, pg. 137; Christian Union, Wayfarer 1986-87, pg. 125; Christian Union, Wayfarer 1987-88, pg. 124.

17. 1984-85: various Forms; Feb & Mar 1985: Form 1-3; Feb & Mar 1986: Form 1; In 1987-88 and 88-89, there were lunch time interest groups and Bible Study groups led by either Religious Studies teachers or upper form students. See Principal’s report, Wayfarer 1985-86, pg. 4; Christian Union, Wayfarer 1985-86, pg. 137; Christian Union, Wayfarer 1986-87, pg. 125; Principal’s report, Wayfarer 1988-89, pg. 6; Principal’s report, Wayfarer 1989-90, pg. 8.

Previous page

Table of Contents

Next page