Appendices

A. List of Chaplains and Advisors since 1950

B. List of Chairmen of Christian Union since its establishment

Great Transition (1985-93)

From hindsight, this period can be treated as a transition period when the Christian Union, together with other Christian activities in school, transformed and adapted to the changing student ethos in the College. There were many difficulties faced. However, Christian Union survived them all and continued to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ among the schoolmates.

1985-86

In September 1985, the two fellowships, Junior and Senior, combined again to form a single fellowship “to facilitate more communication and fellowship between Junior and Senior Form members.” General meetings were held every Friday. Prayer meetings were also held every Wednesday lunchtime. (1)

In December 1985, the greatest evangelistic programme ever took place in school was held. It was the Mission Week. With the main theme of “Why God became man?” a series of activities were held to encourage the students to think about this question deeply.

During the week, December 16^th to 20^th, Rev. Paul Kwong was invited to deliver sermons every morning assembly. The Mission Week began with a mime called “The Two Kingdoms”, performed by YWAM, an international Christian organisation. It was followed by the Christmas Sing-a-long held in the lower playground on Tuesday, led by some old boys and members of the Christian Union.

On Wednesday, a Christmas concert was given by the three choirs of our school in the school hall. On the same day after school, there was an evangelistic meeting with Mr. Cheng Yi Sum as the speaker.

The highlight of the whole week was the Open Forum. After a brief introduction on the Christian faith given by Rev. Paul Kwong and Mr. Leung Kun Shing, students were given the chance of asking questions they would like to raise. As the students were so enthusiastic a lunchtime was insufficient to answer all the questions. A number of students still remained behind after the bell rang.

The Mission Week ended with the Carol Service on Friday. (2)

Christian Union was also aware of the physical needs of the world. In response to the earthquake disaster in Mexico in autumn 1985, the Christian Union and the Junior Red Cross jointly organised a fund-raising campaign. Money collected was sent to Mexico through the Hong Kong Red Cross. (3)

There was great co-operation between the College and St. Stephen’s Church in the year of 1985-86. They jointly sponsored the summer Gospel camp in July 1986. St. Stephen’s Church helped out during Mission Week and gave much support to the Christian Union. More significantly, with the ministerial support of St. Stephen’s, a Christian Union was set up in the Primary School. The group met every Saturday morning. (4)

1986-90

In September 1986, Rev. Jenny Wong replaced Dr. Michael Poon as the Chaplain. She served in the College for four years before she left for Canada in 1990.

Rev. Jenny Wong and the Christian Union continued those Christian works initiated by Dr. Poon. Morning prayers, Bible Study Groups, and co-operation with St. Stephen’s Church were continued. In summer 1987, St. Stephen’s Church and our Christian Union jointly organised an evangelistic camp in Tuen Mun. A number of old boys and girls of the College who were also St. Stephen’s Church members acted as group leaders and committee members. (5)

During these four years, another wave of creativity and originality could be found in Christian activities in the College, just like the period under Dr. Poon. Advent candles were introduced into the morning assemblies in December 1986. This Christian tradition reminded the student body the true meaning of Advent and Christmas.

More teachers and guest speakers were invited to speak in the assemblies. For example, during the Student Week in 1988-89, Saimond Ip, the former Head Prefect and Christian Union Chairman, returned to talk about his life in Cambridge. Christian speakers from non-Anglican background were now invited to speak in Easter services. Rev. Lee Ching Chee of the Church of Christ in China, and Dr. Carver Yu of the Prebysterian Church, preached in 1989 and 90 respectively.

Book exhibition, with major emphasis on Christian books and tapes, were introduced in 1988. It was repeated in 1989 and 1991. In 1991, “It was noted that more students than previously were more willing to buy books.” (6) Rev. Jenny Wong also initiated the purchase of religious books and commentaries by the College Library. The origin of most of the present collection of Christian books could be traced to this period.

Special lectures were also introduced. In 1987, a Christmas lecture entitled “Christianity and Chinese philosophy” was given to the upper forms by Dr. Thomas Leung. It was well received by the students and the staff. In the next academic year, 2 special lectures on “Family Life” was given to the upper and lower forms respectively by the Breakthrough Counselling Centre. In the following year, again a special lecture on “Mental Health” was given to the senior students by Dr. Sylvia Chen.

Active inter-school relationship was resumed. On 8^th May, 1987, a joint meeting was held with the Christian Fellowship of King’s College. This was repeated in the next two years.

Furthermore, there was a resurgence of cell groups in 1987-90.

However, in this period, we also witnessed the death of the most important tradition of our Christian Union --- the Summer Conference. The last summer evangelistic conference solely organised by our Christian Union was held in 1988. In 1989, a training camp for the Christian Union was held instead. In 1990, there was none at all.

After the examination in 1990, a farewell party was held for the Rev. Jenny Wong, who was leaving for Canada and for Mrs. Judy Chan, who was going to study theology. (7)

1990-93

After the departure of Rev. Jenny Wong, there was a vacancy of the Chaplaincy for more than a year. Before Mr. N.P. Lai joined the College in December 1991 as the new College Chaplain, there were certain adaptations in the arrangement in the morning assemblies.

In 1990-91, teachers formed a “morning-assembly-speaker” committee and drew up a rota to speak at assemblies. In December 1990, the Rev. Stephen Harrop of Emmanuel Church was invited to speak at several assemblies. From January to February 1991, the Rev. E. Larsen of St. John’s Cathedral was invited to conduct the assemblies. Again in the next academic year, before the arrival of Mr. Lai, Rev. Larsen took charge of the morning assemblies while other teachers took turns to speak at assemblies on Fridays.

Without a Chaplain, the advisory role of the Christian Union lay entirely on the teacher advisors. In September 1990, Mr. C.M. Chiang became an advisor, in aid of Mr. C.K. Yuen and Mrs. Masie Chan. He continued to serve as an advisor up to this very day.

Although this period seemed to be the toughest part in the history of the Christian Union, the evangelistic zeal and motivation in activities of its members never ceased. For example, in March 1993, Rev. S.T. Cheng was invited to speak at the evangelistic meeting and received enthusiastic responses from students. More than 20 of them indicated their interest in knowing more about the Christian Faith. Henceforth, a series of eight Bible lessons were organised for them.

In summer 1991 and 92, St. Stephen’s Church organised joint-school Gospel camps for students of St. Paul’s College, St. Stephen’s Church College and St. Stephen’s Girls’ College. The one in 1991 was held in the YWCA camp on Lantau Island. Fifty form 4-7 students from our school participated.

Even in 1990-91, the Christian Union and Art Club jointly participated in a bookmark design competition organised by the Hong Kong Bible Society. The theme of the design was Conversation of Our Environment. A few students were awarded prizes.

Furthermore, a joint school meeting was held in 1992-93.

After serving for one and a half years in St. Paul’s, Mr. N.P. Lai resigned in August 1993 to become Principal of SKH Lam Kau Mow Secondary School. (8)

The point made in this section was that although the Christian Union experienced severe difficulties in these several years, its flame never died out. As long as a spark was left, a fire would be there.

“It only takes a spark to get a fire going,

And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing;

That’s how it is with God’s love, once you’ve experienced it:

You spread His love to ev’ryone, you want to pass it on.”

---Pass It On.

Footnotes:

1. Christian Union, Wayfarer 1985-86, pg. 137-138

2. Mission Week, Wayfarer 1985-86, pg. 98-99.

3. Christian Union, Wayfarer 1985-86, pg. 138; Principal’s report, Wayfarer 1986-87, pg. 5.

4. Principal’s report, Wayfarer 1986-87, pg. 5.

5. Principal’s report, Wayfarer 1987-88, pg. 4.

6. Principal’s report, Wayfarer 1991-92, pg. 8.

7. The information of this section can be found in the Principal’s report and Christian Union’s report in Wayfarer of these several years.

8. Principal’s report, Wayfarer 1991-92, 92-93 and 93-94.

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After the departure of Rev. Jenny Wong, there was a vacancy of the Chaplaincy for more than a year. Before Mr. N.P. Lai joined the College in December 1991 as the new College Chaplain, there were certain adaptations in the arrangement in the morning assemblies.

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