A STRATEGY FOR THE TEACHING MINISTRY OF THE HONG KONG WEST POINT BAPTIST CHURCH AS IT FACES 1997

As a church member for 20 years and the senior pastor of the church for ten years, I participated and involved directly in the development in every area of the church ministry. I have a great desire for her growth. So the purpose of this dissertation is to help the Hong Kong West Point Baptist Church council, the governing body of the church, develop a strategy for the teaching ministry as it faces 1997. Facing the crisis and uncertainty of 1997 in Hong Kong, the churches in Hong Kong need the capability to respond to the new needs and challenges of the future. Despite the written Sino-British Agreement on the Future of Hong Kong that the Mainland China Government is willing to grant us religious freedom, we have little faith in it because of the historical lessons of unfaithfulness of the Chinese government in the past thirty-five years. Therefore we need to equip the church members in the coming eleven years to stand firmly and be God's witnesses in Hong Kong regardless how and when the political and social changes will come in the near future.; The body of the dissertation consists of five main chapters. Chapter one is on the situation of Hong Kong: the present situation and the implication for the development of the churches. The crisis and challenge of 1997 will be the focus of this chapter. The second chapter traces the historical development of Hong Kong West Point Baptist Church now and then and also the needs for the future. This chapter covers various programs and ministries that have challenged the congregation in the past. Chapter three is on a theology of teaching ministry, which is the Biblical foundation of the dissertation. Based on this theology, we can build up a strong rationale of our strategy for the revitalization and growth of the church. This will be the subject of chapter four. The final chapter is an implication--a five-year plan for the church and the criteria for evaluation. At the end of the dissertation, there are appendixes of three important documents of Hong Kong churches in facing the crisis of 1997. The first one is entitled "Affirmation of Faith of the Hong Kong Christian in the Midst of Contemporary Social and Political Change." The second is "Manifesto of the Protestant Churches in Hong Kong on Religious Freedom". The last one is "Opinion of Protestant Church Delegation in Regard to the Future of Hong Kong."; I believe that through the implementation of this study, our church members in Hong Kong can be better accoutered to anticipate changes and to be faithful witnesses of God! (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)...