Untitled

Greetings from China.

 

I am here in order to help the Amity Foundation with a short education programme on mission and diakonia, service and mission. I am presently visiting some of the churches in Chongqing before going on to Nanjing for the work with Amity Foundation.

 

Today I spent some time at the Chongqing Bible School and gave a short lecture on the development of Christian diakonia, service and mission. It is a small school, established in 2008 with one part time Principal and two assistant teachers. There are twenty students, eighteen of whom are young women. This is a first level of theological education for those who wish to become ministers. After graduation the students will spend three years as lay ministers in their congregations before going to the regional seminary for additional training.

 

The challenge that the churches in Chongqing are seeking to address is how best to address the changes being brought about by increasing urbanization of their area. The city is growing rapidly and swallowing up vast groups of what used to be rural communities.  Those rural communities are largely undeveloped and the people there are generally marginalized. The Amity Foundation, who are supported by the Methodist Church in Britain, are working with the Chongqing Christian Council to enable the church to develop its mission of diakonia and service.

 

The point of my visit is to help the churches learn a little more of the theology of mission as an expression of social engagement in order that it might undergird their project work.

 

This project is supported by the our World Church Scholarship and Leadership Training (SALT) programme of which I am the Chair.

 

Adrian Burdon