The Amity Foundation 爱德基金会

Wow! Why have I not come across this amazing organization sooner? After being heavily inspired by Britt E. Towery's book "The Churches of China", I frantically searched for a way to contact him online and tell him of my desire to "take root" in the Chinese Church through my spiritual gifts and calling to serve in hopes of "bearing fruit" for the advancement of the Gospel 福音 in God's beautiful country of China 神国。After coming across his blog (which you should follow here on blogger!!http://britt-towery.blogspot.com/), I noticed that he had made contributions to The Amity Foundation on the right panel of his web page. Then I remembered about reading an inspiring passage in his book on how Chinese Christians are making a huge difference on the image of Christianity in China through their passionate service towards improving society - which has earned the favor of even the Chinese Government --seeing as their goal is to "benefit society”through socialism 社会主义. Which reminds me of another fact. The character for society 社, includes the spirits. Hmm...why would the government profess Atheism and still include ghosts in society? I know this is an ancient Chinese character and I know that they profess Atheism so that they can be "common", but I am convinced that the Chinese Government is beginning to see the work of the Holy Spirit 生灵 through the lives of it's citizens who are becoming Christians and doing the Great Commission through acts of kindness and good deeds -- which is a symptom of Christ's contagious agape love. Furthermore, agape love is rooted in the Chinese history, although disregarded and almost forgotten completely, Master Mo 墨子 as I am learning in my Chinese Philosophy class, revealed the power of something that can be compared to that of Christ's "no greater love" or heavenly love. This love can be translated into Chinese, in accordance to the Mohists, as "all-embracing love" 兼爱。Unfortunately, Confucianists (not Confucius himself - he actually wasn't against agape love) have strayed the Chinese from accepting this teaching and thus likely explains their distaste for relational evangelism of Christians and it's missionaries.

Anyways, I can't wait to get in connection with this amazing organization and tell them of my call to service as an ambassador for Jesus Christ. It ends up from my research on their website, http://www.amityfoundation.org/wordpress/, that I am not the first student from Hong Kong Baptist University to come to their office and share a desire to get involved in the AMAZING work that the Lord is doing through The Amity Foundation. Check out their website, and if you don't have time -- at least check out this recently posted article on Jiangsu Christian Charity Foundation:

“The son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28

The Jiangsu Christian Charity Fund was established as a joint initiative of the Amity Foundation and the Jiangsu Christian Council in March 2009 with the aim of developing social services offered by the Christian community in Jiangsu Province.

Background

Encouraging Government Policy

As civil society in China keeps developing, the values of social organizations have found greater recognition from the side of society and government. The Protestant church of China with its millions of members is increasingly recognised as a promoter of the development of Chinese civil society. The Chinese government has declared that a policy of encouraging “the Christian church to play a positive role in society” is part of the “construction of aHarmonious Society“. The National Human Rights Declaration issued by China’s State Council in 2009 defines “the positive function of religion” as “promoting social harmony and socioeconomic development” and states that the religious community should be encouraged “to develop public welfare and charity, and to explore ways and methods of social service.”**Praise God! This is, as you've seen my previous blog post, THE HOPE FOR CHINA. God will not stop his mission of bringing himself glory through the advancement of his good news of His Son, Jesus Christ.

The United Front and the Religious Affairs Bureau of Jiangsu Province have devised that the church should serve the people and promote social development through social service according to the development situation of the church in the province. The establishment of the Jiangsu Christian Charity Fund has received powerful support from the United Front and the Religious Affairs Bureau of Jiangsu Province.

Increasing Social Needs

In Christianity, social service is interpreted in terms of witnessing God on Earth. The church has a long tradition of providing social services. As the Chinese church has developed, more and more churches have become involved in social service. The church in Jiangsu has a strong foundation in this area, for example a home for the elderly and church-run clinics. There are currently over 4000 churches and meeting points for more than 1.6 million believers in Jiangsu, so there is a large potential for the development of social services in Jiangsu churches.***I want to get involved in the development! There truly is so much potential, and it's exciting to see the development of the Chinese Church alongside their "rapidly developing" economy. Socio-economics is beckoning for the work of Chinese Christians to balance out China for sustainable development needs it's people to find hope in a better China- what more hope than salvation through Jesus Christ and the radical changes he can do in a lost and dieing world? There is a reason why we proclaim Jesus as "Our Sustainer".

Social development has caused several new social problems in China, such as demographic problems (an ageing society) and problems of the community service systems. These have grown into important issues which need adequate solutions. The churches can use their own resources when taking part in social services and working towards a solution of these problems.

The Fruits of Theological Reconstruction

The process of “theological reconstruction” was adopted as an official church policy in 1998. The main problem that it seeks to address is the localization of Protestant Christianity in the historical and cultural context of China. According to “theological reconstruction”, China’s culture and history have instilled in its people a particular appreciation for the power of action. Chinese Christians being Chinese, they believe in a close connection between strong beliefs and honest practices. Christians making their faith visible through their behaviour is essential so Chinese people can better understand Christianity. The promotion of social service thus becomes an important part of theological reconstruction. Along with the deepening of “theological reconstruction”, more and more churches have become involved in social service in order to glorify God and provide benefits to the people. This is one of the fruits of “theological reconstruction” and will remarkably improve the mutual understanding and integration of the Chinese Protestant church and society.***Can you hear them calling out for help America? Let's support them!

The Relationship Between Amity and the Chinese Protestant Church

Amity was initiated in 1985 by Chinese Christians, so it was born with a strong connection to the Protestant church. In the 25 years of its history, Amity has gathered rich experiences in social service in various fields, including community development, medical care, rural education, and social welfare, but especially in the promotion of church involvement in social service. For over 20 years, Amity has supported churches in 13 provinces with social service related to health programs, education, agricultural development and drinking water projects, which have delivered many social benefits. To promote church involvement in social service has always been part of Amity’s mission, and Amity has been, and will keep on, trying to support such endeavors.***Praise God for the work they are doing - and pray for the continually improving connections build with the church and The Amity Foundation.

Mission

The mission of the Jiangsu Christian Charity Fund is to promote the development of the church’s social service; to enhance the positive role of the Protestant church in the socioeconomic development of the country; and to achieve the harmonious development of the church in society.

Service Areas

The service of the Jiangsu Christian Charity Fund covers the following areas:

1. Helping Protestant churches in Jiangsu to provide and manage social services in compliance with Amity’s mission.

2. Supporting Protestant churches in Jiangsu with cooperative social services in compliance with Amity’s mission.

3. Supporting other work as devised by the management committee of the Fund and according to the mission of the Fund.

Challenges and Difficulties

The Jiangsu Christian Charity Fund has been established recently and is facing a lot of challenges and problems in the process of development

The Jiangsu Christian Charity Fund is young and lacks project funding. Since the establishment of the Jiangsu Christian Charity Fund, it has raised only CNY 50,000 from churches. Amity is going to contribute about CNY 1 million for capacity building. However, this is just a drop in the bucket compared with the huge demand for social service in Jiangsu churches. More churches are waiting for investments to develop their social service programs.

Social service in Jiangsu churches has just started and needs further promotion

Social service in Jiangsu churches has not flourished for various reasons. In many churches social service has only just started, while what exists is not of high quality. The capacity of social service workers needs improvement as well. Promoting projects in both quantity and quality is one of the most important issues in front of the Fund. All these need our commitment and devotion in the future so as to ensure the effective operation of the Jiangsu Christian Charity Fund.

Fundraising

In order to promote the project development and raise funds for social service in more churches, we have worked out a fundraising plan. In the coming months we will start public fundraising through multiple channels, both domestic and foreign:

1) printing brochures to distribute in churches and provide easy channels for donating, such as donation boxes

2) The CCC/TSMP of Jiangsu Province will draw up a plan for church donations, or choose one day for Fund contributions, or launch irregular donation collection activities.

3) The management office, supported by staff from Amity and the CCC/TSMP of Jiangsu Province, will present the Fund and ongoing projects in churches in the province.

4) Regarding church needs in the province and issues of high social concern, the workers will prepare proposals for fundraising from overseas donor organizations. **Churches in America seeking ways to give internationally should consider**

Putting emphasis on support for capacity building

In the present phase, the Jiangsu Christian Charity Fund, with the support of Amity, puts emphasis on helping churches with capacity building for their workers involved in social service. According to the different needs of social service in different churches, there will be more training focusing on particular professions to improve the capacity of church workers in social service, to improve the quality of church-run projects, and to improve the work of social service. There will be capacity building activities about social service in two or three more city churches in the coming year.***They need disciples who are well-trained in theology and Chinese to better lead these projects.

Making a systematic plan for existing social service projects in churches

Many churches have started social service projects; some have proposed their plans to the Fund. We are going to make project development plans according to the situation in the target places, in order to assist the projects in reaching sustainable outcomes.

Building a team of volunteers

The Jiangsu Christian Charity Fund is set to promote and improve social service in churches of Jiangsu Province. This is why it needs the wide participation of local churches and congress. We plan to build a team of volunteers to motivate voluntary resources in churches, in order to promote the development of projects with joint associations. We are going to recruit volunteers in churches. One or two volunteers from each church will work to give information about the Fund to the congregation. The volunteers will be the liaison to the management office, and the office will provide necessary material and support. There will be an assembly at the end of each year with all the volunteers to summarize the work, strengthen the network, and improve the development of the Jiangsu Christian Charity Fund through networking.

The establishment of the Jiangsu Christian Charity Fund is a fruit of the intention to enhance the cooperation and connection between Jiangsu churches and Amity, to promote social service in the Jiangsu Protestant community, to practice belief through the witness of Christ, and to encourage Christian churches to contribute to the development of civil society. We believe God loves people. Through the work on our hands, we are able to show God’s love on Earth.

We serve to express our love to God. This is the only way. For those who need our help, we have to pour out our love, because through them, we can express God’s love. (Mother Teresa)