# 1 PRESENT CHRISTIAN ACTIVITY ON THE LINGNAN UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

## A The Programme

Present Christian work in Lingnan University may be considered under four headings, viz:

### i Worship

Three Sunday services are held. There is a Children's Service and Sunday School with a very regular attendance by about two hundred children both from the schools and from all the various families living here. There is a service primarily intended for the college and high school students and staff with their families; at this the numbers of those who come are less regular than with the Children's Service, but have been increasing since the liberation. The average is about two hundred and thirty. The third service is mainly for the servants and workmen on the campus and the farmers from the nearby villages. This congregation, founded twenty years ago, has recently been making progress and its numbers have doubled from twenty to forty.

Morning and evening prayers for students are held daily from Monday to Friday inclusive, and the number of those coming has doubled since the liberation; the average attendance is about forty. The Chinese-speaking staff and their families have a prayer-meeting on Tuesday evenings, and there is a corresponding devotional meeting in English on Wednesdays, which is commonly followed by a talk on a religious subject, on some current need or any other matter of special interest.

### ii Fellowship Groups

Under the leadership of the Lingnan Christian Association (i.e. the Student Christian Movement here) and various Christian members of the teaching staff, sixteen "Fellowship Groups", mainly composed of students, meet every week for a devotional meeting and a time of social activity. Each group has an advisor who is usually one of the professors, and the meeting takes place in his home. The very intimate friendship existing within each group has led them to prefer the name,

- 2 -

"Families". Elected representatives form a central committee responsible for the inter-relationship of the families, who all meet together twice a term. Altogether the families include about two hundred and eighty students. It is members of these families who are the most active and energetic members of the L.C.A. (Lingnan Christian Association) and the Student Union.

However, as the families include both Christians and non-Christians, the Christian students are feeling the need of an organization of their own and have been working hard to this end. Formation has just been achieved, and now they are considering how they can meet the challenge of the new age in China.

### iii Social Service

Under the leadership of the L.C.A. there are free day and night schools which serve a total of four hundred poor children here. A medical corps of twenty students goes out to the sick on neighbouring farms. A Christian Women's Club is always ready to help those in need on the campus and in the neighbouring villages, and there is a Biblewoman appointed to visit the Christian workers and farmers. These activities have not only provided an outlet for such students as wished to give their service but have also helped to win them to the church.

### iv The Chaplaincy

So far as any chaplain's work is definable, and so far as one man's time allows, the functions of the university chaplain may be said to include:

* Co-operation in, and the co-ordination of, the various religious activities of the university, the middle school, the primary school, the industrial school and the Lingnan Christian Association;

* Responsibility for the work of the Community Church and its relationship to the religious activities in Lingnan University;

* Responsibility for the conducting of all three Sunday Services which have already been described;

* Giving help, guidance and friendship to all the Fellowship Groups;

* Arranging the devotional and prayer-meetings;

- 3 -

Personal Counselling.

In relation to the last of these it may be noted that the presence of a chap-
lain ready to give individual help is still a new feature in the university, and
that therefore in spite of the fact that the need for this had been felt for some
time the work is not yet far beyond a beginning. It is too early for most of the
students who need someone to consult about their personal problems to feel that
confidence of approach which springs readily from an established tradition of trust.

B The Organization

The President of the University appoints a committee of thirteen people, of whom the Dean of the Theological College is the chairman, the Chaplain to the University is the secretary, and the chairman of the L.C.A. is one of the members, to be responsible for religious work. The other members are chosen from various colleges and departments, so that every side of the university is represented, and the committee is able to consider all the main religious needs of the people living on and around the campus. From this group sub-committees take charge of the various branches of religious work involved.

C The Expenses

Income this year has been an allowance which in American money would be
equivalent to $285 from the university, and $200 received from contributions and
weekly collections. This total of $485 is less than sufficient for the expenditure
involved in the present programme. The chief items in the budget are:

Social service and help to individuals in special need

Religious education

Christmas, Easter and Holy Communion services

The Salary of the Biblewoman

Printing

The choir

Outside speakers, posters, etc.

Expenses of social gatherings

→ 4 →

## 2 ADDITIONAL WORK WHICH $500 ANNUALLY WOULD MAKE POSSIBLE

### A The Plan

The imperative need of the present moment is a strong religious center which could serve both staff and students. The Christian students, who are about a quarter of the whole student body, and those non-Christian students who have joined with them in the social programmes, are very conscious of the need of such a center; they want a base from which they could go out, and invite other students to come and join in with them in the work or worship of small groups. Though the chaplain's office has been fully used, financial difficulties have left it poorly equipped. Available money, indeed, is insufficient for the programme quite apart from this. Such religious books as are to be found in the main university library are either too technical or else gravely out of date. The center should therefore provide its own library of books carefully selected for their value in expounding Christian teaching or commenting on social and personal problems for the interested, but not necessarily expert, reader. Again the community life of the "Families" would be greatly helped by some provision for refreshments or for recreational facilities.

### B The Budget

<table><tr><td>Furniture and equipment for the center</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td>Religious books and choir music</td><td>250</td></tr><tr><td>Help to fellowship groups</td><td>200</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>$500</td></tr></table>

## 3 ADDITIONAL WORK WHICH $2,000 ANNUALLY WOULD MAKE POSSIBLE

### A The Plan

The first claim on any additional funds would still be the building up of a strong religious center, as described in section 2. But the effectiveness of this and all Christian work will depend chiefly on the personal power behind it, and not only is there already more than sufficient scope for another full-time chaplain

- 5 -

in the university but as the fellowships, the center, and the personal contacts
grow the work is likely to increase. That the present chaplain is also on the
staff of the Theological College increases his powers of co-ordinating Christian
activities, but it also increases the work to be fitted into his time.

Beyond this it is also desirable to strengthen the social services offered.
The intimate connection between joining in Christian service of this kind and be-
ginning to understand and become interested in the Christian way has already been
mentioned. Among schemes proposed months ago, immediately recognized as meeting
urgent needs, but lacking funds even for a beginning, were:

i Providing proper equipment for the medical corps

ii Helping the free schools, which are at present handicapped by lack of text-books for the pupils, of reference books for the staff, and of money to employ further teachers

iii Training students for leadership, alike for the Sunday School and for the social service programmes.

## B The Budget

<table><tbody><tr><td>Religious center, as in previous budget</td><td>500</td></tr><tr><td>Salary for extending the chaplaincy</td><td>1,000</td></tr><tr><td>Help to free schools</td><td>300</td></tr><tr><td>Training leaders for the work</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td>Equipment of medical corps</td><td>100</td></tr></tbody><tfoot><tr><td></td><td>$2,000</td></tr></tfoot></table>

Canton, China

December 16, 1949