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The Asia Lutheran exclusively interviewed Rev. Wu Chi Long, the President of the Hong Kong and Macau Lutheran Church on Dec. 2, 1997 at HKMLC office.
HKMLC has 15 congregations, including one on Hong Kong Island, one on Kowloon Peninsula, 2 in Macau, and the rest in Kowloon. Its' membership is at about 2000.
The church emphasizes education and social welfare; church education in 1 secondary and 2 primary schools, as well as 4 kindergartens; and social services, including an elderly center and hostel, a nursery for children and a wedding center.
Nurseries are very important in Hong Kong, said Wu, as many children are brought to the nursery before their parents go to work. They teach them in a similar way to the kindergarten classes from age 2 to 6. In all the schools, the churches also focus on spiritual teaching, praying, singing, and Bible lessons in addition to general education.
For special gatherings during the Christmas season, they always tell the story of Jesus and preach. This is common for most church schools in Hong Kong.
Of course it is challenging to reach out to people who don't know about Christianity. There is especially a conflict between old and new traditions, he said. "We want to build a church within the schools, to preach even to the parents. Some parents are active in the schools and they don't reject the Christian teachings. It's not easy for them to come to church and be open. But, there is mutual respect between their traditions of ancestor worship and our Christian teachings."
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How to approach children is a difficult task, and for them to become Christian without staying in the church schools is even harder. Therefore, outreach after graduation should be continued in various ways including personal contact. "We encourage our youth to reach out to them for spiritual nurturing," said Wu.
"In one congregation, the youth have developed a fellowship group and they go to the other schools and then invite those [former] students to our church. Then the students can know about church life and have a good exchange."
Next year is the HKMLC's 20th anniversary. For 15 years the church has been struggling, and "today our church is still weak in terms of finances and membership." From next year they will be making some new guidelines. "For the half of our congregations which are still weak, we will try to help them grow up with help for personnel and finances for a 5 to 10 year plan. The goal for them is to become self-supporting and balance their own finances."
HKMLC doesn't have enough pastors and leaders, as well as having a shortage of evangelists. There are few members who feel a calling to go to seminary and become leaders.
"Young Christians in HK do not put the church in the first place. There is too much worry in our daily life. Jobs, housing...most families take a lot of effort to keep up their houses. 60 to 70 percent of our income is spent on housing. Even this year housing costs have not dropped," explained Wu.
The Asia Lutheran asked, "Now the 'files' on the LWF Hong Kong Assembly are closed. Do you have anything to say about the resolutions from the Assembly?" Regarding the LWF Assembly in Hong Kong in July, Wu felt that the delegates from HK were very cautious about making comments. He analyzed this as people's fear of the China government, not wanting to upset the government, or cause a negative impact on relations. They might have been reluctant to speak out during the session. "However, we are glad of the LWF's concern [for our well-being]."
Being asked by the Asia Lutheran about the present HK political and economic system, he said during the next 10 to 20 years the system of "One Country- Two Systems" may work. "I believe China will try to keep this system. I think it depends on how the politicians and other people react. How they lead HK and how they keep their point of view or standpoint. We have to keep our own culture; we have developed our own culture over the past 100 years." He said it depends on 'how we live our lives' or 'how we try to get what we want and try to live.'
AL asked, "What is your view of the "front-line" voices or the West's voices regarding HK?" He stated that some Hong Kong people were angry at the Western Media "because they acted too far or took action beyond what HK people should do," while the "front-line" groups were relatively very small.
"We need stability and calmness, but we do need someone to watch out for us. We still need some critical voices to give some balance, some kind of balance." He insisted that Hong Kong needs various voices within the SAR, since a variety of voices relate to HK's prosperity in the future as well as HK's uniqueness. "As long as these 'front-line' groups don't create any negatives, or a reason for China to oppress [people] in HK," then their voices would work in a positive direction for HK.
Answering a question on church and politics, he said the churches are teaching the members and encouraging them to be political and not be silent, to be aware of new developments and to speak out in a suitable way. "But, we are giving no special instruction [to them]. Among our co-workers, we respect everyone's individual opinion."
He sees the governmental restriction on outreach to churches in China as continuing, but informal contact with them would not raise any problems, as long as it didn't create any negative impact. "The government officials are mostly very cooperative with the churches there which will be convenient for us in the future. Of course we must follow the regulations."
There are some possibilities to cooperate with churches in China through Bible training for their revival meetings and services. "It is rather free" to continue this relationship with churches in China, he said. Regarding the news which reported the Beijing government is strictly controlling church activities, he said that some areas were rather tight. It is because some people have tried to create a high profile and left a negative image with government authorities. "But this is a relatively small area," said Wu. 
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