We are pleased to bring our readers this post, which was originally published by Christian Times. Pastor Leo Kwan explains an important perspective on how Christians in Hong Kong are coping with their new circumstances. Pastor Kwan gives us a deep understanding of the church landscape in Hong Kong. While circumstances are undeniably challenging, we hope you will be inspired by the creativity and rich culture that Hong Kong Christians are drawing on to continue to be the church in their vibrant city. To read the original Chinese version of the article, click here.
Although I am from Hong Kong, I certainly cannot speak for the many churches in Hong Kong, as they are incredibly diverse. There is only one holy catholic church, but there are numerous denominations and local churches. Hong Kong has over 1,300 Chinese local churches, each facing different challenges and issues. This small city, due to historical factors, astonishingly hosts over a dozen theological institutions of varying sizes. Due to limited space and high land prices, most local congregations in Hong Kong are small groups of fewer than two hundred people, crowded into narrow commercial spaces for meetings.
Discussing the future of the church and church development in Hong Kong’s new context is challenging. The Hong Kong church is facing significant internal and external impacts. After the 2019 political turmoil, the government introduced new laws, reformed the legislature, implemented new education policies, and emphasized the “patriots governing Hong Kong” principle, eliminating dissenting voices.
In recent years, tens of thousands of people, including many Christians, have left Hong Kong, weakening the local church’s strength. Many young people have stopped attending church gatherings, a phenomenon known as “de-churched“1 (meaning leaving the church community). The reasons are multifaceted, including the church’s political stance, power struggles within the church, generational conflicts, and pressure from work and family life. Local churches have lost a large number of 30- to 40-year-old Christians, who were supposed to be the future of the church.
The Hong Kong church is aging, and the retirement wave and emigration wave have led to a shortage of human and financial resources for many local churches. The church I serve is also aging; among the 120 regular attendees, 37% are 65 or older, 26% are between 50-64, and 62.5% are 50 or older, while only 22% are under 40. Many local church leaders, including seminary teachers, have retired in recent years, leaving a leadership vacuum. Many churches are struggling to find pastors. Last year, a seminary failed to recruit full-time students. Under political and economic pressure, many Hong Kong churches and denominations are facing aging and decline, with shrinking human and financial resources. For many churches in Hong Kong, the issue of church development may be considered in the context of church survival.
Beyond Survival: Rethinking Church Development
I believe it is inappropriate to think about church development from a survival perspective. Let me share some observations.
1. The Gospel Sustains the Church, Not Vice Versa
The gospel gives life to the church, so it should be the gospel that determines the church’s development and opens up its future. If local churches or denominations try to solve their survival crisis first and then address church development, they are putting the cart before the horse. As long as there is the gospel, there will be disciples, and as long as there are disciples, there will be a church. If local churches compromise on the gospel in order to survive, they may be able to maintain their existence, but they will become less and less like a church.
2. The Church Serves God’s Kingdom, Not the Reverse
The gospel is about the coming of God’s kingdom, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This kingdom gospel calls people to transfer their allegiance to the all-powerful God. Through the work of Messiah Jesus and the Holy Spirit, people become God’s children (like a household) and God’s people (like a nation), building for God’s kingdom on earth. The local church is only a part of the church, a form of its existence. As a social organization, the local church has its own life cycle, growing at times and stagnating at others. It can even wither and disintegrate. However, the church has many different ways of existing, and it needs to “be water.”
During the pandemic, the Hong Kong government ordered the closure of religious premises and required citizens to receive vaccinations before entering places of worship. These new regulations challenged the autonomy of the church, as the government defined who could enter the church and when. As a registered legal entity, the local church could not avoid being monitored by the law.
In Hong Kong, the church’s development in recent years has been affected by political changes. The so-called church development may not need to focus on expanding the local church or gathering more people. Instead, it should develop a more mobile and flexible church life that is not reliant on physical church buildings. This is similar to the concept of “missional communities” mentioned by Rev. Daniel Ng Wee Jin of Seminari Theoloji Malaysia. Some Hong Kong churches have developed their premises into shared community spaces, sharing their resources with neighbors.
These developments are not about making the local church bigger or gathering more people, but about selflessly sharing resources and developing kingdom values, sharing love, and neighborhood building. They are not afraid of their resources being diluted because they know that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
3. Church Development: Fostering a Movement
Jesus developed a kingdom of God movement, proclaiming that God would fulfill his promises to the prophets through his work in Israel. Jesus’s death almost destroyed the movement, but his resurrection injected new vision and power into it, transforming it into a global movement that transcended national boundaries. Understanding the church as a movement helps us see that from the very beginning, the church was not about expanding an organization.
Over the years, the Hong Kong church has many developments beyond the local churches. There have been many movements initiated by believers, such as “We Love, Therefore We Share” (平等分享行動) launched by a few believers over a decade ago. They connected with local small shops, produced meal vouchers, and shared them with the poor. They did not aim to distribute welfare but to develop friendships with the poor and enhance their dignity. Participants later started similar initiatives in various districts. The “We Love, Therefore We Share” did not become institutionalized, nor did it establish an organization to operate the movement. Instead, it chose to scatter the spirit of equal sharing like seeds in society, decentralizing it. Today, there is no longer any news about the “We Love, Therefore We Share” and it does not need to exist forever. It has completed its historical mission, influencing people’s hearts.
Recently, some Christian groups have emerged in Hong Kong, such as hair salons and gyms, which are not traditional churches but have a strong sense of mission. There are also “slash pastors” (who are pastors on one hand and have other jobs on the other) and “slash congregations.” These Christians, influenced by different movements, participate not only in their local churches but also in activities outside of their churches, sometimes even simultaneously engaging with multiple local churches. For them, their calling is to participate in Jesus Christ’s kingdom movement, with local churches being their cooperative partners. This means that they have shifted from being local church-centered to being kingdom-centered.
Some movements choose to establish their own organizational structures, such as the CCCOWE Movement (華福運動) or the long-established Breakthrough (突破) and Hong Kong Church Renewal Movement (HKCRM) (香港教會更新運動). Recently, some movements like PRAXIS (油踐入心) and Cultivating Peace (栽種和平)” have also set up their own organizations. The mission movement I participate in, CCMN, also has its own organization. Whether to establish an organizational structure to maintain the movement or not is just a choice.
4. Development Principle: He Must Increase, I Must Decrease
Movements and organizations all have their life cycles. Currently, Hong Kong’s economy is in decline, and many businesses are shutting down. The local churches and organizations that flourished during Hong Kong’s rapid economic growth are struggling to survive in the face of economic decline, population outflow, and decreased giving. In times of economic decline, development may involve mergers, reorganization, or even suspension. Some organizations that were started with a strong sense of mission have grown larger over time, but eventually became focused on maintaining their own structures and continued to launch new projects, even to the point of hypocrisy.
In Hong Kong, there is a large institution that started a film evangelism movement over a decade ago, which was questioned by 64 Chinese church leaders from around the world, causing a stir.2, 3 The topic of church development must be considered in the spirit of John the Baptist’s words, “He must increase, I must decrease.” We must recognize that what needs to be developed is the universal church as part of the kingdom movement, not a specific local church or organization. In Hong Kong’s context, it is even more crucial to move away from church-centeredness or institution-centeredness; otherwise, under political and economic pressure, survival may often take precedence over vision, and it is easier to be devoured by the beast. “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
Endnotes
- 許家欣, 「留堂會」、「離堂會」的現象和研究, Christian Times, October 18, 2018, accessed July 8. 2024, https://christiantimes.org.hk/Common/Reader/News/ShowNews.jsp?Nid=155921&Pid=104&Version=0&Cid=2053&Charset=big5_hkscs&p=1.
- 關浩然, 我發起了「關注方舟驚世電影佈道者操守」的群組, Christian Times, October 13, 2011, accessed July 8, 2024, https://www.christiantimes.org.hk/Common/Reader/News/ShowNews.jsp?Nid=68916&Pid=1&Version=0&Cid=150&Charset=big5_hkscs.
- 時代論壇, 64 位教牧領袖聯署呼籲 考慮應否支持影音使團（11月29日消息）, Christian Times, November 29, 2011, accessed July 8, 2024, https://christiantimes.org.hk/Common/Reader/News/ShowNews.jsp?Nid=69772&Pid=5&Version=0&Cid=220&Charset=big5_hkscs.
Image credit: Cheung Yin via Unsplash.
Leo Kwan
Leo Kwan is a local church pastor who was inspired by N.T. Wright in the late twentieth century and has since been unstoppable. In recent years, he has resonated with Jeremiah's vision of "a boiling pot, tilted away from the north," living in the suffocating atmosphere of materialism and idolatry, …View Full Bio
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