Hong Kong and the 1997 crisis: Danger or opportunity? Strategies for Baptist mission and growth in a climate of political transition.

摘要

This study describes and analyzes the 1997 political transition in Hong Kong in order to delineate culturally relevant strategies for the Hong Kong Baptist church to face this crisis.; For a full understanding of the 1997 crisis, the history of the political transition has taken note of the emigration problem, democracy development, and the self-consciousness of the identity of the Hong Kong people.; This study also discusses the sub-culture of the Southern Baptists, which has overshadowed the Hong Kong Baptist churches and put the Hong Kong Baptist church in cultural captivity. The Southern Baptist mission theology also puts Hong Kong Baptists in theological captivity.; Interviews of Baptist senior pastors and Christians revealed how they responded in this time of crisis. Their understanding of the separation of church and state and the future state may control the church and create a paradox and tension in this crisis.; Missiologist Orlando Costas' holistic model can act as the yard stick to develop culturally relevant strategies for church mission and growth of the churches in Hong Kong. Five strategies are proposed to help Baptist churches to grow in spite of danger and to see the future as fill of opportunities.; Through the study of a denomination in the transition of Hong Kong, four missiological implications can be applied beyond the context of Hong Kong and to the wider Christian community in light of the rapidly changing face of world mission.