Mentality of Hong Kong Christian University Students in the 1960s Towards the Ideal Christian Life

 

In an interview for Hong Kong Baptist University on August 2 2018, veteran Christian ministry leader Wai Man Fung shared his university student fellowship experiences while he was a student. Since he was born in 1940, this interview should be referring to the situation of universities in the 1960s. This is how they conceptualized the ideal Christian life at the time. 

 

The following contains translated portions of this interview:

  • they idealized missions:

    • specifically overseas missions

    • to the neglect of local Hong Kong needs

  • their expectations for how to live ethically included:

    • being a good parent

    • being a good husband or wife

    • work ethically with integrity, above secular standards

  • their ideal ethical ideal was modeled after Daniel and Joseph in the Bible:

    • both of them went overseas to develop their careers and wealth

    • sexual purity

    • submission to authority

    • altruistic giving and adherence to societal roles for the purpose of being an effective Christian witness

    • this served as a projection of what the Christian university students wanted for their own lives, justifying their personal ambitions

  • flaws in their ethical ideals included:

    • inability to relate to the example of the prophet Isaiah

    • ignoring challenges which were at odds with Chinese culture and values

    • not realizing how their beliefs about Christian may have had blind spots

    • not seeing the need to be reflective

  • several key influences such taking such a perspective:

    • American and British InterVarsity Fellowship, Rev. David Adeney, the British Evangelical Movement, associating Christianity with societal elitism

    • Pietistic celebrity Christians who escaped the People’s Republic of China under Communist rule, who advocated for evangelizing in the United States

In contrast to typical trends of the time, Fung became a pioneer leader for Christian social involvement in Hong Kong beyond this truncated vision of the Christian life.