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China/Hong Kong
 Wei Hong, accompanied by Rev. Yang and Rev. Wang, visits the library of the Guizhou Bible Course. Photo by Caroline Fielder.
Don and Wei Hong Snow serve the PC(USA) as regional liaison staff for China. Don writes about the growth of theological training in Guizhou province, one of China's most beautiful and poorest provinces. There are approximately 230,000 Protestant Christians in the province, but most are from minority (non-Han Chinese) people groups who live in poor mountain villages like the one on the cover of the 2008 Mission Yearbook. As of the early 1990s, there were very few church workers in these communities who had any theological training.
One Christian concerned about this situation was the Rev. Tang Rongtao, a pastor and doctor living in a rural prefecture in western Guizhou. In 1993, he set up a theological training course that he supported with the proceeds from his medical clinic. The students were mainly from very poor backgrounds, so the school did not charge tuition and even subsidized students’ living costs.
The school grew and developed, and in 2003 it was moved to the provincial capital, Guiyang, to become the Guizhou Christian Theology Course. Currently the school offers both a three-year program and a one-year preparatory program. Of the 125 students in the school, most are from poor rural areas and ethnic minority backgrounds. When they graduate, they serve their local church and support themselves financially through farming and other occupations. The school still does not charge tuition because many students are simply too poor, so financial support for the school comes from Christians in Guizhou and abroad.
Partners/Ministries
China Christian Council: Rev. Feng Gao president and acting general secretary, Rev. Baoping Kan, executive associate general secretary
National Committee of Three-Self Patriotic Movement of Protestant Churches in China: Elder Xianwei Fu, chairman and acting general secretary, Rev. Xiaohong Qu, executive associate general secretary
Amity Foundation: Mr. Zhong Hui Qiu, general secretary
Nanjing Union Theological Seminary: Bishop K. H. Ting, president
The Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China: Rev. Eric S. Y. So, general secretary
Hong Kong Christian Institute: Ms. Rose Wu, director
Christian Family Service Center [Hong Kong]: Ms. Nora Yau, director
PC(USA) General Assembly Staff
Celia Greene, GAMC
Vera Greene, BOP
Alan Greenstine, BOP
Lord, we thank you for the spirit of faithfulness and sacrifice that nurtures the growth of your church in China and throughout the world. We pray that you continue to bless, support, and sustain the work of your servants and your church. And we ask that you continue to prod us all to be diligent in seeking more ways to be of service to you and to others. Amen.
Ps. 97, 145 Ps. 124, 115
Dan. 4:19–27
1 John 3:19–4:6; Luke 4:14–30
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