06626
November 27, 2006

WCC’s Kobia ends China trip

Mission concludes with visit to center for prisoners’ kids

by Juan Michel
WCC News and Information

BEIJING — A press conference and a visit to a church-supported village for prisoners’ children were among the highlights at the end of a Nov. 15-22 visit to China by World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary the Rev. Samuel Kobia.

     At a Nov. 21 press conference, held after the WCC delegation had met with China government officials, Kobia affirmed that “it is in the best interests of the government to actually expand the space for the practice of religion.”

     The WCC general secretary said he had been impressed by the way in which Christian communities are growing in the country, and by the enabling and safe environment in which Christians practice their faith.

     He encouraged the government to ensure wider participation and involvement of religious people in efforts to bring about the Chinese vision of a “harmonious society.” “It would be detrimental to the government if it is not seen to be providing freedom of religion,” he said.

     ”If China wants to be the kind of global player that it is clearly becoming, then there are norms and standards” in terms of religious freedom “which will be expected of its government, and I think they are aware of this,” he said.
 
     On Nov. 22  Kobia and members of an ecumenical delegation visited the Dong Zhou Children’s Village in San Yuan County, Shaanxi Province.

     They spent time with 29 children under the age of 14 whose parents are in prison, executed or unable to meet their basic needs. “Although the parents of these children paid for their own crimes, their children are innocent,” an official told the delegation.

     The village, which is supported by the Amity Foundation, the Shaanxi Christian Council and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), aims to provide a healthy environment and protect the children from becoming child laborers, garbage collectors, street children or falling into illegal activities.

     The official praised the role played by Christians in supporting the village in order to help “these children who should have lived a life like those growing up happily with their families.”

     ”Love, education and hope are the three words that characterize what I have seen here,” Kobia told the staff and supporters of the village. “This project was born out of an active, practical love. And when the children feel loved and have been given education and training here, then they have hope for the future. There is no better gift that this community can give to these children than hope,” Kobia said.

     The delegation was moved by the response of a 9-year-old girl who expressed gratitude on behalf of the children.

     On the previous day, Kobia visited the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and addressed a group of scholars.

     Zhuo Xinping, and other scholars affiliated with the Academy, who focus their research on a wide variety of specializations within Christianity, engaged in dialogue with Kobia and members of the delegation.

     The WCC general secretary presented an overview of the changing landscape of Christianity today.

     On Nov. 22, the WCC delegation visited the province of Shaanxi, whose long history of Christian presence dates back to 635 AD and the Tang Dynasty when Nestorianism was introduced to the area.

     In Shaanxi, the delegation visited a 7th-century Nestorian tablet. Inscribed in both Chinese and Syriac, it is the oldest record of early Christian presence in the area.

     Although Nestorianism did not take root in this land, the Protestant church in Shaanxi Province has about 400,000 members, 554 churches and 1,206 “gathering points.” The delegation also met with the leadership of Shaanxi Christian Council and the Three-Self Patriot Committee.

     The ecumenical delegation accompanying the WCC general secretary on his seven-day visit included the Rev.Tyrone Pitts, WCC central committee member and general secretary of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, USA; the Rev. Seong-Won Park, WCC central committee member, from the Presbyterian Church of Korea, South Korea; the Rev. Gabriel Papanicolaou, ecumenical officer of the Church of Greece; Mathews George Chunakara, the WCC’s Asia secretary; Monika Gaenssbauer, director of the China Study Project of the Protestant churches and mission agencies in Germany; and the Rev. Deborah DeWinter, WCC program executive for the United States.