| This Ministry Focus Paper is to develop a comprehensive strategy to renew and strengthen the Yan Lok Church by making it a friendly and growing church, through an emphasis on a balanced Christian life. The basis of this balanced life is God's creation which stresses on "from chaos to order", and it is exactly the will of God for creation. Human beings are made in the image of God, in the sense that we are made to continue the work of the creation, to put the world in the right order and in harmony. In turn we can have happiness and satisfaction through the order and the harmony of our relationship with God, with fellow men, and with the natural world. Salvation is not an end by itself, but a means to achieve the ultimate purpose of creation. God wants us to share His creation work in our marketplaces, through our love towards God and men, and through our care to preserve the natural world.; The Paper is divided into three sections. The first section provides a biblical and theological rationale for understanding creation as "from chaos to order". Creation is not just the process of creating beings out of nothing, but also the process of putting a chaotic universe into a orderly state. This was what God did in the first six days of history, and continues to do so from the beginning of time to the present days.; The second section focuses on the situation of this church and the community in our neighborhood. I try to analyse the reasons why this church experienced so little growth in the past, such as the salvation-oriented theology, the rapidly changing society, the dissipating inter-personal relationships, the high pressure environment, etc.. I also look at the challenge and crisis that Hong Kong and the churches of Hong Kong will face in the coming years, particularly the political transition by 1997.; The third section sets out a strategy for helping the church members of Yan Lok Church to have a more balanced Christian life based on the theological foundation of creation. This section includes specific plans of Yan Lok that are consistent with the Biblical teaching of creation. |
