13.03.2013
Elder Fu Xianwei and the Revd Peter Koon Visit Dublin
On Saturday March 16 Elder Fu Xianwei, the Chairperson of National Committee of Three–Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China and the Revd Peter Koon, Provincial Secretary General of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (Anglican Province of Hong Kong), are to commence a four day visit to Dublin. The visit, sponsored by the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, and the Dublin University Far Eastern Mission, marks a new step in the growing relationship between the Province of Dublin and that of Hong Kong.
In recent years the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui has been working closely with the National Committee of Three–Self Patriotic Movement and the China Church Council and this visit provides an opportunity for Elder Fu Xianwei to meet with the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui’s partners in the wider Anglican world.
Elder Fu Xianwei is the Chairperson of National Committee of Three–Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China. He was born in 1944 and was educated at the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary. He worked at a shipyard and schools in Shanghai before joining the National Committee of Three–Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China and the China Christian Council in 1988. He has been the Chairperson of the National Committee of Three–Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China since 2008. Elder Fu has visited many countries and received visitors from other countries as well as taking part in a number of international conferences and events on Christianity. This is his first visit to Ireland.
The Revd Peter Douglas Koon, Provincial Secretary General of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, is in part responsible for the pastoral and spiritual care of the Mandarin speaking community in Hong Kong. He has travelled to Dublin before and has delivered the prestigious Godfrey Day Memorial Lecture at Trinity College Dublin when he addressed the issues of the social work and social support structures of the Anglican Church in Hong Kong and Macau.
During the visit Elder Fu and the Revd Koon are to attend the Patronal Sung Eucharist in St Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday March 17; the Service for the Dublin Council of Churches in St Patrick’s Cathedral on March 17; and an Ecumenical Morning Prayer and Breakfast in Trinity College Dublin on Tuesday March 19. They are due to meet with a number of Dublin–based clergy and to visit historically important church sites in the Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough.
The National Committee of the Three–Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China was established in the 1950s in order to change the image of Christianity as a foreign religion. The organisation fostered the principals of self–governance, self–support and self–propagation. Known in combination with the China Christian Council as the lianghui (two organizations), they form the only state–sanctioned (registered) Protestant church in mainland China.
In the last 30 years, Christianity in China has been developing rapidly. According to statistics quoted on the Three–Self Patriotic Movement website, there are over 23 million Christians in China and over 56,000 churches and meeting points. There are a total of 21 theological seminaries with more than 1900 students in China.