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Tag: Peace and Reconciliation

Cultivating Peace in Hong Kong

Written by Edward Lai (Senior Communications Officer) He is a professor, wearing various hats of administrative management in university. Although he is a busy bee, he always spends time listening to youngsters’ desires and struggles. Regarding the recent unprecedented socio-political changes in Hong Kong, he believes that there are still many things to do for the common good, and more companions are needed for collaborations. When we asked about his goal in the next ten years, he responded without a second thought that it must be cultivating the value of peacebuilding in communities. It is ‘cultivating’ because peace cannot be built in one day but years. It is ‘building’ because peace is not given but built by people,

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The Righteous will Live by Faith

Written by Dr. Kwok Wai Luen (Associate Professor of the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Hong Kong Baptist University) For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’ Romans 1:17 When I was a relatively new believer, I would sometimes come across this saying in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11: “The righteous will live by faith”. Seeing that Paul taught the relationship between the law and God’s grace, I always thought this particular verse was quite obviously about being saved by grace through faith. However, I later came to realise that Paul’s words were actually an

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CONTINUALLY INSPIRED, UNCHANGING MISSION

Written by: Edward Lai  (Senior Communications Officer) A Haitian woman sits on the floor beside several circular mud cakes. She rubs pieces of dust off the mud cakes, and slowly puts the cakes into her mouth, chewing slowly. To her, and to many other Haitians living in poverty, these cakes – made by mixing mud with water and salt, kneading the mixture into the shape of a cake, and setting the cakes under the sun to dry – were their daily meals; their life-saving meals. Our founders, Mr and Mrs Oliver Mark, were deeply touched by the sight of women eating mud cakes. They were in the UK at the time; after returning to Hong Kong, they were

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Reconciliation towards an Authentic Community

Written by: Bernard Wong (Assistant Professor (Theological Studies) and Associate Dean of China Graduate School of Theology, Board Member of CEDAR Fund) Scripture reading: Revelation 7:9-12 Genesis described the diverse and rich world God created, and the future will be even more abundant. The apostle John was shown a vision concerning Christ’s second coming, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…” (Revelation 7:9) From the beginning of the world, God commanded human beings to be fruitful and increase in number, giving rise to different nationalities and languages. The eschatological vision brings us several

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‘Give You this Calf as a Mark of Reconciliation’ – Road to Reconciliation after the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda

Written by: Edward Lai  (Senior Communications Officer) “I give you this calf as a mark of reconciliation” says Innocent, a survivor in the genocide in Rwanda. He scrubbed the calf’s body with grass, held the rope tied to the neck, and handed it to the “new master” – the one who had tried to kill him with a machete along with other mobs. There are still many clearly visible scars on his face. Among them, there are two cross-shaped scars on the left cheek, one extending from the forehead down to the nostril, and the other from the cheekbones to the right side of the nose. When he lowered his head, there were also many scars come from

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The Real Meaning Behind ‘Seventy-Seven Times’

Written by: Bernard Wong (Assistant Professor (Theological Studies) and Associate Dean of China Graduate School of Theology, Board Member of CEDAR Fund) If a Christian has been wronged, other believers often encourage her to offer forgiveness immediately, for Jesus teaches us to “forgive a brother seventy-seven times.” We may think that a good Christian should endure unfair treatment, and ought to be forgiving under all circumstances. Did Jesus really mean that? “Seventy-seven times” is Jesus’ response to Peter’s question – “How many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?”(Matt 18:21-22) However, in the previous passage, Jesus had just discussed the situation of “if your brother sins against you”. Therefore, “seventy-seven times” must be

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Environment Protection: All about Love and Justice

Banner image taken in Kurigram District of northern Bangladesh Written by Tony Chan (Senior Partnership Development Officer) Friends asked me, “Your organisation (CEDAR Fund) is for poverty alleviation. Why does it actively promote environment protection?” This is closely related to CEDAR’s understanding of poverty. We believe that poverty is resulted from an impaired relationship. In the beginning of creation, relationships between man and God, man and man, and man and nature were good. However, man sinned and disobeyed God, and even exploited others and the nature for their own benefits. Those who were exploited became the poor. In Kurigram District, north of Bangladesh, desertification is severe and many farms have been vanished and covered by sands and dusts,

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Resurrection and Integral Mission

Written by: Au Bing Chung (Lecturer at the Christian Ministry Institute) Resurrection is an eschatological idea, and Integral Mission addresses the responsibility and stewardship of Christians living on earth. Although there seems to be no apparent connection between the two, the eschatological view of Christians will affect how they interpret their missions. For instance, if a person believes that the world will be in ultimate destruction at the end days, he will put less effort in constructing a world that will be wiped out eventually. On the other hand, if the believers anticipate a forthcoming new world that is connected to and evolved from the present world, they will somehow attend to the world’s development and conservation. Paul

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Why is Reconciliation Important?

Whenever we talk about reconciliation, we always think of our good partner in Zimbabwe, Foundations for Farming (FfF). We are honoured to have Brian, their founder, to share with us the power of reconciliation and forgiveness through his journey on founding FfF. Written by: Brian Oldreive (Founder of Foundations for Farming) Over the years, we in Foundations for Farming (FfF) have learnt the importance of reconciliation and unity. It all began when I had failed miserably using the world’s conventional farming methods. This caused me to seek the Lord to show me how to farm His way, and He very graciously allowed that farm to prosper until it became one of the largest crop growing operations in Africa. In

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Will You Make Things Right?

Written by: Jady Sit “Where are you?” “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” The above scene (Genesis 3:9-12), well-known by every Christian, documents the event when men and God’s relationship went from perfect intimacy to complete distant. As Adam accused “the woman you put here with me”, relationship among humans had also become distorted. Then, men and land were cursed. Sin made the world a broken

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