A tour of Church Messages - part 2

On Boxing Day, I ran past 15 churches in Kowloon, to see what messages are they sending out to the street from their front doors.  My conclusion was: “not much”.  There were a couple of Nativity scenes from Catholic churches, and a proclamation of peace from a Lutheran church.  Otherwise most churches have little or nothing to say related to Christmas. 

Today, on the last but one day of 2020, I want to make sure I have a sufficiently wide coverage of different types of churches.  Hence I ran to another bunch of 10 churches. 

Hop Yat Church Kowloon Church 中華基督教會合一堂九龍堂

HKSKH Christ Church 香港聖公會基督堂

Kowloon Tong Alliance Church 九龍塘宣道會

Christian Central Church (Kowloon Tong) 基督中心堂(九龍塘)

The Church of Christ in China Cheung Lo Church 中華基督教會長老堂

The Church of Christ in China Mandarin Church 中華基督教會國語堂

Mongkok Swatow Baptist Church 旺角潮語浸信會

Grace Hong Kong Evangelical Church 香港宣教會恩磐堂

The Church of Christ in China Shum Oi Church 中華基督教會深愛堂

HKSKH Saint Thomas' Church 香港聖公會聖多馬堂

The vast majority of the 25 churches I have visited so far either have their own buildings, or are at the ground level of multi-storey buildings, with a main entrance on the street.    

Only one or two are on the upper floors of buildings.  For those, if is difficult to have a street level presence.  Hence I am leaving them out of my observations. 

Some of the churches are located in upscale residential areas such as Kowloon Tong.  Some of them are English speaking.  These churches seem to have the least to say to the people on the street.  One of the reasons for that may be that there are few pedestrians on the sidewalks in those areas.  However, many of them are on busy streets or even main roads.  They could conceivably send messages to the many drivers and passengers in the vehicles which pass by all the time.  Presumably they do their reaching out through their own members, friends and relatives, etc.      

Some are in mixed business / residential areas such as Mongkok.  Most of these also have few messages related to Christmas.  With the exception of one or two that says “Peace”.  Some do have information about online worships services in lieu of regular services because of the pandemic.

Some are in residential areas close to public housing.  Most also do not have explicit Christmas messages.  But many do have a lot of information on their programs and activities.  It would appear that they make the hardest effort to reach out to the people on the street, who can be of all kinds.  But it is easy to see that rich people don’t usually come this way.    

The loudest Christmas messages seem to be coming from Catholic churches, as I reported earlier.  Their door also seems to be most open.  

I set out to find out about the messages that churches are sending out to the people on the streets.  At the end, I realised that having no message is actually an important message by itself.  I also suspect that the way a church reaches out may have a big impact on what kind of congregation it gets.  

A tour of Church Messages

My running route on Boxing Day may seem aimlessly meandering at first glance.  When I showed my friend J the map, he spotted quickly there were certainly points where I lingered and turned around.  But the map, shown on the small screen of my smartphone, was not detailed enough for him to identify those key points. 

There was, actually, a method to the rout. I wanted to see what messages are the churches sending to the public via their front gates - their public faces. I visited the following churches on my 20 kilometre, 3 and a half hour route. 

Sheng Kung Hui The Church of The Magnificat 聖公會頌主堂

SKH Holy Carpenter Church 聖公會聖匠堂

St. Mary’s Church 紅磡聖母堂

Rosary Church 九龍玫瑰堂

Tsim Sha Tsui Baptist Church 尖沙咀浸信會

TST Swatow Christian Church 尖沙咀潮人生命堂

TST Canaan Church 尖沙咀迦南堂

EFCC Spring Church 播道會泉福堂

Kowloon Methodist Church 循道衞理聯合教會九龍堂

Truth Lutheran Church 信義會真理堂

EFCC Waterloo Hill Church 播道會窩打老道山福音堂

Kowloon City Baptist Church 九龍城浸信會

Saint Teresa’s Church 聖德肋撒堂

Saint Francis of Assisi’s Catholic Church 聖方濟各堂

EFCC Yan Fook Church 播道會恩福堂

Most churches have cancelled in-person gatherings and moved online because of the pandemic.  They are not inactive.  But from the street, one wouldn’t know it. 

Some did post notices of online worship and other activities.  

A few had clear and more visible messages related to Christmas.  The best that I found was the Nativity scene at the Catholic Rosary Church at the corner of Chatham Road and Austin Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. They have always had a Nativity Scene at Christmas  every year and this year is no different.  The Nativity scene was visible from the street.  The gate to the grounds was open and people could just walk in from the street. 

At the Truth Lutheran Church on Waterloo Road, there is a big billboard proclaiming the Christmas message.  

At the Catholic Saint Teresa’s Church on Waterloo Road and Boundary Street, there was a picture of a Nativity scene on the tympanum on top of the columns at the front.  It is visible from the street from a great distance.  One can walk through the open gates onto the grounds.  

The sanctuary remains open for prayer.  

At many of the churches, gates and doors were closed. There was nothing to indicate that anything was going on.  

Space is at a premium in Hong Kong.  For many churches who can only afford premises on upper floors in high rises, it is very difficult to make a visible presence on the street.  But even for many churches with premises at street level, or even their own grand buildings, there is hardly any Christmas message.  

There was even a very unfortunate image of a homeless person eating a foul-looking box of food sitting on the ground in front of a closed church on Nathan Road. 

It just seems like an opportunity lost.  Christmas is such an opportune time to send a message of hope, love and faith to the world.  People literally expect people, particularly Christians, to say “Merry Christmas!” to each other, to even strangers.  Here are so many church with precious street presence seemingly without a message for the world. 

It is particularly jarring for this year. When the pandemic, wars, conflicts, prejudice bigotry, exploitation, nepotism, social injustice and naked hatred make for a miserable world.  

It is a missed opportunity.  

Despair and Hope

2020 is a year in which the world collectively probe the depth of despair.

Tens of millions have been infected with the coronavirus.

More than a million have died, with even more to come.

Millions of Syrians have fled the horror of war in their own country. 

Democratic countries are turning despotic. 

Powerful people bully and brutalise the powerless. 

The rich continue to exploit the poor.

And blame them for their own misfortune - “you are so lazy!”. 

When the powerless rebel in so many places in the world, the powerful clamp down with tear gas, bullets, prison and ever more draconian laws - and say, “You are so violent!”.

The powerless feel peaceful protests are useless, and turn to violence. 

The result is even more conflict and violence.

The powerful are legitimising prejudice, bigotry and hatred. 

Hatred begets hatred, with no end in sight. 

Yet human dignity has survived.   

The powerless refuse to give up.

The poor continue to work hard to improve their station in life. 

The young continue to study to improve their prospects.  

The poor are helping the poor. 

The weak are helping the weak. 

The young are learning to care. 

Because there is still hope.

Because there is love. 

Because there is faith. 

Because we believe in eventual justice, despite the temporary evidence to the contrary. 

Because we hope for a world better than this; if not today, then sometime in the future. 

Because we have God.

Because we have Jesus. 

Because of Christmas!

A Social Distanced Christmas Eve

There is a lot of people out on the streets.  

Although it is much less than usual. 

But at least practically everyone is wearing a mask. 

One cannot eat in a restaurant.  Dinner has to be taken anywhere you can, often in a park. 

Even in a big crowd, it is still possible to pretend that you are alone, just the two of you. 

Some people are trying to do a little business. 

Some people are still spending money on flowers.

There are still lots of bright lights around. 

It turns our you can buy tea from Rwanda in Hong Kong. 

There are lots of police around. 

Perhaps they are needed to keep people from watching a little twirling yellow umbrella.  

Don’t forget Christmas is for Jesus, who came to this world to give us hope.  We do need lots of it.  There is just way too much misery, injustice and suffering of all sorts. 

SLS-4c Explosion - 2,400 became 4,000

When PolyU decided in 2010 to make service-learning a required subject, we thought the target of providing enough places for 2,400 undergraduates each year was almost  an impossible target.  At the point the extent of our experience was running one or two community service projects, with 20-30 students in each group, each year.  

Little did we know the target number would become 4,000 - and growing - within a few years. We admit indeed roughly 2,400 students each year into full-time, 4-year, undergraduate programs.  However, we also admit some students into the 4-year programs after the first year.  In addition, we also have quite a number of 2-year “top-up” programs leading to the Bachelor’s degrees, designed for students who have completed the equivalent of the first tow years of the 4-year Bachelor’s degrees.  These are students who have completed associate degrees in community colleges, and higher diplomas in  vocational training institutes and other post-secondary educational institutions.   These  “senior admissions” (“senior intake”) amount to an additional 1,600+ students.  Hence the total number of students we have to accommodate suddenly becomes roughly 2,400 + 1,600 = 4,000.  This is indeed impossible. 

For a while, there was a running debate within the university whether these serener intake / top-up students should be required to take a SL subject.  On the one hand, these students are receiving a PolyU undergraduate degree.  If SL is to be an integral part of a PolyU education, then they should take a SL subject.  This is particularly important for students who are admitted into 4-year programs after the first year.  They are getting exactly the same degree as the other students who enter into the same program in the first year.  Their graduate diploma is going to look the same.  This is a strong pedagogical argument for requiring them to take a SL subjects.  Even for the 2-year top up program, they are all PolyU Bachelor’s degrees.  Many of their employers are not going to be distinguishing whether they studied 2 years or 4 years at PolyU.  

On the other hand, service-learning is designed as general education.  As such at least half of the students are expected to take SL in the first 2 years of their studies, and the vast majority of the students are expected to take SL in the first 3 years, leaving the final year for capstone projects, job hunting, applying for graduate studies, etc.   Students who enter PolyU only for the final 2 years do not have that luxury, they must take SL within the 2 years that they have.  In fact, students generally graduate in May, meaning that they actually only have 4 semesters plus one summer term to complete their requirements, not a full two years.  There is also the added complication that some SL subjects stretch over the spring semester and the following summer to complete.  This make it even more complicated for the students to fit SL into their study plan.  These are mainly practical and operational arguments against requiring senior intake / popup students to take SL.

Eventually, the leadership decided that the pedagogical trumps the practical.  All 4,000 undergraduate students who receive a PolyU Bachelor’s degree must take SL.  It does not matter whether they study at polyU for 4, 3, or 2 years.   Once that was decided, we went to work, frantically.  In a certain way, we are proud of that decision.  The pedagogical trumps the practical.  If it is educationally sound, we will find a way to achieve it.  When there is a will, there is a way - within reason.  And we have succeeded, despite our initial anxiety.  Thanks to the concerted efforts of the whole campus. 

SLS-4b5 Explosion - S curve Growth

There are two critical numbers in the growth of service-learning at PolyU.  One is the number of credit-bearing academic subjects.  The other, perhaps most importantly, is the number of students enrolled - because we are committed to provide enough places for all undergraduates to fulfil the requirement.  In both cases the number grow slowly in the beginning.  Then the number enter a period of very rapid growth.  Subsequently the number slows as the need is satisfied.  The result is a classical stretched S-shaped curve for both numbers. 

In the beginning, when service-learning was made a required subject, very few people in the university were familiar with the core principles of service-learning and how they can be applied in a course. Some were skeptical of its academic rigour and practical feasibility.  Others were downright hostile, secretly wishing or even actively pushing the program to fail.  

Hence it was critical to create success stories to convince the skeptical that it is academically sound and indeed feasible.  Success in creating these subjects quickly builds momentum, develops a critical mass, forestalls attacks and raises the probability of ultimate success of the overall program itself.  In 2011-12, 9 subjects were successfully offered, with a total of 213 students.  The numbers of both subjects and students were modest. Classes were small.  We were still in the piloting phase, when service-learning subjects were offered to students in the old 3-year undergraduate programs as elective general education subject. The first cohort of the 4-year undergraduate programs would not enter PolyU until September 2012. Nevertheless there were some impactful projects, even overseas ones.  It was modest but a success.  The piloting was critical in convincing enough people on campus that SL is indeed both academically sound and practically feasible.  

In 2012-13, the first year of the formal service-learning program being offered to the 4-year undergraduates, the numbers were still modest.  But behind the scenes enough academic staff and their department heads were convinced, a critical mass has been built, a tipping point reached. Many new SL subjects were being proposed from a wide range of departments and faculties, approved, and ready to be offered.  We quickly entered into a period of astonishingly fast growth. During those several years the OSL worked extremely hard with the departments to develop the subject proposals and the actual projects.   The sub-committee on SL subjects met often, each time examining dozens of proposals.  Many proposals were revised multiple times within a short time, to get the subjects ready.  

By 2015-16, when the first cohort was in their final year, we had already developed enough subjects for the full scale operation of the SL requirement.  Thereafter we had no need to proceed at breakneck speed anymore.  We enter into a period of continuous improvement, deepening impact and measured growth.  The focus changed to exciting innovation, and deepening the culture of civic engagement on campus.   

Interview on RTHK

Dr. Grace Ngai and myself, representing the Service-Learning and Leadership Office, were interviewed live on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) Channel 31 last evening, Wednesday, December 16, 2020, in the program 《日常8點半》.  The interview, conducted in Cantonese, lasted about 12 minutes and appeared between sometime after 9 PM. 

We shared about the vision of service-learning at PolyU, how we continued to carry out service-learning projects throughout covid-19, and the impact on the students.  

We explained how students learn to service the community, and in the process, learn to be good citizens.  Covid-19 canceled person-to-person contacts.  So almost everything have to be online.  Yet we try hard to use many methods to make the experience interactive and tangible.  We use robot kits, do-it-yourself science kits, 360 degree photos, inexpensive virtual reality glasses, inexpensive microscopes, …  We have to do a lot of work, of course, to send these equipment and material to the clients, and create a lot of the content.  But the results is very impressive.  Not only do we continue to offer service-learning courses, and carry on service-learning projects, the students actually learn just as much as before.  And the clients continue to benefit.  

In fact, going online with tangible interactions open up new possibilities.  We can do it for clients in Hong Kong.  The same can be done with clients in Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Rwanda, …  The changes forced by the pandemic actually stimulate us to be more creative, to explore new opportunities.  Necessity is the mother of creativity!

Just a few days ago we had an opportunity to discuss with a professor from Stanford University how they do service-learning in the face of the pandemic.  It turns out they face very similar challenges, encounter similar difficulties, and deal with them using similar methods.  

Service-Learning is an experiential pedagogy that puts our students in touch with people, the ultimate beneficiary of the knowledge and technology created and learning in university.  In a regular academic course conducted on campus, the students tackle make-believe problems created by the professor.  In service-learning they see first hand how people are affected by the knowledge and technology.

That is why we are believers of service-leaning.  We are so glad that we have a chance to tell the story on television. 

SLS-4b4 Explosion - Community of Practice

At PolyU, as in many universities, SL subjects are academic courses, offered by academic departments.  Typically each department offers only a small number, typically only one or two, of such courses.  For the subject teachers, it may be difficult to find kindred spirits in the same department, withe whom one can brainstorm, cooperate, share resources and contacts, compete, or simply commiserate.  This is particularly challenging for people or departments who are just starting to implement service-learning.   People with common interest may exit in other departments.  But their paths do not often cross.  It can feel rather isolated.  

OSL takes the lead to actively cultivate a community of practice across the university, from the early beginning.  We started by offering workshops on various aspects of SL, where interested people can meet and get to know each other.  Most of the time, these workshops are focused on a relevant, timely, theme, such as writing proposals, teaching reflection, assessment, funding, etc.  But we do occasionally arrange informal gatherings    where there are no formal presentations or discussions, but just so people can gather to catch up, to maintain a sense of community.  

It has often been said that academic departments in universities can be likened to silos.  People do not generally communicate with people across department-silos.  This is, of course, somewhat stereotyping.  There has always been collaboration across academic departments. But the stereotyping can also contain some granules of truth.  We have witnessed academics defending their academic territory and accused academics from other departments of encroaching on their territory by offering academic courses in their area.  Even in service-learning.  Service-Learning at PolyU is, by nature, an area across departments.  Building a Community of Practice across departments is one way to bring people together, instead of allowing the silo effect to drive them apart.   

The community is bearing fruit in a concrete way.  The Department of Computing have been working on information technology related projects in Cambodia, when they noticed that electricity supply was unreliable even in the capital city of Phnom Penh, and non-existent in many parts of the countryside.  Subsequently they expanded the projects to Myanmar and Rwanda.  When colleagues in Electrical Engineering learned of this through the community, they expressed interest.  The two teams started working together.  Electrical Engineering sent a team to work with the Computing team in Cambodia while they started developing their own course.  Subsequently EE started sending their own team to Cambodia and the two departments continue to further develop the projects, and are planning to expand to other sites and countries.  

This community of people have applied for, and received small amounts of seed funding to organise the community of practice.  The funding would cover some of the expenses of gatherings.  It has also funded educational development activities such as attending training courses, small scale exploratory projects, travelling expenses to attend conferences where people present their research on SL, etc.  Together, members of the group have also jointly applied for and received funding to run significant SL-related research and development projects.  One project allow several teachers to run action research sub-projects to improve their own SL subject.  Another is a large scale joint-university project to develop the capacity to teach SL, which includes development of e-learning resources, cases studies, surveys, teacher development courses, …  

Sugar-apples 釋迦, 番荔枝

For a while, I was quite confused by two slightly different versions of the sugar-apple 釋迦.  It took me a while. Now I think I have sorted them out.  

Sugar-apple is something that i have known from long time ago as 番荔枝.  It was actually called 番鬼荔枝. But that is probably not so politically correct these days, so people seems to have dropped the 鬼 from the name.  It is often sold as 釋迦 in Hong Kong these days. 

Then there is the almost identical pineapple sugar-apple 鳳梨釋迦.  It is not a cross between sugar-apple and pineapple.  But actually a cross between sugar-apple and cherimoya 秘魯番荔枝.  What is very confusing is that the pineapple sugar-apple is often also sold as 釋迦 in Hong Kong these days.  

Cherimoya is a relative of the sugar-apple, with a much smoother skin. The pineapple sugar-apple has a skin that is smoother than the sugar-apple.  And the internal partitions are less pronounced.  Both are quite sweet.  I like both, but prefer the sugar-apple slightly because it seems to have a more complex texture and taste.  

If it is not confusing enough, other than these three - sugar-apple, cherimoya and pineapple sugar-apple - there is also the soursop.  I heard that it is called 刺果番荔枝, or  红毛榴槤.  The one that I had in Vietnam was much more sour than sweet. 

SLS-4b3 Explosion - How does OSL take the lead in the expansion?

OSL was set up with a mandate to promote the development of service-learning at PolyU.  As such, it strives to promote the original development of impactful service-learning.  This may involve all aspects including new subjects, projects, sites, partners, pedagogies, programs, procedures, quality control mechanisms, alliances, strategies, validation and research.  

At the PolyU, the actually offering of SL subjects, similar to all other academic subjects,  is the responsibility of the academic departments.  OSL can collaborate with academic departments in the original development of the subjects and associated project.  It can also collaborate with academic departments in offering these subject, in the form of co-teaching, or co-supervision of project, etc., particularly at the beginning to ensure that innovative and experimental practices are setup successfully.  But it does not and cannot offer these subjects by itself.  It also does not and cannot support the routine operations of SL classes for any extensive duration.  Based on this principle of division of work, it does assist academic departments in designing and experimenting with different ways to run large classes in order to meet the demand.  But it does not support the teaching of large classes for long periods of time.  It is simply not feasible, for a small department like the OSL, to support large scale routine work.  

OSL does strive to improve and innovate, for better learning for our students, and greater benefits for the communities.  OSL is always seeking collaboration with academic departments or individual academic staff in experimenting with innovative pedagogy, new types of services, new partners, unexplored sites and countries, new forms of partnership, …  On the other hand, we recognise the benefit of long-term relationships with partners and communities, which provides the platform and mutual-trust for truly sustainable,  impactful solutions.  

Fortunately, innovation and long term relationships are not mutually exclusive.  A long-term sustainable relationship actually provides a solid platform to innovate. There must be mutual trust before two parties feel secure enough to take the risk to innovate, to try something new.  The more innovative the new initiative, the more risks are generally involved. Hence the stronger the mutual trust is needed before the two sides feel secure enough to take the risk.  PolyU, through OSL, has built up a strong partnership with a number of organisations in Cambodia and Rwanda over many years.  The strong relationship enable us to continue to develop innovative projects - which in turn strengthen the relationship with these NGOs.   As a consequence, we can send multiple teams with a large number of students to the same country, even the same site, to carry out ambitious, challenging projects with confidence.  

It is the routine, repeated execution of the same projects, once it is developed and stabilised, that OSL leaves to academic departments to support.  There is room, indeed a need, for such projects - as long as the community continues to benefits from it.  For the obvious reason that each year there is a new generation of students enrolling in the same class.  From the perspective of the new generation of students, the project may be new and challenging.  This situation is similar to that of many academic subjects, whose content may not change each year.  Academic departments are well equipped to offer this type of subjects.  Hence OSL can concentrate on newer initiatives. 

However, if teachers of an established subject wishes to experiment with a new type of project, take students to a new site, engage a new community, add an interesting new partner, etc., OSL will be happy to collaborate on the innovative elements.