Escenario apuesta para la cadena productiva de PAMC

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th e w orld, fo r se le c te d p r o je c ts o f evangelism and s e rv ic e in a l l c o ntin e n ts . Thus, th e F ellow ship, which was founded at th e A sian Con­ fere n c e of Church Women held in Hong' Kong in 1958, had added a g lo b a l dim ension to th e EACC’s work o f m issio n and s e rv ic e .^ The d e s ir e of

A sian C h ristia n s f o r co n crete ex p ressio n s of u n ite d a ctio n in evangelism was th e re fo re at long l a st b eing re a lis e d in and through th e CICAMS.

Hut from Kuala Lumpur, as d escrib ed e a r l i e r , th e re came a lso th e ca l l fo r a renew al o f th e w itn e ss of th e la it y and th e s tru c tu re s of th e lo ca l co n g reg atio n . The ca l l to Asian C h ristia n laymen was f o r them to become the church in m issio n in th e w orld. In a d d itio n , th e Kuala

Lumpur d e f in itio n of th e Gospel spoke of th e renewal o f s o c iety a s in ­ cluded in th e redem ption o f C h rist and th u s th e n e c e ss ity of C h ris tia n s o c ia l involvem ent. There was a d e s ire growing and spreading among A sian C h ristia n s th e n to u nderstand anew th e natu re and forms of th e ta sk of th e Church in th e ir la n d s. I t can be observed that e f f o r ts in th is d ire c tio n were f i r s t made in th e C o n su ltatio n s on New Forms o f C h ristia n S erv ice held in d if f e r e n t pa rts o f East A sia d u rin g th e y ea rs from i960 to 1962.

(a) New forms o f C h ristia n s e r v ic e — ’’Diakonia"

The C o n su ltatio n s on New Forms o f C h ristia n S erv ice were held on th e i n i t iat i v e o f th e Kuala Lirnpur Assembly; ’’In th e lig ht o f th e p lan s fo r n atio na l w elfare and developm ent th e C h ris tia n church must rea s s e s s it s tra d iti o na l s e rv ic e in sti tu ti o n s and fin d new ways s u ita b le to th e

2

new s ituatio n . ’’ The Working Committee m eeting in Hong Kong in I96O

1. M inutes of th e Working Committee of the East A sia C h ristia n Confer­ ence, Hong Kong, A p ril 20-24? I96O T P an ^ o k : EACC), pp. 13-15 (re fe rre d to henceforward as Hong Kong I960 M inutes).

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approved th e h o lding of th e se as "se rv ic e su rv ey s". They were d i f f e r ­ e n t, Brash s a id , "from th e S trateg y Conference / i . e . the " S ituatio n C onferences" h eld lat e r in 1963/ which i s concerned w ith th e t o ta l e nte r­ p r is e o f the Churches, in c lu d ing t h e ir e va n g e listic and w orship l i f e , whereas th i s p ro p o sal concerns only th e se rv ic e a ct i v i t i e s o f th e C hurches. " ^

O rganised jo i ntly by th e CICAMS and th e Committee on Church and

S o cie ty and in c o -o p e ratio n w ith lo ca l NCCs, th e se c o n s u ltatio n s were held re s p e c tiv e ly at N asrapur, In d ia , in October I96O (fo r Burma, Ceylon,

In d ia and Pak is ta n); at Atami, Japan, in March I96I ; at Quezon C ity in th e P h ilip p in e s in A p ril I96I ; at Onyong, South K orea, in A p ril 1962; and at Sukaburai, In d o n esia, in November 1962.

Some common recommendations and understan d in g s were d is c e rn ib le in

th e se c o n s u ltatio n s . C h ris tia n s e rv ic e was to be d ire c te d at human need w herever it was found and not confined to C h ris tia n s . In view of th e fa ct that th e s tate had in most Asian n atio n s talcen r e s p o n s ib ility fo r th e g en era l w e lfa re o f the p eo p le, se rv ic e s rendered by e x is ting C h ristia n i n sti tu ti o n s such as h o s p ita ls , schools and oth e r s o c ia l works would have to be reviewed so that reso u rces could be channelled to new

and p io n eer works. More atte n tio n was to be paid to th e needs o f r u ra l communities and e f f o rts made towards human community developm ent.

C o-operation w ith n o n -C h ristia n s in th e work o f s o c ia l se rv ic e was urged. R e lie f programmes c a rrie d out in tim es of emergency should e v e ntua lly be rep la ced by programmes of r e h a b i litati o n . Forms of se rv ic e should be defined ecum enically so that the o v e ra ll re so u rc e s could be most

e f f e c tiv e ly d ire c te d at th e t o ta l need, and s e rv ic e programmes must be planned in th e lo ca lity . Indeed, t h i s was one o f B ra sh 's main concerns d u rin g h is teim o f o ffic e as S e c re ta ry fo r th e CICAMS — that such plans