Jesus, when on the earth, preached the gospel and served people in need at the same time. He brought new life and hope to human beings.
As a Christian, we should also help those people in need and practice our faith with actions.
At the 30th anniversary of Canton Union Theological College, a seminary with the theme of Charity and Christianity was held. Dr. Sun Shanyi, director of Guangzhou Public Welfare Projects thought that the church in China should develop its social service ability, which is a response to the social governance innovation.
Dr. Sun introduced that the relief work of 2008 Wenchuan earthquake marks the beginning of China's public welfare. The positive role of China's nongovernmental organizations was affirmed.
In March 2011, the social management innovation was written into the government report for the first time; In July 2011, the Central Committee of the CCP and the State Council released a documentary about strengthening and innovating social management.
In early 2012, the National Financial Department allocated 200 million yuan for the first time to buy service from nongovernmental organizations. The growth of China's nongovernmental organizations, charity, public welfare and social work service is rapid.
In February 2012, the National Religious Affairs Bureau, The United Front Work Department of CPC Central Committee，National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration jointly issued regulations on the religious charity activities, which is the first one to encourage religious social service since the foundation of New China.
In April 2014, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the National Religious Affairs Bureau jointly issued the regulations on religious people receiving orphans and abandoned babies.
The National Religious Affairs Bureau has held four times of national religious charity training course since April 2014.
A religious charity training class at the provincial level jointly set up by The United Front Work Department of Jiangsu Province, Jiangsu Religious Affairs Bureau and the Amity Foundation has been held twice since July 2014,
Jiangsu Religious Public Welfare Training Base, which is the first one in China, was authorized to set up on Nov 7, 2015, by the United Front Work Department of Jiangsu Province and Jiangsu Religious Affairs Bureau.
From 2010 to 2014, the social service department of TSPM & CCC worked with TSPM & CCCof Fujian province, Xiamen province, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Henan province, Hunan province, Sichuan province, Shandong province and Heilongjiang province to carry out special training.
The Amity foundation also plays a role of a platform and carries out cooperation with TSPM & CCC in different provinces. In May 2016, the training course of church's social service abilities was started in Guangxi Province, teaching the design and management of public projects, how to evaluate public projects, how to fight against domestic violence and promote gender equality.
After the training, the Amity Foundation helped fund 70 thousand yuan to support a project of caring for the elderly and another one of looking after left-behind children in China.
Dr. Sun said that compared with traditional theory training, financial support could directly promote the transformation of theory into practice.
"The church in China takes an active part in social services. It not only insists on applying faith into practice, but also makes a positive response to the current situation of our society." said Dr. Sun.
Translated by Emma.
