December 15, 2011

JARVENPAA, Finland/GENEVA – David Lin advises Chinese migrants in Britain from a London church, but when he was growing up in Hong Kong during the 1960s he was not a Christian.

Going to an Anglican primary school first and then a Roman Catholic secondary school he attended Bible studies and was interested in the books of the apostles.

Yet it was not until after graduating from university in Hong Kong and working for what is now the Asian Lutheran News service that he became a Christian.

"In Hong Kong when parents want their children to get a good education they send them to church schools. My parents are not Christians." Lin told a group of 26 people from 13 European countries working in diakonia who met at Järvenpää, near Helsinki from 7 to 10 December.

Lin is a member of the London Chinese Lutheran Church which belongs to the Lutheran Church in Great Britain and he highlighted the plight that many Chinese face as migrants.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) workshop, organized jointly with the International Academy for Diakonia and Social Action (Interdiac) in Ceský Te ... ín, Czech Republic, focused on the theme "Seeking Conviviality, Re-forming Community Diakonia in Europe." Lin told LWI, "I leave this place enriched with so many ideas and stories relating to diakonia, which can help me better serve the people who come to us." During an evening service he led, Lin quoted from Psalm 121, "The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life." When Lin became a Christian at the age of 23, he said he realised, "It is no use to just sit in the church without receiving people in need so that we can act like Christ. This has motivated me in work with migrant workers from China." In 1982 he went to Boston University to do an MSc in Journalism on an LWF scholarship. After he completed his studies, Lin became the editor of the Asia Lutheran Press Services in Hong Kong where he had started as an editorial assistant. He also studied Lutheran theology while working for the news service.

In 1994 he got a call to work for the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) which was based in London. He worked as a coordinator looking after regional communication and development projects in the Asia and the Pacific region.

"I liked WACC because it was supporting grassroots communities and was using liberation theology as its base. That eventually brought me into my present work for Chinese migrant workers at the Chinese Lutheran Church in central London." His task is to provide Bible study groups for the church members.

"But then it happens that there are Chinese migrant workers who come to the church looking for a place they can call home. Some are curious about Christianity so join Bible studies groups and indirectly we provide diaconical work," said Lin.

The Chinese come from many different backgrounds and have differing circumstances where they now live.

"Some of the people who come are migrant workers, some are over-stayers.

We serve other categories of Chinese–students, professionals or exchange scholars and use them to support migrants.

"Some of the students are Christians of a few generations from China," explains Lin. "Others might only have knowledge about Communism and Maoism, and some of them feel a void in their hearts because so-called communism is kind of fading in China. That is because of economic development where materialist thoughts occupy center stage.

"After staying in [a] Bible study group they get confidence, because we show Christian love to them and see them as people. We provide a spiritual home for the people away from home. We don't question their status. We do not ask if the names they give are genuine. We provide an ear to listen." Lin's wife Phoebe and two children were born in Hong Kong. The children attended British schools.

"Although they studied Chinese, they are more British now," he says.

"Seeking Conviviality," is slated to run until 2013 and is intended to strengthen the churches' commitment to transform daily realities of poverty and marginalization, and to contribute to dialogue within the LWF on diaconal practice.

More information on "Seeking Conviviality" is available at: http://www.lwf-assembly2003.org/lwf-interspire/link.php?M=2227&N=573&L=126&F=T.

Lutheran World Information