Tag: Creation Care

The Letter from CEDAR | February 2017

Dear Friends of CEDAR, “You are the light of the world… let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14 & 16) Happy Chinese New Year! For a long time, “eating” has been a core part of our Chinese culture, especially in times of festivities. Over Chinese New Year, I was “food overloaded” and felt a strong sense of guilt as many people in the world are still undernourished and suffering from hunger. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, around 800 million people are facing hunger, representing 11.1% of the world population. From experience and observation, we know that their hunger

The Letter from CEDAR | June 2016

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Greetings in the peace of our Lord. What a privilege to meet you here! This is my fifth week at CEDAR Fund, and my learning curve is still long. I come to know CEDAR for over a decade, but have never imagined of joining it, and not to say, leading it. It is really an honor to be part of this great family. I could not recall when the poor started having a place in my heart. However in 2000, God called me to serve the needy; and to respond to that call, I quitted from my banking job and began serving the impoverished children in Southeast Asia on a full-time basis in early

The Letter from CEDAR | February 2016

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, The count down clock is ticking! I will step down from the position of Chief Executive from 1 April this year, and enter into sabbatical. In my whole life I have always been busy with ministries and medical practice, not having any chance for a sabbatical year. So I teased myself saying that the coming year should be called the “Jubilee” for me instead! And I pray that in future I could continue serving in CEDAR on an honorary basis. I have served as the Chief Executive of CEDAR for 11 years. Before that I worked in Afghanistan. These are tough training for me. Exciting, difficult, joyful, regretful, doubtful, trusting…I have experienced

The Letter from CEDAR | February 2015

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, During Chinese New Year, people would bless each other with good will. CEDAR Fund has also prepared some special red packets for you to send blessings to children and those struggling in distress. According to the lunar calendar, the coming Chinese New Year will be the Year of the Sheep. Historically and culturally speaking, ethnic Chinese had been profoundly influenced by the “sheep” in relation to community livelihood. The character 「羌」 depicts a tribe of shepherds in ancient north west China. According to oracle bone script, the character 「羌」 comprised of 「羊」 ( “sheep” ) and 「人」( “a human form” ) . In ancient time, the tribe of 「羌」 had already practised sheep totem

The Letter from CEDAR | October 2014

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “Occupy Central” movement eventually happened. By now, the whole city is weary: bombarded by disputes, experienced a sense of loss in direction, and filled with reflections. Asking each other, yet nobody knows how this will end! Some find no hope with the people in Hong Kong. Others find lots of hope with the youth in Hong Kong. Some might still see a little prospect with the Hong Kong government. Others see prospect too remote with China and even with the global political world! All of a sudden, we realize we have put the fate of our society into the hands of a few who are in powers. Does God’s power also under

The Letter from CEDAR | October 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters, When we think of ‘poverty alleviation’ we may have the impression that it is the ‘rich’ initiating to help the ‘poor’. When I first left Hong Kong 33 years ago, I met some friends from Africa and India, and learned about their ministries. I realized that they had already developed many mission work and social ministries themselves. They were indeed not just recipients of aid. That started in me a lot of respect and appreciation for our friends in different countries. I have recently met another African pastor. He is involved in leadership training in many countries. In our sincere, open and happy conversation, he shared a striking news to me, that the population

The Letter from CEDAR | August 2013

Banner Image: A sponsored child in Ethiopia wrote ‘Jesus is LORD’ on the wall at home. Dear brothers and sisters, In the last couple of decades, there were lots of discussions around the globe on the issues of poverty alleviation and development. People have exhausted all political and economical means but failed to solve the problem of income inequality. And in fact the global wealth gap has become wider and wider. The optimistic belief and confidence relying on human wisdom to solve this issue grows dim and dim, and even displaced by hopelessness and blame. CEDAR started to use the term ‘TRANSFORMATION” a few years back, and this term has a different meaning than ‘Development’. ‘Transformation’ has a

The Letter from CEDAR | June 2013

▲ CEDAR works with Sichuan churches and Christian groups to implement quake relief work. ▲ ‘Long term service’ and ‘total commitment’ are required to support communities to face potential disasters. ▲ CEDAR is a member of Integral Alliance, responding to disasters worldwide in partnership with Christian relief agencies around the world. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: An earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale on 20 April struck Lushan County in Yaan, Sichuan, promptly bringing back the memory of Wenchuan quake five years ago. However, the public media soon turn their focus on whether HKSAR government should grant China 100 million HKD relief fund and the integrity of relief and development agencies. Also many people said, ‘I

The Letter from CEDAR | April 2013

Banner image: Yunnan pastors map out the progress and achievement to evaluators on their social ministries in the past six years. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: In early March, CEDAR invited several experienced development workers to evaluate our six-year Church Mobilisation programme in Yunnan, China. Their findings and appreciation give us great encouragement. This project was started as we move from rural community development to church mobilisation on Integral Mission. Apparently it may seem an easy task with training only and without any hardware construction; however, it is more difficult to change one’s soul and mind. To the Chinese government, the Christian approach to drug detox, HIV/AIDS prevention and caring work are sensitive and knotty issues. Thank