Chinese Christian church going

Chinese hymn

Many Chinese follow a number of different faiths, Buddhism and many folk religions such as Taoism are widely practised.

One of the biggest growing religions is Christianity, despite the mainland authority's official atheist stance.

Much of the increase is down to Chinese students at overseas universities who visit local churches whilst studying.

In Hull there has been a Chinese Christian Fellowship operating for over 20-years.

Its current pastor the Reverend Kam Ho says that for many students a visit to his church is their first experience of the faith.

"China as a Communist country they still more or less believe there is no God. In a sense they have been teaching this thought throughout the generations. So they do have a group of students coming over still who are influenced by this thought and they say there is no God.

"But when they come over here they open their eyes and they see in western culture they do believe in God. So it makes them very interested and they want to know more. For those who do become Christians here, when they go back obviously, there is a Christian church back in China.

"Of course there is some adjustment because the way they worship here is very much different to South-East Asia, not just mainland China. There is a cultural difference in the way they worship. The truth is the same but the way to worship may be different."

Rev Kam Ho

The church was originally founded to help the local Chinese population. Reverend Ho says that a large part of his work is pastoral care providing help and support to a scattered community.

"I take care of those who come to my church but also in a sense reaching out to the local communities.

"As you know there are quite a lot of local Chinese who are especially in the catering business in the area. So very often I go around visiting them at their shops and getting to know them and get them to come to the church."

He says accessing the Chinese community is easy, but the nature of people's working lives can bring unique problems.

"Most of them are living in quite an isolated situation. We are not talking about very big cities. On top of that many of them are running their own business or working in the catering trade. So in a sense the circle is quite confined to the Chinese community and they feel very happy when they meet other Chinese as well. So, in one sense, even if we do not know each other it is very easy to get in touch with them and befriend them."

The organisation has an office in the city and runs a weekly service at a local church, complete with a bible study class and Sunday school classes for different age ranges.

For the Pastor many people are reluctant to embrace the Christian faith because of long held traditions.

Services take place at a church in west Hull

"Many Chinese, although they do not really believe in the traditional Chinese religion, but some how in their mind they feel that they belong to that side. And in that aspect they are very much have deep in their mind they are a little bit opposed or refuse Christianity, which they thought is not part of Chinese culture."

However, once someone has converted that Chinese tradition can be useful in teaching the Christian faith.

"In terms of the ethical teaching, actually the two can be compromised. Especially in the Chinese culture its ethics system is very much similar to Biblical teaching, so it is easy to bring the message across. In Christianity we talk about to honour and respect your parents and this is a very important thing in the Chinese culture."