HKBTS: A Pioneer in Environmental Theology
Prof. Ir. Steve Wong has been attending and serving the Diamond Hill Baptist Church and the Tai Kok Tsui Baptist Church for over 50 years. He has also been actively involved in voluntary work for school sponsoring bodies as a way to preach the gospel. Prof. Ir. Wong has been engaged in architectural consultancy and environmental protection industries since 1991 and the company he set up has now developed into a multinational enterprise. Last year, he established a life technology company with a few Christians in response to the problems of an ageing population. He hoped that he could carry out environmental missions with the help of the new company’s environmental technology and green philosophy. Prof. Ir. Wong and his wife have three children, who are all Christians.
Prof. Ir. Wong joined the President’s Council of HKBTS in 1999. There was a time when the Council remained dormant. The then new President Prof. Joshua Cho cordially invited him to join the Council again. In 2018, the seminary’s Campus Environmental Consultation and Development Committee was set up to study, draw up and promote the environmental policies of the seminary. Prof. Ir. Wong considers the environment of the seminary’s Sai O Campus uniquely advantageous for the promotion of environmental protection. Furthermore, being a Baptist and knowledgeable and experienced in environmental issues (energy efficiency and waste and sewage disposal in particular), he strongly felt duty-bound to take part in environmental promotion work of HKBTS. Therefore, he gladly accepted the invitation to join the Committee. The Committee has put forward a number of effective environmental proposals for the seminary, including solar power generation and production of organic compost with food waste.
HKBTS: A Pioneer in Environmental Theology
Prof. Ir. Wong has great appreciation for HKBTS’s green efforts because so far as he knows, HKBTS is the first seminary with such a strong emphasis on environmental theology and ecological theology. In the past, churches mostly laid their emphasis on proclamations about the God-human relationship and personal salvation as well as interpersonal relationships, such as the need to show concern for other people. Little mention has been made of human- land relationship. Prof. Ir. Wong did not have any such knowledge until he heard President Cho’s sharing of related messages, which inspired his eventual practice of evangelism through addressing environmental needs afterward.
Prof. Ir. Wong believes that HKBTS enjoys a number of advantages in environmental promotion because of its timely development, favorable location and collective talents. Timely development refers to the current universal climate of promoting environmental protection, carbon neutrality and green economy around the globe, which is the trend of the day. Favorable location refers to the excellent natural environment of the seminary’s Sai O Campus, which is a perfect starting point for environmental promotion. Greater caution must therefore be taken against factors causing damage to the environment and ecology. (For example, the government’s plan to build a major sewage pumping station very close to the campus in recent years has posed substantial threat to the environment of the seminary and its vicinity. In view of this, Prof. Ir. Wong has also joined our Sai O Trunk Sewer Sewage Pumping Station Issue Advisory Committee.) Collective talents refers to the pool of talents HKBTS has built. They have all displayed their dedicated minds and efforts. Under the leadership of President Cho, who has a clear mission and tremendous vigor, these talents have been brought together as a community with the same goal to make the most of their gifts. With the three factors working perfectly with one another, the seminary can therefore take the lead in environmental endeavors.
Sustainable Environmental Theology
With regard to the promotion of environmental theology, Prof. Ir. Wong finds it necessary to consider the task in the direction of long-term sustainable development. Not only should we renew people’s mindsets from the perspectives of knowledge and cognition but also there must be follow-up actions to bring about concrete changes in environment, producing returns and forming cycles, just like the way an industry chain works.
Prof. Ir. Wong believes that the seminary’s education on environmental theology is an important component, which requires the dedication of capital, talents, knowledge and technologies. Through specifically designed programs, policies and measures, the seminary has practiced as well as promoted the ideas and values of environmental theology to nurture a group of pastors and leaders to teach and make an impact on others in the church and in society so that more people will understand the green gospel and devote themselves to environmental missions, or offer money or resources to support the seminary’s continued efforts in the promotion of environmental theology, nurturing more talents in this field and forming a cycle. As Christians are entrusted by God as His stewards, it is mandatory for them to conserve nature and maintain this world properly. Only by doing so can we have room for survival to continue preaching the gospel so that salvation will come to mankind and all creations.
Finally, Prof. Ir. Wong suggested the teaching team of the seminary take in professional Christian talents with zeal and mission in environmental protection, such as professors in environmental disciplines or environmental experts, to assist the seminary in its promotion of theological education for environmental protection.