Campus Frontline – Inter-College Summer Program (Issue 487)
Jacky Wong
Assistant Staff, Inter-College Team
[email protected]
Our Inter-College Department organised “Please Give Me a Cup of Cold Water Internship Program” and the “Student Ministry Internship Program” (which was renamed as “Student Ministry/Media Ministry Internship” after combining with the Literature Internship Program this year). In addition, this year we organized the “Creation Care Summer Internship Program” for the first time, to go out into the interpersonal network of campus, the Internet and the community, and to step into a wider ecological network to restore the identity of “a member of the created world”. Let’s listen to how the students’ faith lives have been renewed and transformed in different contexts:
Prejudice and Sinned Against
I remember when I first joined the program, I knew that all people were sinners and that the people I was serving were similar in nature to me, but I still felt uneasy because of my lack of understanding and prejudice towards marginalised youth and ex-prisoners. Also, I was worried that I would not be able to understand their thoughts and motivations. Having entered the mission field, I have encountered various youths who have dropped out of school due to poor academic performance, others who have to live in dormitories due to the lack of a proper family, and others who have entered correctional institutions and have low self-esteem…… Nevertheless, they persevere and try to fight for a better life, but the reality is harsh and often difficult due to lack of family or social support.
In communication with the staff workers, I realised that it is human to be biased towards groups I do not know well, and to admit that I am weak and not able to follow Christ’s example is rather more helpful in ministry. After the seven-week internship, I have come to realise that ‘prejudice’ is not only a sin, but that being wrongly labelled as ‘prejudiced’ is also a form of being ‘sinned against’, and that the distance between a person and being ‘sinned against’ can be a combination of unfortunate experiences and uncontrolled prejudice.
May you all be blessed with a cup of cool water when you need it in your life.
Chris, EDUHK student
(participant of “Please Give Me a Cup of Cool Water—Care for the Disadvantaged Internship Program)
This is Just the Beginning
Before I joined the internship, I had a very simple idea: human beings should be the stewards of nature, that is, to be kind to nature, to reduce air-conditioning and to kill less, that is our responsibility. However, it turns out that my thinking was too simple.
During the internship, I was introduced to the concept of “anthropocentrism”. It is pointed out that the core problem of the current ecological crisis is that humans think they are the centre of the world, while the environment and living creatures seem to be only the supply of human needs. Therefore, if we want to be good stewards, we must think about the whole created world in terms of what they need, not from ourselves.
Having learned about anthropocentrism, I thought I had mastered the essence of good stewardship, but in practice I realized that it was more complicated than I thought: What exactly is ecocentric? Is it enough to maintain biodiversity? Then how much should humans intervene?…… There are so many questions that need to be answered yet seem to be unanswerable.
This internship experience is just the beginning of my caring for the creation ……
Sirloin, CUHK student
(participant of Creation Care Summer Internship Program)
A Worthwhile Attempt
How can university students make the most of their summer holidays?
This summer, I took part in the Student Ministry/Media Ministry Internship organised by the FES Inter-College department. The experience was unforgettable and even opened another door to my faith. We learnt and experimented with media work during the placement, and there were various trainings: Bible studies, theological reflection and integration, spiritual nurture, etc. Both the ministry and the training allowed me to experience the faith in a more holistic way.
The most memorable part of this internship was that the whole team worked together to produce a “dubbing film”, from deciding the direction, writing and editing the script to the final dubbing and post-production, everything was done by us alone. It is really a product out of our whole heart. Although we are not as good as a professional production team, and indeed, this is our first attempt, we complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses, with those who are good at creating being responsible for writing and those who are good at editing being responsible for post-production. We took one step at a time and learnt in the process. I am grateful to be able to try and enjoy the craziness with the other interns. I am also glad to be able to explore a very different kind of media work.
So, this summer is definitely “worth it”!
Hoi Po, CUHK student
(participant of Student Ministry/Media Ministry Internship)