English Version FES eNewsletter 

Issue 502—Featured Article: From the Pop Song “For God so Loved the World” to Trauma-Informed Pastoral Care

fes_admin

Fox Lo, Associate General Secretary and Director of Fellowship Department
[email protected]

“I’ve heard God loves so many—likely, I’m one of them…”

— “For God so Loved the World” by Tang Siu-Hau

The phrase “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16) unexpectedly became a “bit hit” in Hong Kong’s pop music. The official music video of “For God so Loved the World“, sung by Tang Siu-Hau, surpassed a million YouTube views within six months—far outpacing the reach of contemporary Christian worship music. What’s truly trending in Hong Kong’s music industry isn’t the doctrine of Christianity, but rather “scar literature”[[1]].

The opening verses of “For God so Loved the World” say so:

“The weeping you, the weeping you, embraces

The suffering me, the suffering me.

The grieving you, the grieving you, infects

The wounded me, the wounded us.

Like a sudden confiscation, a sudden void,

Drowning all feeling,

As if the lights cut out, the door slammed shut.” [[2]]

The lyrics depict an encounter of two wounded souls, a mutual support and a mutual contagion, two wounded individuals inadvertently reopening each other’s scars, submerged in shared darkness.

When Wounds Go Mainstream

Those living joyful, untroubled lives, the “happy families” rarely listen to these songs. Only wounded hearts resonate with this desolate imagery. The popularity of these “scarred songs” in Hong Kong reflects a generation’s collective trauma. As urban shepherds, do we recognize this reality?

Has Hong Kong truly “returned to normal” post-pandemic? Have businesses, schools, and churches resumed as before? Or is the past too painful to revisit—or perhaps unreachable? While many cheerfully reclaim their former routines, others feel displaced, as if decades have passed. A qualitative shift has occurred. Fragments of trauma litter our communities. The question is: Do we see them lurking beneath the surface?

Since the Vietnam War and the clinical naming of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), trauma theory has flourished across disciplines: medicine, psychology, neuroscience, sociology, literature, philosophy, and even biblical studies, theology, and pastoral care. To minister to a traumatized generation, Hong Kong’s churches urgently need a trauma-informed pastoral approach.

Trauma-informed care

Trauma-informed care requires organizations to embody the “Four Rs”:

  1. Realize trauma’s widespread impact and pathways to recovery.
  2. Recognize signs of trauma in congregation, co-workers, and stakeholders.
  3. Respond by integrating trauma knowledge into policies and practices.
  4. Resist re-traumatization through proactive safeguards.

This hinges on six principles：

  1. Safety: Physical and psychological security for all.
  2. Trust & Transparency: Decisions made with clarity to foster confidence.
  3. Peer Support: Survivor-led mutual aid.
  4. Collaboration & Mutuality: Collaborative partnership with both co-workers and recipients, without therapist monopoly on healing.
  5. Empowerment & Choice: Recognizing and honoring individual and communal strengths and experiences.
  6. Cultural, Historical & Gender Awareness: Dismantling biases tied to race, sexuality, age, or faith that perpetuate trauma. [[3]]

Basically, the practice of the above principles in pastoral setting is an attempt at trauma-informed pastoral care.

In recent years, we have witnessed people leaving the church because of trauma, pastors suffering vicarious traumatization while caring for traumatized people, and returnees retraumatized by institutional insensitivity. Are these outcomes inevitable? Trauma-informed pastoral care may offer a way forward.

  1. Chow, K. H. (2024). [傷痕文學視角下的後社運香港流行曲：沉默、抒情與暗碼書寫] Popular music in post-movement Hong Kong from the perspective of scar literature: Silence, lyricism, and coded narratives. Taiwan Journal of Communication Studies, 45, p.109–145.
  2. ”For God so Loved the World”, written by Lin You-Jia(composers), Chan Ming-Yeung/Lin You-Jia (Lyrics), and vocalist Tang Siu –Hau.  
  3. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach, HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884  (Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014).

Donation Methods (Local)

  1. Online donation: please fill in the One-Off Donation form or Monthly Donation form, and submit via PayPal system.
  2. PayMe: Please scan the following QR code, and pay via PayMe. Please fill in your donation items and donor number (if any) in the remarks or message column.
  3. Faster Payment System: (FPS ID: 1915727), transfer to “Fellowship of Evangelical Students (Hong Kong) Ltd.”. Please fill in your donation items and donor number (if any) in the remarks or message column.
  4. Crossed cheque: Please make it payable to “Fellowship of Evangelical Students (H.K.) Ltd.”.
  5. Direct deposit / E-banking: Hang Seng Bank 286-126024-002 / HSBC 108-074980-001 / Standard Chartered Bank 574-0-067544-4.
  6. For credit card / autopay donation, please fill in the donation form.

* Please send us the Donation Envelope, enclosing with cheque, bank-in slip or screenshot of successful FPS payment via mail or email (for bank-in-slip and FPS screenshot only).
* Donations over $100 are tax deductible in Hong Kong with our receipts.

Mailing Address: 11/F, Cheung Lee Commercial Building, No. 137-143 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Email Address: [email protected]

Donation Methods (Oversea)

Donors desiring tax-deductible receipts for income tax purposes must give through the following organization to receive the necessary receipts.

  • Cheque Donation
    USA*
    Making cheques payable to “IFES/USA” and send to the following address.
    IFES/USA
    PO Box 46007
    Madison, WI 53744 

    Canada*
    Making cheques payable to “InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of Canada”
    and send to the following address.
    Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship
    1 International Boulevard
    Toronto, Ontario,
    M9W 6H3 Canada
     
    UK*
    Making cheques payable to “IFES” and send to the following address.
    IFES
    5 Blue Boar Street
    Oxford OX1 4EE
    United Kingdom
     * Please mark “H.K.F.E.S.” at the left bottom corner and
    “designation # 100088” at the back of the cheque.

Back to Home

Related Images: