Menu Close

Why Hong Kong?

In 2010 a good friend of mine, Bob Roberts, left America in order to go teach in a school in Hong Kong. He and his wife Sarah were involved in that school for 4 years (2010-2014). They were also heavily involved in their local church. It was my privilege to visit Bob and his wife on a couple different occasions during those 4 years. Each time I was impressed with how Bob and Sarah were able to be in this government-funded school with an open door to share the gospel. On one occasion, I even had the privilege to walk through the entire Bridge Tract with about 400 students in a school assembly. In 2015, Bob came to me with an idea about possibly getting students from this school to come to the Wilds. We pursued it with the school and we have been able to have 20-25 students attend 2 weeks of camp at the Wilds for the last 2 summers. In all, I have been in Hong Kong 5 times in the last 8 years and each time I have been more and more overwhelmed with the opportunities for gospel ministry and the strategic location/setup of Hong Kong. The door is wide open! With a land mass 2 times smaller than the size of Rhode Island and nearly 8 million people (larger than the population of 38 out of our 50 states), Hong Kong is situated strategically in Asia as a great launching pad for ministry all over the region. Over half of the world’s population is within a 5-hour flight of Hong Kong. Hong Kong was under British rule until 1997 when it was turned over to China under a 50-year agreement called “One country, two systems.” In other words, Hong Kong is China, but it really isn’t. It belongs to China, but it still operates with all (or most) of the freedoms that existed under British rule. It has been given the designation as a S.A.R. (Special Administrative Region). The 50-year agreement ends in 2047 when Hong Kong will officially go back completely to communist China. I’m currently 46 years old so I’m desiring to spend the rest of my life investing in this area as much as I can before communism takes full control. Mainland China and the city of Shenzen (population 13 million) is just a short 30-minute drive away from Hong Kong. The mainland Chinese send their young people to Hong Kong for many things including school and camps. We believe the location of Hong Kong presents great opportunities to reach the next generation for Christ.