Bishop Timothy Kwok remind parishioners to equip themselves

Publish Date: 11-Jun-2019

Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui designates the last Sunday of June as Theological Education Sunday. This year, it falls on 30 June. Three first-year postulants at the Ming Hua Theological College interviewed Archbishop Paul Kwong of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, Bishop Andrew Chan of the Diocese of Western Kowloon and Bishop Timothy Kwok of the Diocese of Eastern Kowloon respectively, to share their experiences and views on theological education from different perspectives.

This week, Echo published an interview conducted by the postulant Mr Tim Cheung with Bishop Kwok.

Mr Cheung asked, “How important is theological education to believers?”

Bishop Kwok answered, “I think the importance of theological education could be looked at it from three perspectives: scripture, tradition and reason, which are the three elements of the Anglican Triad. In Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, it states: ‘It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ (1:28).’ This is the biblical foundation of the theological education for believers. When we take up a mission, we need to first equip ourselves. Furthermore, the study of theology is to understand faith from a rational perspective so that theological knowledge and the experience of faith could be balanced. Further, we also need to learn about tradition, because knowing nothing about Anglican tradition leaves something amiss in our parishioners. Recently, a frequently mentioned term is ‘theology at the workplace’. Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui plays a large part in education and social services in the local scene, if our brothers and sisters working in these sectors could combine their theological and professional knowledge, it would benefit them greatly.”