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May 22, 2008
Ecumenical Relations Report From Xiamen, China by John deVelder
My wife, Linda Walvoord deVelder, and I had the opportunity to travel to Xiamen, (Amoy)China to celebrate the 110th Anniversary of the Hope and Wilhelmina Hospital now developed into the Xiamen #2 Hospital. Hope and Wilhelmina Hospital was started and built by the RCA's first medical missionary to China, John Otte, M.D. Dr. Otte was the father of my father's first wife, Margaret Otte. Margaret died in childbirth in China when my brother, Philip, was born. My mother, Harriet Boot deVelder, who had been born in Amoy to RCA missionary parents, Harry and Anna Boot, assisted the birth of Phil and the witnessed the death of Margaret. My mother was emotionally attached to Xiamen and to the island of Golongyu (Kolongsu). She often told her five children of her growing up in the area and what she did on the island. The family has many old photographs of the early 1900's. I spent 3 years in Longyen (Lengna) from 1946-1949 and have memories of some aspects of Xiamen. Thus this trip to celebrate the anniversary of the Hospital and to visit churches in China was a very emotional journey for me. I was moved to walk the streets of Golongyu; to see the ruins of the old Hospital now being re-built into a museum; to walk near the house where David Abeel lived for his brief years in Amoy; to see buildings designed by Otte; and to walk where my ancestors walked and worked in the Amoy Mission.
We began our time in China landing at the Beijing airport and then going directly to Heifei, in the Province of Anhui, where we saw the very large downtown new church building almost completed. We visited another church in the countryside that was in progress and no where near completion. The pastor of this rural church had been a farmer and had completed a one year program at the provincial seminary. The farmer had sold his land to build the church which was about ten times bigger than the old building they had been using. That day we also visited the Seminary and the Anhui Christian Council building which was not yet completed. Everywhere we went in China buildings were being built and the Christian Churches were no exceptions.
The next day we went to Huangshan and stayed at a large Church that had a conference center attached that was used to house English teachers that came from America. This Church had a clinic that served the people with a combination of Western and traditional Chinese medicine. We got to know the Rev. Chen who is the President of the Anhui Christian Council. He was helpful in explaining to us the need for training clergy since there are 4,700 meeting places for Christians, including 400 organized and State approved congregations with only 70 pastors. The Seminary is doing its best to train clergy. We experienced a wedding, complete with church band at Rev. Chen's church before he took us to the airport to fly to Xiamen.
In Xiamen, Rev Timothy Hao (vice president of the Xiamen Christian Council) picked us up at the airport which is larger and newer than the one in Heifei) and took us to our hotel. The next day we attended worship at the First Protestant Church building in China, the Xinjie Church. Here Rev. Lee brought greetings from the RCA and I spoke about being a missionary kid returning after almost 60 years. I did speak some of the Amoy dialect, saying, "Gwa bwei how kong Amung wey, gwa ou how tien, tampo. Gwa ou how kong, 'Yasaw tian gwa, gwa tsai bin." And a bit more. The Amoy can be translated to be, "I do not speak the Amoy dialect but I understand a little. I do know how to say, Jesus loves me this I know." The people were glad that I could still speak a few words that I learned as a little boy in Xiamen.After meeting with the Church leaders and lunch we visited Zhushu Church another beautiful new and large church building which the government has helped to be built by either giving land or other means. The amazing statistic of 800,000 Christians in Fujian Province and mostly in Xiamen helps us to realize that even though the Amoy missionaries had all gone home by 1951 the Church of Christ in China was alive.
The next day, Monday, we participated in the unveiling ceremony of the large statue of John Otte, M.D. and the 110th anniversary of the Hospital. The programs were well done, giving Otte credit for his work, showing his medical students, hospital buildings and even his family. I was the only Westerner seated on the dais between Communist party leaders. We learned that each hospital has a CEO but the CEO has a partner who is a Communist party leader who helps make decisions. After the ceremony I spoke with a group of newspaper reporters who were eager to hear about Otte. I told them the story of how he was given two pennies by a Dutch orphan for the sick children of China when he told the orphans of his plans for a hospital in Xiamen. Those two pennies got Otte a lot of money from rich Dutch people including the Royal family, thus he named the women's hospital Wilhelmina ( for the Queen) and the men's Hope (for his College). The newspaper headline over the photo of the statue of Dr. Otte read, "Dutch Orphan gave 2 pennies to start this Hospital."
Perhaps the most moving part of the day was to learn that the second in command of Xiamen #2 Hospital who had read much about Otte doing the research for the statue and the commemoration was so touched by Otte's love for the Chinese people, his medical care and giving his life in Christian service that he himself wanted to become a Christian. He talked with Rev. Hao and is attending his Trinity Church as a new Christian. The spirit of Otte lives on and is still attracting people to Jesus as Lord and Savior.
On Tuesday we visited Yunding Church and Xinqu Church. These are new buildings going up after the government has returned or provided new land for the Churches of the Xiamen Christian Council.
Later we walked around the small island of Golongyu including a visit to Trinity Church where Rev. Timothy Hao serves. Rev. Hao is an extraordinarily capable young clergyman who will lead the Xiamen Christian Council most ably. We had substantial discussions of the role of Chaplains in American hospitals and how Xiamen hospitals might think about their relationships with local clergy.
Perhaps the most important contribution that I made during this trip to Xiamen was to interest the CEOs of two major hospitals to ask me how clergy or chaplains relate to hospitals in the USA. Two dinners that had not been on our original schedule were hosted by the CEOs of these Hospitals.
I explained to these Hospital leaders how clergy and chaplains collaborate with medical personnel, in American hospitals and do not prosyletize the patients or compete for converts. These dinner discussions provided a great opportunity for Rev. Timothy Hao to talk in depth with these Hospital leaders and to build bridges of understanding between the Churches and the Hospitals.
All in all, this was a trip of a lifetime for me and for Linda. We enjoyed meeting the church leaders, visiting the churches and celebrating the Hospital's 110th Anniversary. I thank the RCA Ecumenical Relations for helping to make this trip possible.
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Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at May 22, 2008 1:13 PM