History
Bishop K. H. Ting came up with the Chinese name for Amity,
the two characters meaning love 爱 (ai) and virtue or moral power 德 (de).
爱 and 德 express very well the sense of love as God's primary attribute,
and love as a dimension of Christian involvement in society.
Four months later, on 18 April 1985, the Amity Foundation was founded in Nanjing.
The idea for Amity had come from Christian leaders including K. H. Ting.
Wenzao Han became Amity's founding general secretary.
"We think it is a good environment with which Chinese Christians cannot only do our share
as citizens in nation-building, but also make the fact of Christian presence and participation
better known to our people, without in any way weakening the work of the church proper."
On December 20, 1984, Bishop K. H. Ting wrote a circular letter to 'friends abroad'
to solicit their opinion on the creation of an organization for social welfare
initiated by Chinese Christians:
The Beginning
The Beginning
On December 20, 1984, Bishop K. H. Ting wrote a circular letter to ‘friends abroad’ to solicit their opinion on the creation of an organization for social welfare initiated by Chinese Christians: “We think it is a good environment with which Chinese Christians cannot only do our share as citizens in nation-building but also make the fact of Christian presence and participation better known to our people, without in any way weakening the work of the church proper.”
Four months later, on 18 April 1985, the Amity Foundation was founded in Nanjing. The idea for Amity had come from Christian leaders including K. H. Ting. Wenzao Han became Amity’s founding general secretary. Bishop K. H. Ting came up with the Chinese name for Amity, the two characters meaning love 爱 (ai) and virtue or moral power 德 (de). 爱 and 德 express very well the sense of love as God’s primary attribute and love as a dimension of Christian involvement in society.
Bishop K. H. Ting
Bishop K. H. Ting, the late founder of the Amity Foundation who passed away in November 2012, was a church leader, theologian, visionary, statesman and patriot.
Bishop K. H. Ting was Chairperson of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China (TSPM) and President of the China Christian Council (CCC). He served as the President of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary for more than 50 years.
Bishop K. H. Ting had also held a number of political posts. He was a Vice-Chairman of the CPPCC Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (1989–2008), and a Member of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature.
Bishop K.H. Ting
is a movie dedicated to Bishop K. H. Ting, the founder of the Amity Foundation.
The movie gives insights into his life, his ministry and the founding of Amity.
Quotes
Philip Wickeri, Bishop K. H. Ting and Wenzao Han announce the establishment of Amity at a press conference in Hong Kong in 1985
Stone Laying Ceremony for the foundation of the Amity Printing Press in 1986
Stone laying ceremony for the new Amity Printing Co., Ltd. in 2005
The Amity Foundation's Board made the strategic decision to move its major project focus to the western regions of China in 1993
Bishop K. H. Ting at the stone laying ceremony for a new office building in 2007
1985 - 1995 Start-up Phase
The Amity Foundation was first set up with only three employees. Project areas mainly covered the poor eastern counties in Northern Jiangsu. The projects focused primarily on foreign English teachers and funding came from overseas churches.
1995 - 2005 Time of Growth
Amity’s work expanded exponentially. Its projects gradually covered an array of different programs including education, health, social welfare, blindness prevention, special education, poverty alleviation, integrated rural development, ecological protection, women’s development. The project area also expanded to hundreds of cities and counties in 31 provinces in mainland China. Project types expanded from involving foreign teachers to eight divisions in Amity with dozens of projects focusing on the poor and the marginalized.
2005 - 2015 Innovation Phase
Amity’s staff has grown to nearly 90 professionals working at the Headquarters and almost 1,000 staff in total. In order to strengthen domestic support and the third sector, Amity developed community awareness and new fundraising efforts. Amity focuses increasingly on diaconal work, community building, internationalization, capacity building, and advocacy. Thereby, Amity builds networks on various fields, including new media cooperations, new platforms for interfaith, cross-cultural, and cross-sectoral cooperation. Nowadays, the Amity Foundation runs social enterprises, service centers, NGO development centers, and offices at home and abroad.
2015 - Present Period of Development
….. to be continued!