The history of the FCC

In the early 1980s, after decades of isolation, China once again opened her doors to the outside world. Among those eager to re-establish contact were former UK missionaries to China, people who had dedicated years of service to China in the first half of the 20th century and who had been anxiously praying for Chinese friends and colleagues during the dark years of China's Cultural Revolution.

The "Friends of the Church in China" was largely the brainchild of one such former missionary, David Paton (1913-92). He had served in China himself between 1939-43 and 1947-50 and had done much during China's isolation to keep interest and concern for China alive within UK church circles. In the early 1980s, while national church bodies like the China Christian Council and the British Council of Churches began re-establishing formal ties with one another, David Paton saw the need for a means by which individual grassroots-level Christians and congregations in China and the UK could come to know about, understand and relate to one another more directly and informally "in friendship". The "Friends of the Church in China" (FCC) thus came in to being in September 1984. It was sponsored by several different UK church bodies and initially boasted the Presidents of the China and British Christian Councils, Bishop KH Ting and Dr. Robert Runcie, as its patrons.

Since its inception, the FCC has sought to bring Chinese and British Christians together by facilitating numerous conferences and bi-lateral exchanges, as well as study tours by UK Christians to China, and by helping to host or offer hospitality to Chinese visitors to the UK. It has sought to inform people of developments in China and her churches through the publication of a regular newsletter containing information and analysis, news and updates, as well as reflections and meditations to help British Christians keep their Chinese counterparts in their thoughts and prayers.

In 1999, the FCC also established a presence on the internet and recently re-launched this present web site in April 2007. Taking its ecumenical nature seriously, the FCC relates to both Catholic and Protestant churches in the UK and China, and Catholic Bishop Aloysius Jin Lu-Xian of the Shanghai Diocese became one of FCC's patrons in 1998. The FCC has also sent delegates to past European Ecumenical China Conferences in Norway, Ireland and Rome.

Over the years, the FCC has sought to identify areas where it can be of practical assistance to those in need in China. The Chinese Christian-initiated development agency, the Amity Foundation, was founded a year after the FCC in 1985, and the FCC has supported various Amity projects as the two have "grown up" together. These have included flood relief projects, education-related and rural development initiatives, support for China's "AIDS orphans", as well as sending people to teach in China under Amity's "Summer English Program".

Historically, most of the members of the FCC have been former China missionaries, and membership has slowly declined in recent years as some of these members have passed on. With China continuing to grow in importance on the world stage, the FCC hopes to enthuse a new generation of UK Christians with a commitment to the churches in China, as well as making contact with the growing number of Chinese Christians now living and working in the UK.

Being a voluntary organisation, the FCC has always functioned primarily through the involvement and dedication of its members, many of whom have served on its committee over the years. The following are those who have served as chairpersons of the FCC since its inception in 1984: George Hood (1984-88), Bob Whyte (1988-94), Martin Conway (1994-2000), John Prichard (2000-2006), Simon Brown (2006- ).