But in these days of supreme crisis, we believe this great diversity of godfathers' and godmothers may prove a source of weakness. For they each have a special interest in China and, have not continually before them the full picture of the disaster that war with Japan has been to the young .Chinese Church.

Nine out of thirteen dioceses have been in whole or part occupied by the enemy, half of our Bishop's, sixteen out of eighteen members of Standing Committee, and twenty out of twenty-five self-supporting churches are in the hands of the invader. Nearly all our universities and schools are refugee institutions. Our Central Theological College is closed. Many churches have been destroyed, and more damaged. Many leading laymen and laywomen are now reduced to poverty and want. Many workers have been discharged. Many clergy have had to go into education, some even into business to keep their families alive; all have borrowed extensively from friends and relatives; some are in rags. There has been a general reduction in health and an increase in clerical sickness through undernourishment. ; These conditions apply equally in Free and in Occupied China. In addition, our own Missionary Diocese of Shensi is in a desperate plight through the poverty, of the whole Church, upon which it depends for support; and our small beginnings of endowment are mostly worthless through the destruction of property and war-time inflation of Chinese currency.

In spite of all these adversities, the Church has gone forward. Work has been started in new areas, new members have been baptized and confirmed. But we have not been able to take advantage of one-tenth of the opportunities presented to us.

In true Anglican tradition, the special contribution of the Sheng Kung Hui to Chinese Christianity has been thoroughness of teaching, dignity and beauty of worship, and Episcopal Church order. These things have depended on a well-trained ministry with a relatively high -- though, in fact very simple -- standard of maintenance. This is commonly recognized in China to have been the right policy. In many places, the reverse is now true, and Anglican clergy are less well cared for than some churches which have only one single missionary organization behind them.

Moreover, the Sheng Kung Hui has so far no central office or officers. We are a federation of dioceses, under a chairman, with widely differing relations to missionary societies, and most unequal financial support.

We do not believe that the Anglican communion throughout the world wishes to see any of the grand results of one hundred years of missionary endeavour wasted. We are determined to face the present crisis and the vital post-war yeas with such wisdom and efficiency as it shall please God to give us.

Of the Anglican communion throughout the world, we ask the following:

(1) A continuation of constant prayer on our behalf.

(2) A succession of young men and women who will come to work for fifteen to twenty years as associates of the Chinese clergy, as teachers in universities and schools, and as doctors and nurses in our hospitals.

(3) A full realization that, like the Church of England or U.S.A. or Canada or any other, we need a central office, central planning, central funds: so that help, for example, for Fukien or Shantung, is not limited by the fact that they are the fields of particular missionary societies, but additional help can be made available in personnel or funds from other parts of the Church.

In order to survive the war years and also to be ready to meet the opportunities and needs of the post-war period, we urgently need, additional financial help”

(A) During the war, to:

1. The Sheng Kung Hui Clergy Maintenance Fund, which now supports the Bishop of the Missionary Diocese, and makes additional grants to dioceses according to special needs, caused by the war, by rising prices, or by new opportunities.

2. The Standing Committee of General Synod on Student Work, which is concerned especially with work in Government Universities.

(B) In Preparation for the post-war period, and re-entry into the occupied dioceses and parishes;

1. We need the counsel of Special delegates from other branches of the Anglican communion on the Commission on Reconstruction.

2. We need financial assistance for the Central Endowment and Reconstruction Fund, which is to make loans and grants for the re-building of churches, universities, schools and hospitals, and grants for the maintenance of Bishops and clergy.

In this connection, some of us who are missionary bishops of the Sheng Kung Hui venture to suggest that

to meet this crisis, and to enable us to restore the waste places after the war, every other branch of the

Anglican communion should, during the next two years, make a special gift to our Endowment and Reconstruction Fund, possibly by organizing the collection from every communicant of a special donation in addition to regular missionary giving. ^Such gifts should be invested, e.g. in War Loan, in the giving country, and the interest handed over each year to the General Synod, pending such time as the situation seems sufficiently stable to the donors for the Capital Fund to be handed over to trustees in China.

We have asked Bishop Andrew Y.Y. Tsu, appointed by the last full meeting of the House of Bishops in Shanghai in 1941 as the Executive Representative of the House in Free China, to present these facts to the Church in the United States of America, Great Britain and in Canada. A copy of the memorandum is being sent to the Archbishops and Presiding Bishops of the other provinces.

In gratitude for all that your love and zeal have done for us in the past, and with our prayers for God's blessing on your land and Church, and, in God's time, for a wise and just peace among the nations.

(signed) Andrew Y.Y. Tsu Bishop of Kunming, Executive Representative of the House of Bishops of the Sheng Kung Hui

C. T. Song Bishop of Western Szechwan

Ronald Hongkong Bishop of Hongkong and. South China

T. K. Shen Bishop of Shensi

K. G. Bevan Bishop of Eastern Szeohwan

xx Percy Stevens Bishop of Hunan-Kwangsi

xxx Addison K.S. Hsu Assistant Bishop of Hunan-Kwangsi

Chungking, May 1943.

.x The National Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the U.S.A

The Church Missionary Society.

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel

The China Inland Mission

The Church of England in Canada

The Australian Board of Missions and the Australian C.M.S.

The New Zealand Board of Missions

The Church of England Zenana Missionary Society

The Dublin University Mission

The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge

The Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society

xx Absent from meeting; affirmation by radiogram later.

xxx. Absent from meeting; affirmation by letter later

A PROPOSED "NATIONAL COUNCIL" FOR THE CHURCH IN CHINA

A. Part of a Memorandum from some of the Chinese and Missionary Bishops of the Chinese Church

May 1945

......"The Sheng Kung Hui has so far no central office or officers. We are a federation of dioceses, under a chairman, with widely differing relations to missionary societies, and most unequal financial support.

"We do not believe that the Anglican communion throughout the world wishes to see any of the grand results of one hundred years of missionary endeavour wasted. We are determined to face the present

crisis and the vital post-war years with such wisdom and efficiency as it shall please God to give us.

"Of the Anglican communion throughout the world, we ask the following;

(1) A continuation of constant prayer on our behalf.

(2) A succession of young men and women, who will come to work for fifteen to twenty years associates of the Chinese clergy, as teachers in universities and schools, and as doctors and nurses in our hospitals.

(5) A full realization that, like the Church of England or U.S.A. or Canada or any other, we need a central office, central planning, central funds: so that help, for example, for Fukien or Shantung, is not limited by the fact that they are the fields of particular missionary societies, but additional help can be made available in personnel or funds from other parts of the Church."

B. Resolution of General Convention in October 1945

"WHEREAS, This General Convention has learned with interest of the plan of The Church in China for developing a central organization corresponding to our National Council:

"RESOLVSD: That this General Convention record its hearty approval of this plan, and authorizes the

National Council to co-operate with The Church in China in the development of this plan, and upon the formation of such an organization, to deal with it in the assignment of Missionaries and the distribution of funds sent from this country."

C. Resolutions of National Council, April 1944

RESOLVED: 1. That a grant of $8,000 to be taken in part from the 1944 and in part from the 1945 budget,

be made toward the 1944-45 expenses of the proposed ad interim Central Executive Body of the Church in China.

RESOLVED: 2. That the National Council offer to supply at least one person to serve as a staff member of

the proposed ad interim Central Executive Body of the Church in China.

RESOLVED: 3. That the National Council approves the resolution adopted February 1944 by the American Branch of the Anglo-American Committee on Missionary Cooperation in regard to the proposed ad interim Central Executive Body of the Church in China, reading as follows:

Having read the Memorandum from Chinese and Missionary Bishops in Free China, dated May 1945 at Chungking; and having seen the Resolution of General Convention at Cleveland, October, 1945, on "developing a central organization corresponding to our National Council" for the Church in China; and having consulted together about these documents, we find ourselves in agreement on the following matters:-

I. We favor a central organization for the Church in China similar in nature to the National Council of the Church in America, if and when such can be set up by the General Synod of the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui.

II. Until the above can be accomplished, we approve of the temporary setting up by the Bishops of Free China, of a provisional central organization, such as may best serve the interests of the Church in China.

III. It is our opinion that the nature and functions of such a centralized organization for the Church in Free China, should be as follows:

A. It should be temporary (that is, for the duration of the war) but should study and prepare plans for the setting up, at some future time, of a permanent National Council, or central organization, for the whole C.H.S.K.H.

B. It should be set up by, and be responsible to, the Bishops in Free China, and should in no way interfere with the direct relations between Diocesan Bishops, or their representatives, and the mother churches as at present established.

C. Its chief functions should be:

1. To promote and coordinate general work as distinct from diocesan work, such QS - theological education, recruiting for the ministry, work among students, etc.

2. To act as clearing house for the transmission of, or requests for, special funds for special purposes, over end above diocesan appropriations.

5. To represent the participating dioceses in their contacts with other organizations, especially the State.

Resolutions Nos. 1 and 2 were referred to the Department of Finance.

Resolution No. 5 was adopted by the Council.

The Finance Department reported by offering the following resolutions in connection with resolutions 1 and 2 referred to it, which were adopted by the Council:

RESOLVED: That a grant of $8,000, to be taken in part from 'special funds available in 1944, and in part

from the 1945 budget or special funds, be made toward the 1944-45 expenses of the proposed ad interim Central Executive Body of the Church in China.

FURTHER RESOLVED; That for the year 1944, $1,000 be drawn from specials in hand designated for this purpose, and $2,000 be drawn from the Brunsman legacy designated for China.

FURTHER RESOLVED: That the National Council offer to supply at least one person to serve as a staff member of the proposed ad interim Central Executive Body of the Church in China.