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 enviroment 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 month 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 involvment 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). Bishop K. H. Ting 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.
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 the Amity Foundation.
|
|
|
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.
March 1985 A press conference was held in Hong Kong to announce the upcoming establishment of the Amity Foundation.
November 1986 Ground Breaking Ceremony was held for the Amity Printing Press.
March 1993 The Amity Foundation Board made the strategic decision to move its major project focus to the western regions of China. |
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 Headquaters and almost 1,000 staff in total. In order to strengthen domestic support and the third sector Amity began to develop 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 plattforms 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.
November 2005 Stone laying ceremony for the new Amity Printing Co., Ltd. < Click here for more information about Amity's Printing history
November 2012 Amity Printing printed its 100th million Bible and became the world's largest Bible printer
November 2015 the Amity Foundation celebrated its 30th anniversary
More detailed information about Amity's journey can be found in Amity's 30th anniversary booklet
|
2015 - Present
Period of Development
... to be continued |
|
Read more about: Who We Are - Vision and Mission - Culture - History - Facts and Figures - Contact |
print