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Foreword

Frank's contribution to the writing of WSCF history as its centenary approaches is all the more important because of the Asian emphasis, which he brings.

He finds his initial inspiration in the visit of an Asian Leader, T.Z. Koo, to Australia, and his eventual sphere of service in the WSCF as East Asian Secretary 1959-61.

Born in Korea himself, a natal belonging came through faith a sphere of service, which shaped his life.

Coming into contact with the WSCF myself a decade later (the 50th Anniversary celebrations in Melbourne in 1945), the same inspiration from WSCF leaders, bringing both challenge and hope, marked my student years from that time on.

Sharing these things, Frank's life and mine have been linked, as we shared time together in ecumenical work in the Australian Council of Churches 1961-68, and as at different times and in different ways we gave ourselves to ecumenical service in Asia – he in the WSCF, and I in the East Asia Christian Conference 1968-71 and Christian Conference of Asia 1976-80, and both of us as members of EACC/CCA Executive and General Committees at different times.

Thus, we have both moved through the fellowship of the WSCF and carried its inspiration into the work of national and international ecumenical structures of the churches.

I hope that Frank's recollections stir anew in his readers some of these inspirations and challenges, as the WSCF reaches its centenary, and the world of peoples move into the next century.

Harvey L. Perkins

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Frank Engel, 1993