Agnes Lam is an advocate for reconciliation and climate justice and believes in the role of reconciliation as a part of the Christian faith. She’s a member of the Anglican Communion Youth Network and the United Nations Enviromental Programme (UNEP) Faith for Earth Youth Council, which seeks to mobilise young people of faith for ecological action. Agnes will be one of the panellists joining the webinars on November 19th and 20th, where she will discuss her experience of ‘The Difference Course‘ (created by the Reconciliation Leaders Network). She spoke to Anglican News about her perspectives on fostering a peaceful world for all.

A mindset for reconciliation can help reduce stress in people’s lives

Agnes is passionate about connecting with people. Reconciliation is, to her, a natural extension of her personality. ‘I love to talk to people and to listen to their stories.’ She remembers having a passion for serving others from a young age. Now, in her work, study or with family, she finds that she can easily connect with other people and enjoys trying ‘to understand their concerns.’

Based in Hong Kong, she’s employed in the retail industry, and finds plenty of opportunities to engage with people facing stressful situations. For Agnes, having a mindset of reconciliation in ‘client cases’ can be helpful: ‘People are stressed about the work, the salary, the health, [there is] a lot of stress coming out from their daily lives so, when I live in such a very high-pressure city, I must be strong enough to… bring some positivity to other people.’

Obstacles to reconciliation

Agnes sees reconciliation as simultaneously simplistic and challenging. ‘I think it’s about how are you going to put yourself into others’ shoes? It’s easy to say that, but very hard to do in reality because of the experiences that we have had and these assumptions that we hold. These are the barriers that really hinder understanding other people’s point of view.’

She encourages those, like her, who wish to engage with reconciliation to ‘humble’ themselves and to disregard ‘biases’ or ‘pride’ to do with education, experience or position, stressing that ‘We’re just people in God’s eyes – we’re just ordinary and we’re all equal. So, if we have humility and an understanding and authentic mindset to connect with other people, that will be the greatest way to do reconciliation.’

Reconciliation and the church in Hong Kong

Hong Kong has seen significant unrest and political upheaval in recent years, primarily stemming from the 2019 pro-democracy protests and Beijing’s subsequent crackdown. During that period, Agnes recalls that the bishop in her church had conversations with young people who were feeling very hopeless. ‘He was really willing to listen to our views,’ says Agnes. As a result, her peers felt that the church really cared about young people. She appreciates her church’s efforts for ‘getting different parties involved’ with decisions and ensuring that ‘different backgrounds of people’ are included and listened to. This is happening across generations in the church. Agnes says: ‘I think it’s a good time for us to synergise different generations, so that our ideas can spark each other’s energy and passion, so that we can come up with something even greater.’

Reconciliation needs humility

Agnes shares that James, Chapter 4:10 – ‘Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up’ – is an inspiration. For Agnes, it highlights how pride can hinder us from ‘thinking about God’s will or God’s calling,’ but ‘if we are willing to humble ourselves and to see what God has planned for us, then he will do the rest.’ Acknowledging that all people have ‘struggles’, ‘assumptions’ and ‘biases’ that will be ‘blocking us from approaching others’. Agnes feels that this scripture is a ‘reminder’ for us in reconciliation.

The spirit of the Lambeth Call to Reconciliation

The Lambeth Call on Reconciliation, was shared by the bishops of the Lambeth Conference in 2022. Agnes appreciates the Call’s encouragement to value cultural differences and perspectives in reconciliation work. ‘There can be different ways for us to approach the conflicts…. social and cultural contexts can be very complex, so we cannot just deal with one aspect.’

The value of The Difference Course

Agnes is a former participant and enthusiast for The Difference Course, which she considers a very good tool for Anglican churches. She explains the course helps people think about how people can ‘change our mindset and try to accept how we can deal with people differently.’ Agnes undertook the course with the Anglican Communion Youth Network in 2024 and reflected that it was instrumental in gaining a deeper understanding of herself as well as empowering participants to ‘forgive and reconcile with ourselves first, so that we can start to forgive others.’ Agnes remarked that ‘it was really meaningful because a lot of the conversation and content is very relevant to our daily life and it really helps us to understand how we are going to reconcile with ourselves, with others, with a greater community.’

Reconciliation in a global village

Her reconciliation mindset is one that considers people and planet. She appreciates different reconciliation initiatives around the Anglican Communion, such as environmental action that focus on ‘reconciling with nature’ or inter faith work that dialogues with other religious traditions. ‘ These are the works that we have been doing that will be very helpful for us to really make sure that, as a global village, we’re not just differentiated as Anglicans, but we are doing that for the entire earth.’

Find out more about the Lambeth Call on Reconciliation and register for the upcoming webinars.