Feature
Shining Christ’s Light from Coast to Coast
Chinese ministries in New York City and Los Angeles are thriving.
This year, True Light Lutheran Church in New York City will celebrate its 90th anniversary, which also marks 90 years of Chinese ministry in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). To celebrate the milestone, Lutherans Engage the World is highlighting Chinese ministry in the United States’ two largest cities: at True Light in New York City and at Loving Savior of the Hills Lutheran Church in the greater Los Angeles area.
‘Come to the True Light’
Ninety years ago, a woman in New York City made a bold move. For over 30 years, Mary Banta had been serving a large Methodist congregation and reaching out to Manhattan’s Chinese immigrant community.
She had also been tuning in to a new radio program, The Lutheran Hour with the Rev. Dr. Walter A. Maier, and found herself drawn to Lutheran doctrine. And so, in 1935, she and many of the Chinese members left to establish an independent ministry, True Light Sunday School, in a rented loft above Canal Street in Chinatown. Banta reached out to the LCMS requesting catechetical instruction for herself — and soon after, an LCMS pastor for the congregation.
Through support from the LCMS and its Atlantic District, as well as from many others across the Synod, True Light was established as an LCMS mission congregation in 1936. It purchased a permanent building in 1946 and, in 1966, became a self-supporting LCMS member congregation.
“When I was growing up, this was home,” David Chin said of the congregation. Chin came to True Light “in a baby carriage” when his parents moved to New York City in 1948. The congregation was the center of his life — and indeed, of much of the community — during the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
The congregation grew rapidly in these years, serving countless Chinese immigrant families through English and Chinese language classes; after-school activities; vocational training; and, most centrally, the proclamation of the Gospel in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
“That’s why I immigrated in 1975,” said Andrew Fan. “My mother said, ‘You have to come to the True Light.’” Fan’s mother had come to America two years earlier. He and his wife, Ruby, were married in the church and brought their children by subway, even after they moved out to Queens.
‘All Languages Before the Throne’
All these years later, True Light’s five-story brick building, with its five-story glass cross, still rises up from a cluster of rowhouses in Chinatown.
The congregation has seen shifts in its numbers and position in the community. But still today, True Light is flourishing, a congregation composed of longtime members alongside young professionals looking for a confessional Lutheran church in the city.
True Light has Chinese and English services each Sunday. At the Chinese service, members help to translate the sermon and other parts of the service into Cantonese, and they use a translation of the liturgy provided by an LCMS partner church in Hong Kong.
“Church is grounded in the Word here, every Sunday,” said Zach Giles, who moved to Chinatown for work 15 years ago. He saw the cross outside and has been attending ever since. Now he serves as vice-president of the congregation.
Giles also met his wife, Gabby, at church. Gabby, who became Lutheran while growing up in Ukraine, appreciates the consistent hymns and liturgy at True Light.
“The liturgy makes sense to me,” said Gabby. “It is actually the same [liturgy] we used in Ukraine. So, it feels like home.”
The liturgy has the same benefit for the Chinese and English services, noted Zach: “[At either service], we know what is going on. We can really feel like we are part of the service, even if we don’t know the language.”
“Revelation 7 speaks of ‘all languages before the throne of God,’” said the Rev. Dr. Joshua Hollman, who serves as pastor of True Light. “We get a little sneak preview of that every week. … We have the chance to reach the world here in New York City with the Gospel of Jesus. … It is a wonderful adventure, as we head toward the new heavens and the new earth.”
Preaching Law and Gospel
On the other side of the country, at Loving Savior of the Hills Lutheran Church in Chino Hills, Calif., Chinese ministry began with a “beautiful misunderstanding,” said the Rev. Dr. Andy Wu.
Back in 1997, the Rev. Charles “Chip” Fox (who now serves at New Life Chinese Lutheran Church in San Francisco) had heard that a new Buddhist temple was going to be built down the street from Loving Savior. Fearing the draw this false religion would have on the area’s Chinese population, Fox saw an opportunity to reach them with the Gospel by starting Mandarin services. The misunderstanding? The Buddhist temple was actually a Thai Buddhist temple.
Still, almost 30 years later, the preaching of God’s Word in Mandarin has not returned empty — the Chinese ministry at Loving Savior has blossomed.
Many Chinese families first hear about Loving Savior through their friends or through Loving Savior’s thriving grade school. New immigrants come seeking a Chinese community and then stay because they hear the Gospel, often for the very first time. The Gospel can be a revelation for them, since they tend to wrestle with a strong sense of legalism and perfectionism in their relationship with God due to their Buddhist background.
“When I listen to the sermon of Pastor Andy Wu, I know that God always loves me,” said Leon Hou. Hou and his wife and two children were baptized at Loving Savior five years ago. He is now a trustee, and his children attend Loving Savior’s school.
Wu himself first heard Law and Gospel precisely distinguished when he stumbled upon a Mandarin service at Emmaus Lutheran Church in Alhambra, Calif. A former businessman in Taiwan, Wu had served as an independent missionary in Central America before coming to the United States to seek formal seminary education.
“I was a ‘Christianity orphan.’ I’m here and there and trying to find my home. And now I’ve been adopted, and [the LCMS] is … my eternal family,” said Wu.
Wu threw himself into learning Lutheran doctrine, and after a few years colloquized as an LCMS pastor. He loved “the beauty of the liturgy and the teaching of Law and Gospel,” he said. “Learning how to define and distinguish this is Law, and this is Gospel — it opened my eyes.”
Now, having served as Loving Savior’s shepherd for 24 years, Wu strives to preach Law and Gospel in his own sermons, tailoring them to be clear and down to earth, especially for those in his flock who are new to Christianity.
Raising Up the Next Generation
“Our congregation has made a very conscious choice to love each other, so that [relationship] between our English speakers and our Chinese speakers has truly grown from kindness and respect to familial love,” said Jennifer Plummer, a longtime member.
“We used to say we have a Chinese congregation and an English congregation,” said head elder Bill Smoyer. “Now we say we have a first service, a second service and a third service.”
As the older generation of English speakers has grown smaller over the years, the younger Chinese generation has stepped up into leadership roles in the congregation.
“Over maybe the past four or five years, because I’m more involved with the church council, I’ve had more opportunities to interact with brothers and sisters from the English services … and that process, at least for me, created more unity,” said Tom Huang, the congregation’s president.
Generational differences can be a challenge at any church (not to mention differences in language and culture). Yet, the saints at Loving Savior have persevered in sharing the love of Christ with each other.
“A lot of those in the English services … were the founding members of the church. They’ve poured their lives into Loving Savior in a lot of ways that I don’t even know about,” said Huang.
This respect for all the saints who have gone before, combined with the openness to serve Chino Hills’ 40% Asian population, has helped this congregation to keep Christ and His saving work at the center.
“If you believe in Jesus Christ, you know He takes care of all your iniquities,” preached Wu, first in English and later in Mandarin, one Sunday in July. “So, do not focus on what you are doing. Focus on who you believe in, who you trust in, and then learn how much [Christ] loves you.”
Learn More
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Stacey Eising
Managing editor for The Lutheran Witness.
Sarah Hjulberg
Staff writer and editor for LCMS Communications.
