Christianity in Hong Kong - Protestanism

Protestanism

The presence of the Protestant community dates back to 1841. “Great Light Newspaper” (大光報), a Christian newspaper based in Hong Kong and distributed in Hong Kong and China, was in operation in the early 1900s, with Dr. Man-Kai Wan, 尹文階 (1869-1927) as its Chairman of the Board and Dr. Sun Yat-sen (a secondary school classmate of Dr. Wan) as its contributor. To Tsai Church (道濟會堂), founded by the London Missionary Society in 1888 and located at 75 Hollywood Road, Mid-levels (半山區), Hong Kong, was Sun's place of worship while he studied Medicine in the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (香港華人西醫書院). Fung-Chi Au (區鳳墀, 1847-1914), who was Sun’s teacher of Chinese literature, was an Elder of To Tsai Church. Due to its growth, this church erected a large building in 1926 and was renamed Hop Yat Church (合一堂).

About 480,000 Protestant Christians live in Hong Kong. The Protestant Church is made up of over 1,300 congregations in more than 50 denominations. Major denominations are Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, Adventists, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Church of Christ in China, Methodist, Pentecostal and Salvation Army. With their emphasis on youth work, many congregations have a high proportion of young people.

Two weekly newspapers are published, The Christian Weekly and The Christian Times. Two ecumenical bodies facilitate co-operative work among the Protestant churches in Hong Kong. The older one, dating from 1915, is the Hong Kong Chinese Christian Churches Union. The second co-operative body is the Hong Kong Christian Council, formed in 1954. Major mainline denominations and ecumenical services constitute the membership core of the council, which is committed to building closer relationships among all churches in Hong Kong as well as with churches overseas, and to stimulating local Christians to play an active part in the development of Hong Kong society. The Chairman of the Council, the Rt Revd Thomas Soo, represents the Protestant community in the six religions' meetings.