There have been many devoted female missionaries and Bible teachers within the history of the Chinese church. But the ordaining of woman pastors continues to be opposed or viewed with reservation in lots of Chinese churches, each inside China and overseas. Surprisingly, nonetheless, the primary female priest ordained in the worldwide Anglican Communion was Chinese—Florence Li Tim-Oi (1907–1992).
Li Tim-Oi was born in May 1907 in Shek Pai Wan, Hong Kong, during an era of social upheaval and gender bias. She was one in every of five siblings. Her father, who served as principal of an English government school for over 30 years, had once been invited by Sun Yat-sen to affix the revolution to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. Li’s father valued social reform and hoped one in every of his sons would turn into a pastor, but none showed interest. Li, nonetheless, developed a passion for the Christian faith and a desire to spread the gospel.
Li’s mother attended a girls’ school founded by Catholic nuns. Influenced by her parents, Li developed a powerful sense of self-reliance and leadership from an early age. In 1931, she enrolled in Belilios Public School. During an Anglican church ordination ceremony for Hong Kong and Macau, the archdeacon asked if any of the ladies were willing to commit to serving the Chinese church. Li immediately responded, “I’m here, send me—but do I meet your requirements?”
After graduating from highschool in January 1934, Li became the pinnacle of Li Shing School in Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong. That same yr, she visited Union Theological College in Guangzhou, where the dean, John Kunkle, encouraged her to pursue theological training. After discussions with the pastor of St. Paul’s Church (her mentor), she left her teaching job to check theology in Guangzhou.
The Sino-Japanese War erupted in 1937, and Guangzhou fell to Japanese occupation in 1938. In that yr, Li graduated from seminary and commenced interning at All Saints’ Church in Kowloon, Hong Kong, serving as an assistant preacher for 2 years.
In 1940, Li was reassigned to Morrison Chapel of the Anglican Church in Macau, tasked with caring for refugees who had fled to Macau due to Sino-Japanese War. After the outbreak of the Pacific War the next yr and the next fall of Hong Kong, a good greater variety of refugees sought refuge in Macau. During this era, the region had a troubled social atmosphere characterised by rampant gambling, alcohol abuse, prostitution, and drug use. At that point, the Anglican Church in Macau didn’t have a resident priest.
On May 22, 1941, bishop Ronald Owen Hall of the Diocese of Hong Kong and Macau ordained Li as a deaconess. On Easter 1942, she began presiding over the Eucharist in Macau, spreading the gospel among the many suffering population.
During the war, many men joined the military and foreign missionaries who were imprisoned in concentration camps. To ensure uninterrupted ministry, the Anglican Church in China decided to interrupt with tradition and ordain a girl priest.
On January 25, 1944, Hall ordained Li as a priest within the Anglican Church of Zhaoqing, positioned in Guangdong, making her the world’s first female Anglican priest. Hall later developed close relationships with high-rank leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, reminiscent of Zhou Enlai. He praised Communism, earning him the nickname of the “Pink Bishop” (the colour red symbolizes the Chinese Communist Party).
In 1946, the Archbishop of Canterbury challenged Hall’s decision to ordain Li, offering two options: either Hall would resign or Li would resign her priesthood. Faced with this selection, Li sought God’s guidance and selected to provide up her priestly title, desiring to satisfy God’s will. In her book, Raindrops of My Life: The Memoir of Florence Tim Oi Li, she expressed her willingness to serve the church humbly and without regret, embodying her life philosophy of submission and repair without contention.
The next yr, Li became the principal at St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Hepu of Guangxi Province, and the next yr, she traveled to the United States to go to and learn from Christian schools within the country. Upon returning to China in 1949, she established a maternity home, a kindergarten, and a primary school in Hepu. Two years later, she began pursuing advanced studies in theology at Yenching University. From 1953 to 1954, she taught at Union Theological College in Guangzhou, serving because the dormitory supervisor for female students and assisting with the ministry at Savior’s Church.
During the Great Leap Forward in 1958, Li led theological students and clergy to Jianggao, engaging in various agricultural and animal husbandry activities.
In 1961, she underwent forced ideological education required by the Chinese Communist Party on the Sanyuanli Socialist College and embraced socialism.
This experience seems to have left some “red” traces in Li’s later thoughts and life. In August 1964, Li wrote a letter to the local government exposing Hall’s “imperialistic tendencies” and criticizing him as an “accomplice of imperialism and colonialism.” Ironically, amongst her accusations against him was the “exceptional ordination of a female priest.” She claimed to put in writing as a counter-imperialist and a patriotic clergy member according to the spirit of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Quite likely, this was a reluctant act of self-protection.
Despite the looks of loyalty to the CCP, Li was not capable of escape persecution. Shortly after the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, Li was assigned to work on the Forward Chemical Factory of the Guangzhou Christian Three-Self Association, handling tasks reminiscent of packaging medical syringes and waxing cupboard boxes. On August 25, 1966, Red Guards raided her home, injuring her and seizing helpful possessions. Her home was raided several more times after this incident.
After retiring from the chemical factory in July 1974 with a severe eye disease, Li had other health issues but persevered in physical exertion and recovered. In 1979, as China reformed and opened up, she began teaching English and re-entered church ministry.
In November 1982, Li moved to Toronto, Canada, and served at All Saints Church under reverend Philip Feng’s pastoral care. In 1984 her status as a priest was fully recognized by the Canadian Anglican Church.
1987 was a big yr for Li. On May 9, Geoffrey B. Stephenson of St. John’s Anglican Church in Toronto led a thanksgiving gathering to rejoice her eightieth birthday and established an associate church in her name. Additionally, The General Theological Seminary in New York awarded her an honorary doctor of divinity degree, which she accepted together with her sister, Li Chi-ching, alongside her.
The following yr, Li attended the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion in England as an invited guest.
Li passed away in Toronto on February 26, 1992, at age 85. Anglican communities within the West regard her highly, and a few regions have established commemorative days and special gatherings to honor her memory. The Li Tim-Oi Foundation, founded in 1994, goals to support missionary and pastoral work within the Global South.
Huang Yuan Ren is a Christian media editor currently residing in Shaanxi, China.
Translated into English by Ariel Bi
