A NEW board supporting Hong Kong Christians within the Church of England met this week, bringing together representatives of the Church’s Racial Justice Unit, the diocese of Oxford, and the Teahouse group of Chinese-heritage clergy.
The national steering board, Hong Kongers within the Church of England, gathered for the primary time on Tuesday, when the appointment of a Hong Kong Communities Enabler, Katie Woo, was announced. Her post is jointly funded by Oxford diocese and the Racial Justice Unit. She said: “We are pioneering recent resources, services and materials to assist with this welcome.”
Churches working in partnership with Hong Kong Christians have reported “unprecedented” growth over the past five years.
Trinity, Earley, in Reading — an ecumenical partnership with the Methodist and United Reformed Churches — has grown from about 150 to 650 since 2021, when it began to work in partnership with Hong Kong Christians. After a weekly Cantonese service began at Trinity in 2022, a recent congregation was planted in St Mary’s Winnersh, in Wokingham, in 2023.
Trinity has grow to be a “resourcing hub” for planting Cantonese congregations in other churches in the world, with the assistance of C of E Strategic Development Funding and the Racial Justice Unit. Four more church-plants are planned, and the project has recruited a Cantonese-speaking Associate Vicar, the Revd Fung Lau.
At St Mary’s, Stockport, a congregation of fewer than 20 has grown to greater than 100 after the church — in some of the deprived parishes in England — established an Alpha course in each English and Cantonese. In 2024, it also began a monthly Cantonese service, which has since grow to be weekly.
At St Barnabas’s, Alwoodley, in Leeds, about one quarter of the congregation are from Hong Kong, after families began arriving in 2021, Church House reports.
The Vicar of Woodley, in Oxford diocese, the Revd Mark Nam, who founded the Teahouse group, agreed that churches with Hong Kong Christian congregations were experiencing “unprecedented” growth.
“Hong Kong has an extended and well-established relationship with the Church of England; so it’s only right that we respond well to sisters and brothers in Christ who are actually making their home within the UK. I’m encouraged by how much good work is already under way — sharing the hope of the gospel and bearing witness to God’s love for all.”
He told the Church Times: “A key priority for us shouldn’t be only helping Hong Kong families feel welcomed and settled in our churches, but in addition how we reply to the evolving needs of their young people as they grow up and navigate their place within the Church. The query of the second generation will probably be a very important one for us, and we would like to be intentional about listening well, making space for them, and supporting them to flourish in faith as a part of the lifetime of the Church of England.”
