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The Kowloon City Baptist Church was founded in 1931, Hong Kong. We began as a “Baptist preaching Point” at Ma Tau Chung Road in Kowloon City with about six Christian families. As the fellowship increased in number, we moved to Boundary Street, and was re-named “Baptist Gospel Chapel” in 1935. The women's Missionary union and Sunday School were the earliest ministries of the Chapel. When the number in fellowship rose to a few hundred, there was a strong desire to acquire an independent building. In response to our request, the Government granted us a piece of land about 10,000 square feet. The chapel was officially established as a church on August 27 1939. Through the sacrificial giving of church members, our first church building materialized in 1940.
In 1941, owing to the outbreak of the Pacific War, many among the congregation were compelled to flee to other places. However, in 1944 with the return of the congregation, the church resumed her ministry. As the church grew rapidly and a pastor was needed, Mr, Daniel Y.K. Cheung was ordained to be the pastor of the church at her 10 th anniversary celebration. In 1954, with the enormous opportunity for ministry, and in anticipation for future development, the church registered with the Government as a legal institution.
Furthermore, the church registered with the Government under the Ordinance of Property Protection and Control in April 1957. This enabled the church to develop and sponsor gospel chapels as a means to spread the gospel in different parts of Hong Kong.
It was not hard to see the Lord's blessings with the rapid growth of our congregation during the 50's. As a larger church building was needed to meet growing needs for more facilities the church made an agreement with the Government to surrender the Stirling Road church site together with HK$50,000 in exchange for our present site of 20,000 square feet. The construction of the building at 206 Argyle Street was completed in 1964, and it was dedicated on our 25 th anniversary. Our building is composed of two portions, the sanctuary with a seating capacity of 1,800 in the front, and a ten storeys Religious Education Building in the rear. Because of the high cost of construction, we could afford to build only six storeys initially, with the other four added in 1973. Throughout the decades of the 50's, 60's and 70's, the Lord greatly blessed His church and we grew in number, in ministry to her people, and in evangelistic outreach in the city and missions abroad. Through all these years, God has gifted our church with faithful and godly persons to serve on the pastoral and supporting staff who have been used to grow the church spiritually and numerically. These include the first pastor Rev. Chung Chi Leung in 1931 and our current senior pastor Rev. Dr. James M. O. Cheung since 1984. They have provided the church with spiritual nourishment, pastoral care and counselling, as well as leadership.
In the 1980's, our church membership reached eight thousand. As the need for better pastoral care arose, the Lord provided us with more pastoral staff. Some of the ministries developed by the early 80's included weekly evangelistic broadcast on Radio Hong Kong, organized Christian counselling services, and fellowship groups for the blue collar workers. On the fiftieth anniversary of our church, the following areas of work were further established: the establishment of a mission board, a Centre for the Elderly, and Youth Centre. In March 1996, another elderly centre in Lok Fu Centre was established, and since April 2006 it has been merged with another elderly centre (Lung Cheung) into one mega Neighbourhood Elderly Centre, signalling an increasing social concern in the midst of our own local community.
As we stepped into the last decade of the 20 century, the number of member of registered since the founding of the church increased to 11,070. As the need for more facilities arose, we remodelled the fourth and sixth floor of our Education Building into two mid-sized halls seating around two hundred each. These chapels are used to accommodate the overflow crowds of the Sunday morning services. The five adults' worship services have a combined attendance of 4000. We also implemented simultaneous translation in English and mandarin for the noon service since September 1995. In the same year we also proceeded with computer networking in our offices and subscribed to the internet.
New believers are required to take two three-month classes in basic Christian life and faith courses before they are baptized and become members. Besides, members are urged to take training courses, join age-group centre activities, attend growth classes and take part in Christian service. Currently, sixty-five growth classes and equip around 3000 members. The church music ministry includes 500 members in choral and instrumental programs. There are also nine Women's Mission Unions with 350 members, and our Baptist Men Fellowship is around 50 strong. There are also Friday evening training courses designed to better equip members for bible study leaders and specific ministries.
Much attention has been paid to the setting up of mission chapels in New Government housing development areas. Twenty-four such chapels have been established since the founding of the church. Twenty-three of them have become self-supporting churched. Currently, one of them are still sponsored and financially supported by our church.
Our current church staff numbers over seventy. This included the pastoral staff the consists of one senior pastor, six associate pastors, one minister of music, one teaching pastor, one director of administration, thirty-two pastoral assistants and a supporting staff of thirty-four clerical, business and janitorial workers. The ministry of the church is carried out through thirteen church departments and the mission board. About twenty-eight active deacons and two hundred lay persons provide leadership to these departments.
The church now supports ten missionaries working in Thailand, France and England. Efforts are also made to explore opportunities in serving the churches in mainland China in spiritual and social ministries.
At this 21 century, we dare not forget to count the many blessings of our Lord to the church. We also learn to constantly draw upon His grace and abundant supply of resources to equip ourselves to serve as the Lord's lamp stand in our community and other parts of the world.
