Mok Lai Chi (Mo Lizhi) was one of the pioneering leaders of Pentecostalism in China
and editor of Pentecostal Truths (五旬節真理報 ).
Born into a Christian family in Hong Kong on January 10, 1866, Mok developed a call
to ministry at an early age. In 1881, he was accepted into St. John’s College, intending
to train as a minister. Due to a delay, however, he was enrolled in the government
Central School and chose to train for a secular career. On graduating in 1886, Mok
began a promising career as a Hong Kong civil servant.
Despite this success, Mok saw these years as the “darkest” in his life, being surrounded
by “all kinds of worldly people” and getting “deeper in sin.” After a tearful repentance,
he left his career and opened the Morrison English School. From 1892, Mok split his
time between education and ministry. He served in leadership roles in the Chinese
Congregational Church, as a secretary and Sunday school superintendent in the YMCA,
and did some occasional evangelistic work among the poor.
In 1907, Mok’s life took a decisive turn when he began interpreting for the newly
arrived Pentecostal missionaries, Alfred and Lillian Garr, who were holding services
in the Congregational Church. Deeply affected by what we heard, Mok began repenting,
making restitutions, and tarrying for the Holy Spirit. Within two weeks, he received
his Spirit baptism, and his wife, Alice Lena Mok, followed soon after. Unexpectedly,
his association with the movement led to declining enrollment at his school. Mok,
however, embraced it as a chance to finally engage in full-time ministry. Alongside
missionaries and other Chinese leaders, Mok opened a rescue mission and school, preached
on street corners, and took evangelistic trips to the mainland and remote areas of
Hong Kong.
By the end of1907, Mok’s group established the Apostolic Faith Mission, an umbrella
organization that united Pentecostal workers across China. In 1908, Mok began editing
Pentecostal Truths. Intended as a Chinese-language missionary paper, the periodical actively promoted
the Pentecostal message and was distributed free of charge. It circulated throughout
China and the global Chinese diaspora. Despite irregular funding, the paper ran for
nine years. Unfortunately, the unity of the Apostolic Faith Mission was short-lived
as tensions emerged over leadership, doctrine, and funding. Reflecting this fracture,
the organization renamed itself the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission in 1910, and Mok
was recognized as its “pastor.”
By 1912, the mission was functioning as an independent Chinese Pentecostal church
with no missionary involvement. Despite Mok’s privileged background, most of the church’s
membership came from the lower social strata, and the congregation had a notable penchant
for socially engaged ministry. For example, Mok led an advocacy campaign for renters’
rights, and the church ran a school for Chinese girls, a rarity at the time. Mok went
on to lead the congregation until his death on December 3, 1926.
The church remains active today, with branches in Hong Kong, Kowloon, and Vancouver.
For Further Reading:
Connie Au, “Elitism and Poverty: Early Pentecostalism in Hong Kong (1907-1945)” in
Global Chinese Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity, edited by Fenggang Yang, Joy K. C. Tong, and Allan H. Anderson (Leiden: Brill, 2017).
Connie Au, “From Collaborations with Missionaries to Independence: An Early History
of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission (1907–1930),” in Asia Pacific Pentecostalism, edited by Denise A. Austin, Jacqueline Grey, and Paul W. Lewis (Leiden: Brill, 2019).
Allan Anderson, “Opening Doors of Nations: China and East Asia,” in Spreading Fires: The Missionary Nature of Early Pentecostalism (London: SCM Press, 2007).
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