Lo Sin Tshoi

Basic Biographical Data

Pastor Lo Sin Tshoi, a native of Xingning county (興寧), Guangdong (廣東), China, was born on April 25, 1884. Originally, he was a member of the Tsung Tsin Mission (崇真會) in Guangdong. [The mission was first known as the German Missionary Society when it began to work among the Hakka people in Guangdong in 1847. Later it was known as the Basel Mission (巴色會), because its headquarters was at Basel, a city in Switzerland, where the famous Roman Catholic church council was held from 1431 to 1439 for reformation.] At the beginning of the 20th century, the gospel of the three angels entered into China. In 1905 Lo Sin Tshoi accepted the truth as espoused by the Seventh-day Adventists and was baptized by Pastor E. H. Wilbur (鄔爾布). Studying theology and having practical training, he became a mission worker to help pioneer the work among the Hakka people. He became a great helper to Pastors S. A. Nagel (那基理), J. P. Anderson (恩帝孫) and Paul V. Thomas (譚保羅).

And in 1920, he was ordained into the gospel ministry and became the first Chinese to be ordained in the Hakka district. [The editor’s note: Lo Sin Tshoi, the oldest worker in the Hakka Mission, was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry during the Hakka Mission workers’ meeting, held in Waichow (惠州), December 18-26, 1920. He had been with the Hakka Mission since the work started among the Hakka people fourteen years before. (Asiatic Division Outlook, February 1 & 15, 1921, p. 6.)]

In 1912 Lo Sin Tshoi and Miss Chan Shun Tak (陳信德), one among the first batch of graduates from Guangzhou Bethel School for Girls (伯特利女學堂), were united in marriage. This newly wedded couple accepted the call to work among the Hakka people. Mrs. Lo became an outstanding female Bible worker. They worked hard among the Hakka people, opening up new territories. They left their footprints all over the hilly Hakka regions as well as the towns along the shores of Dongjiang (東江East River) such as Meixian (梅縣), Xingning (興寧), Wuhua (五華), Longchuan (龍川), Laolong (老隆), Heshi (鶴市), Qiling (岐嶺), Jiaoling (蕉嶺), Dapu (大埔), Heping (和平), Heyuan (河源), and Boluo (博羅) various places. Everywhere they went they erected churches and schools and held evangelistic meetings, conducted Bible studies, and spread the gospel. Church members gradually increased. Besides, Pastor Lo also had his eyes on the young people, who would be useful to the gospel work. He encouraged them and sent them to theological training to enter the preaching force, enlarging the soul winning power and greatly advanced the ministry.

In his thirty years of service for the Lord in the gospel work, Pastor Lo had been elementary school principal and teacher, pastor of various churches, mission educational secretary, leading hundreds of thousands people into the truth and joined the church. Due to hardship and travel in his work he became very sick and was operated on his chest by Dr. Harry Miller in Shanghai Sanitarium and Hospital. After that, he continued indefatigably in his work despite his failing health. Day in and day out, he continued to labor until 1940, when he retired and moved to Hong Kong, Kowloon to rest. Soon after, because he missed his hometown, Pastor Lo returned to Xingning (興寧) alone, to visit his relatives and friends. There he contracted a strange strand of germs and suffered from a strange high fever. As it was during the Sino-Japanese War, there was a great shortage of medicine, communication was very difficult, and transportation was not easy. Unfortunately Pastor Lo passed away in his sickness in 1941. The sad news was first relayed to Waichow (惠州), where Dr. So Wai Chuen (蘇慧川) then passed it on to Hong Kong and then to the family and the church. It was a very sad moment. Everyone was moaning for the loss.

On April 18, 1941, the South China Union Mission held a memorial service for Pastor Lo Sin Tshoi. Besides, Pastor Lo’s immediate family members, among those that attended the memorial service were Pastors Leung Noi To (梁耐燾), Leung Hing Sun (梁慶燊), Tso Chiu Nam (曹昭南), Wu Eng Hwa (吳榮華), J. P. Anderson (恩帝孫), C. F. Larsen (藍雅遜), and over seventy church members. During the memorial service, Pastor J. P. Anderson in his address described Pastor Lo’s life sketch and encouraged everyone to follow his example, faithfully executing the noble sacrificial spirit in spreading the gospel. After the memorial service the group took a picture for memory.

Pastor Lo Sin Tshoi served the cause of God for thirty years, especially in the opening up new territories in the Hakka district. His contribution was exceptionally phenomenal. The following two main points explain it all.

(1) He is a brave and hard worker in pioneering new work.

Early in the twentieth century, when our message was just being introduced to Guangdong area in South China, that was the end of the Qing dynasty and the beginning of the new republic era, a time of revolutionary changes, shaping our society. People’s knowledge was blooming, but feudalism and superstitious thinking was too deeply rooted. They used to call the Christian faith as foreign religion. Not only were they curious, they were inclined to discrimination. In addition, the warlords of the south were fighting among themselves during those years, and bandits were everywhere. There was hardly any peace and order. Transportation was very poor. In the Hakka district, apart from few public roads and the Dongjiang (東江East River) water transport that provided some convenience, majority of the transportation depended on carrying on the shoulders, on foot walking, on horse back or sedan chair. Faced with the situation in those day and the situation in the in the then society, to preach to the people and erect churches was a very difficult task. Apart from the leading hand of God the most important factor was to depend on the hard work of the pioneers’ faith in the Lord and a fearless spirit. Pastor Lo’s whole life of dedication to the work of God brought forth many fruits to the glory of God.

(2) He was a friend maker, recognizing talented people, and was willing to organize and educate them for the gospel.

As the mission work flourished there was a great need for gospel workers. Pastor Lo took advantage of his position as field minister, he made friends with all that he met. Whenever he noted any promising and potential future workers for God, he would encourage them to go for special training to be gospel workers for God, thus strengthening and greatly increased the gospel worker team. Those who later became the gospel workers in the Hakka district were Tshi Tsok Phien (徐卓鵬), Lo Tek Tsun (羅德峻), Lo Tek Tshien (羅德全), Lo Tao Nyan (羅道原), Chong Fa Min (張化民), Joshua Chong Yun Foh (張永和), Chong Sin Tso (張星初), Chong Thau Hsiong (張道雄), Chong Thau Fan (張道範), Ng Yuk Pin (吳育斌), Ng Yok Chhi (吳躍池), Hiu That Sam (丘達三), Hiu Chan Min (邱贊民), Li Moi Fa (李梅華), Ho Tshin (何清), Chin Chhun Fa (陳春華), Li Chhun Ming (李春明),…. Most of them pledged to be true and loyal to their tasks in spreading the gospel. Among them there were those who became outstanding church leaders.

In order to remember Pastor Lo’s dedication to church work, in Dr. Harry Miller Memorial Building at Tsuen Wan, Kowloon, Hong Kong, a room was dedicated to his honor and was named Pastor Lo Sin Tshoi Memorial Room, and a statue of him was situated outside the room.

Pastor Lo rested in the Lord at age fifty-seven. He leaves to mourn him four children, two boys and two girls, all had followed the father’s example, being faithful to the Lord.

The oldest son, Pastor Lo Hing So (羅慶蘇), devoted most of his whole life, a total of forty- two years to the educational ministry, serving as principal and teacher of a few of our schools in Guangdong and Kowloon, Hong Kong, as well as educational secretary of the local mission. After retirement he continued to serve the church by translating the adult Sabbath School lessons and morning devotional books for many years. He also authored scripts for the broadcasting work for the East Asia Committee until 1988, when he rested in the Lord.

The second son, Dr. Timothy Lo Ka Chung (羅加寵), had served as medical superintendent of our denominational hospitals in Toishan (台山) and Nanning (南寧), and superintendent of our nursing school. As he was active and zealous in local churches, he was persecuted under political pressure and was jailed as well as working in the labor camp. But he continued steadfastly serving the Lord. After coming to America he served as a pastor in Oakland Chinese Seventh-day Adventist Church in North California.

Their eldest daughter Susanna Lo (羅佩恩) graduated in 1937 from the nursing school of the Shanghai Sanitarium and Hospital. She then accompanied her husband Stamford Wong (黃慎修), a former worker in the South China Union, with their two daughters, and went to Malaya (馬來亞), his homeland, where she served as a nurse in the Penang Sanitarium Hospital, now Penang Adventist Hospital. After their retirement she and her family migrated to America and settled at Loma Linda.

Pastor Lo’s youngest daughter Ruth Lo (羅眷愛), a graduated nurse from our Shanghai Sanitarium and Hospital, worked for many years in the denominational and government hospitals.

Pastor and Mrs. Lo Sin Tshoi had two sons and two daughters, as well as fourteen grandchildren, seventeen great grandchildren. All rendered their services to the church and society glorifying the Lord. Their family was indeed a wholesome Christian family blessed by the Lord. [The editor’s note: On November 4, 1973, during the remembrance of the 85th anniversary of the arrival of Abram La Rue to the Far East, the Hong Kong-Macao Mission presented to Mrs. Lo Sin Tshoi, for souvenir and encouragement, a porcelain trophy, on which were engraved four Chinese characters 恒切祈禱 (constantly in prayer). On June 13, 1979, she rested in the Lord at age 88. (South China Reflections 1990, p. 35.)]

Translated and edited by C.Y. Wu & B. Lo 2011

Pastor Lo Sin Tshoi

Lo Sin Tshoi family

Mrs Lo Sin Tshoi, nee Chan Shun Tak