Boston

Basic Demographic Information

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The Chinese Adventist ministry began in 1996. A group of seven young Adventists of the Billerica SDA Church met for Chinese vesper services in February of that year. Two were students of Atlantic Union College, three were graduates from Walla Walla College, one was a graduate from Loma Linda University, and one was a graduate from an Adventist college in Australia. The five graduates were working in Greater Boston area.

Having heard of the group, Samuel Young contacted Tony Wong (黃少剛) [older brother of Pastor David Wong (黃少輝) who in turn was son-in-law of Pastor Joshua Chong (張永和)] and Vincent Tsang Wing Shing (曾永盛), a Walla Walla College graduate, and suggested they start Sabbath services in Chinese. Thus on April 20, the group gathered at Tsang’s home for worship. [Tsang’s wife Cara, one of the seven, was also a Walla Walla graduate.] Samuel Young himself attended the services in May 1996, and visited the church once in a while during the past 20 years. There were not many Chinese church members around. The elderly Adventists in Boston downtown, such as Pastor Chung Wai Poh (鍾惠波) and his wife, were physically too weak to travel to the Sabbath services. However, the Chinese vesper services in 1996 grew until 2015 into a lively group of 30 to 50 believers worshipping on Sabbath services in Quincy.

With the help of Pastor Frank Lee (利國鏗) from the New York Chinese Church, the group was granted “company” status in 1998 by the Southern New England Conference.

Tiffany Tan (曾敏鶯), while studying at Atlantic Union College, joined the group in August 1998. After having graduated with a degree in theology, she worked as an associate pastor at the Boston Temple Church at 105 Jersey Street (MA 02215) in the downtown. There were about 20 people attending the Chinese Sabbath School and Bible study by 2002.

From 2004 to 2008, the company of believers met in Tiffany Tan’s apartment for worship services. She served as pastor from 2000 to 2013. In July 2007 the company became an organized church—Greater Boston Chinese Seventh-day Adventist Church. In 2008 the church moved to 762 Southern Artery, Quincy MA 02169, south of Boston. Its telephone No. is 617-869-5052. Quincy, the eighth largest city in the State of Massachusetts, with one of the biggest Chinese community in the area, is Boston’s immediate suburb and is a major part of Metropolitan Boston.

When Tiffany, who is a Chinese from Vietnam, was transferred to pioneer the work among Vietnamese/Chinese in Waymark Church near Boston to start another Asian group. There no No pastor was assigned to the Greater Boston Chinese Church. During the interim period from June 6, 2014 to March 2015, Elder Tony Wong, Elder Vincent Tsang, and Pastor Jonathan Foo (符運明), father of Bright Foo (符中光) [Bright, a Walla Walla College graduate, was one of the seven] were in charge of the church business. Moses Fang (方舟) of Shenyang, China, has been helping the church since October 2013. He was employed officially by the Southern New England Conference in November 2014 to be the pastor. His email address is Mosesfang@163.com. [Editor’s note: Moses Fang is among the first group of graduates of the extension theology class conducted by Taiwan Adventist College in Mainland China.]

Tony Wong, a graduate of Atlantic Union College in the 1980s, and his wife Helen had been with the church in Billerica for many years, perhaps for sentimental reason, preferred to retain their membership in that church. However, the couple has been with the Chinese group all these years, and Tony contributed very much to the development of the church. The church with a membership of 26 as of September 2915 2015 uses Mandarin and Cantonese in its services. Of the original group of seven people, besides Vincent and Cara Tsang, three are still in greater Boston, and they attend the church services once in a while. [Editor’s note: We are indebted to Elder Vincent Tsang for the updated information in this section.]