Lo Sin Tshoi

Lo Sin Tshoi (羅新才) 

Original by Timothy Lo (羅加寵) 1999, translated by Chook Ying Wu 2010, and edited by Bruce W. Lo 2011

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. Lo Sin Tshoi also had his eyes on the young people, who would one day take up responsibility of spreading the gospel. He encouraged them go to theological schools to be trained for gospel ministry. 

In his thirty years of service for the Lord in the gospel work, Lo  Sin Tshoi had took on many roles including as school principals and classroom teachers, church pastors, mission educational secretary, leading thousands into the truth and joined the church. During a time when China was faced with constantly war and conflicts, life could be very difficult. Furthermore he had to travel long distance to cover his large parish. His health deteriorated and finally became very ill. He was so sick that he had to travel to Shanghai to be operated by Dr. Harry Miller in Shanghai Sanitarium and Hospital. After released from the hospital, he continued labored despite his failing health. Day after day, he carried out his responsibilities until 1940, when he retired and moved to Hong Kong, for well-deserved rest. Shortly thereafter, because he missed his hometown, Pastor Lo returned to Xingning (興寧) alone, to visit his relatives and friends. There he contracted an unknown strand of germs and suffered from a extreme high fever. As it was during the Sino-Japanese War, there was a severe shortage of medicine, communication was very difficult, and transportation was not easy. Unfortunately Pastor Lo passed away during his sickness in 1941. The sad news was first relayed to Waichow (惠州), where Dr. So Wai Chuen (蘇慧川) was and then passed on to the family and the church in Hong Kong. It was a very sad moment. Everyone was moaning for the loss [2].

On April 18, 1941, the South China Union Mission held a memorial service for Pastor Lo Sin Tshoi. Besides his 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 the audience to follow this example of untiring service in spreading the Gospel of God for some thirty years, opening up new territories in the Hakka district. Two points are worth noting.

   (1) At a time when China emerged from its feudal past to became a new modern nation, there were great unrest in the society. The clashes of the old culture with the inception of western thinking created a lot of uncertainly among young people. Old superstition and new scientific ideas competed for the hearts of that generation. In a politically unrest society, warlords and bandits openly fought with government forces. It was under such conditions that the Seventh-day Adventist pioneers like Lo Sin Tshoi labored untiringly to introduce the Christian good news to the people in Southern China. God rewarded their efforts and had blessed our church. The Hakka Mission was among the fastest growing mission in China.

  (2) Lo Sin Tshoi did not only worked hard himself, but her recognized the need to seek out talented young people and to educate them for the future. As the mission work flourished there was a great need for gospel workers. He actively look for promising and talented youth and encourage them to go for special training to be gospel workers for God. Here is a partial list of the better known ministerial workers in the Hakka district: 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). Among them there were many outstanding church leaders.

Pastor Lo rested in the Lord at the age fifty-seven in 1941.   In the 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. 

Lo Sin Tshoi and Chan Shun Tak had four children, two boys and two girls:

The eldest daughter, Susanna Lo (羅佩恩,) graduated in 1937 from the nursing school of Shanghai Sanitarium and Hospital. She then accompanied her husband Stamford Wong (黃慎修), a former worker in the South China Union, to Malaya (馬來亞), his homeland, where she served as a nurse in the Penang Sanitarium Hospital.

The second son, Lo Hing So (羅慶蘇), devoted most of his whole life to the educational ministry, serving as principal and teacher of our schools in Guangdong and 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 authored seveeral devotional books. He also wrote the scripts for the Adventist World Radio in Guam for the East Asia Committee until 1988.

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. He was persecuted under political pressure and was jailed and sent to a labor camp. After going to America he served as a pastor in the Oakland Chinese Seventh-day Adventist Church in California.

The youngest daughter Ruth Lo (羅眷愛), was also a graduate nurse from Shanghai Sanitarium and Hospital, worked for many years in the denominational and government hospitals.

On November 4, 1973, during 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, a porcelain trophy, recognizing the contribution of the Lo family to the church in South China. On June 13, 1979, she rested in the Lord at the age 88 [4]. 

   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:()]   

   Last updated by Bruce W Lo 2025

REFERENCES and Endnotes

1. Asiatic Division Outlook, February 1 & 15, 1921, p. 6.

2. Personal knowledge of authors, as son and grandson of Lo Sin Tshoi.

3. Personal observation of one of the authors, as son of Lo Sin Tshoi.

4. South China Reflections 1990, p. 35.