All through the historical past of the Chinese language church, there have been many devoted missionaries and Bible lecturers. Nevertheless, in lots of Chinese language church buildings, each in China and abroad, the ordination of feminine pastors continues to be opposed or seen with reservations. Surprisingly, nonetheless, the primary priestess ordained within the worldwide Anglican Communion was a Chinese language lady – Florence Li Tim-Oi (1907-1992).
Li Tim-Oi was born in Could 1907 in Shek Pai Wan, Hong Kong, throughout an period of social upheaval and gender prejudice. She was one in all 5 siblings. Her father, who served because the headmaster of an English authorities college for over 30 years, was as soon as invited by Solar Yat-sen to hitch a revolution to overthrow the Qing dynasty. Li's father valued social reform and hoped that one in all his sons would change into a pastor, however none confirmed curiosity. Nevertheless, Li developed a ardour for the Christian religion and a need to unfold the gospel.
Lio's mom attended a ladies' college based by Catholic nuns. Influenced by her mother and father, Li developed a robust sense of self-confidence and management from an early age. In 1931, she enrolled at Belilios Public College. Through the ordination ceremony of the Church of England in Hong Kong and Macau, the archdeacon requested if any of the ladies had been prepared to commit themselves to serving the Chinese language Church. Li instantly replied, “I'm right here, ship me – however will I fulfill your calls for?”
After graduating from highschool in January 1934, Li grew to become the pinnacle of the Li Shing College in Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong. That very same 12 months, she visited Union Theological School in Guangzhou, the place Dean John Kunkle inspired her to proceed her theological coaching. After discussions with the pastor of the Church of St. Pavla (her mentor) left her instructing job and started learning theology in Guangzhou.
The Sino-Japanese Warfare broke out in 1937, and Guangzhou fell below Japanese occupation in 1938. That 12 months, Li graduated from seminary and started an internship at All Saints Church in Kowloon, Hong Kong, the place he served as an assistant preacher for 2 years.
In 1940, Li was transferred to the Morrison Chapel of the Anglican Church in Macau, the place he was tasked with caring for refugees who had fled to Macau as a result of Sino-Japanese Warfare. After the outbreak of the Pacific Warfare the next 12 months and the next fall of Hong Kong, a good better variety of refugees sought refuge in Macau. Throughout this era, there was a troubled social environment within the area, characterised by rampant playing, alcohol abuse, prostitution and drug use. At the moment, the Anglican Church in Macau didn’t have a everlasting priest.
On 22 Could 1941, Bishop Ronald Owen Corridor of the Diocese of Hong Kong and Macau ordained Li a deaconess. At Easter 1942, she started presiding over the Eucharist in Macau and spreading the Gospel among the many struggling inhabitants.
Through the warfare, many males joined the military and international missionaries who had been imprisoned in focus camps. To make sure uninterrupted service, the Anglican Church in China determined to interrupt with custom and ordain a lady as a priest.
On January 25, 1944, Corridor ordained Li as a priest on the Anglican Church of Zhaoqing, situated in Guangdong, making her the primary Anglican priestess on the planet. Corridor later developed shut relationships with high-ranking Chinese language Communist Social gathering leaders akin to Zhou Enlai. He praised communism and earned the nickname “Pink Bishop” (the colour purple symbolizes the Communist Social gathering of China).
In 1946, the Archbishop of Canterbury contested Corridor's resolution to ordain Li and provided two choices: both Corridor would resign or Li would resign his priesthood. Confronted with this selection, Li sought God's steerage and determined to surrender her priestly title with the need to satisfy God's will. In her e book Raindrops of My Life: A Memoir of Florence Tim Oi Lishe expressed her willingness to serve the church humbly and with out regret and embodied her life philosophy of submission and repair with out strife.
The following 12 months, Li grew to become director of the Anglican Church of St. Barnabas in Hepu, Guangxi Province, and traveled to the USA the next 12 months to go to and be taught from Christian faculties within the nation. After returning to China in 1949, she established a nursery, kindergarten and first college in Hep. Two years later, she continued to review theology at Yenching College. From 1953 to 1954, she taught at Union Theological School in Guangzhou, the place she served as dormitory supervisor for feminine college students and assisted with the ministry at Savior's Church.
Through the Nice Leap Ahead in 1958, Li led theological college students and clergy to Jianggao, the place they engaged in varied agricultural and livestock actions.
In 1961, she underwent the pressured ideological training required by the Chinese language Communist Social gathering on the Sanyuanli Socialist School and embraced socialism.
This expertise appears to have left some “purple” marks on Li's later ideas and life. In August 1964, Li wrote a letter to the native authorities exposing Corridor's “imperialist tendencies” and criticizing him as an “confederate of imperialism and colonialism”. Mockingly, amongst her accusations towards him was “extraordinary ordination to the priesthood”. She claimed to be writing as a counter-imperialist and member of the patriotic clergy in line with the spirit of the Patriotic Motion of Three Selves. It was fairly possible a reluctant act of self-defense.
Regardless of his look of loyalty to the CCP, Li was unable to flee persecution. Shortly after the Cultural Revolution started in 1966, Li was assigned to work on the Guangzhou Christian Three-Self Affiliation's Ahead Chemical Manufacturing unit, dealing with duties akin to packing medical syringes and waxing cupboard packing containers. On August 25, 1966, the Purple Guards raided her dwelling, injuring her and seizing useful property. Her home was attacked a number of extra occasions after this incident.
After leaving the chemical manufacturing unit in July 1974 with a extreme eye illness, Li had different well being issues, however he persevered in bodily train and recovered. In 1979, when China reformed and opened up, she started instructing English and rejoined church service.
In November 1982, Li moved to Toronto, Canada and served at All Saints Church below the pastoral care of Reverend Philip Feng. In 1984, her standing as a priestess was absolutely acknowledged by the Anglican Church of Canada.
1987 was a major 12 months for Li. On Could 9, Geoffrey B. Stephenson of the Anglican Church of St. John's in Toronto held a thanksgiving gathering to rejoice her eightieth birthday and based an affiliate church in her title. As well as, The Common Theological Seminary in New York awarded her an honorary doctorate of divinity, which she accepted together with her sister Li Chi-ching by her facet.
The next 12 months, Li attended the Lambeth Convention of the Anglican Communion in England as an invited visitor.
Li died in Toronto on February 26, 1992, aged 85. She is held in excessive esteem by Anglican communities within the West, and a few areas have instituted commemorative days and particular gatherings to honor her reminiscence. Based in 1994, the Li Tim-Oi Basis goals to assist missionary and pastoral work within the World South.
Huang Yuan Ren is a Christian media editor at the moment residing in Shaanxi, China.
Translated into English by Ariel Bi
