A Father and Son's Full Circle Mission From Canton to Oakland

Family Legacies, Sen and Tim Wong

My Story | Tim Wong

Hi, I’m Tim Wong. I have an older sister named Grace and a younger brother named Titus. We were all born in Oakland, CA, but moved frequently. My father, Sen Wong, was an evangelist and prominent church planter. Growing up, I was often introduced by my friends simply as "Pastor Sen's son" and lived in his shadow rather than being recognized for my own distinct identity. I grew up in Oakland, where he established his first church, the Chinese Bible Church in 1956. In 1962, the Stockton Church was planted, followed by the San Francisco Bible Church in l964. We then relocated to Sacramento when I was in 5th grade, where he helped establish the Chinese Grace Bible Church in 1967. After high school, we returned to the Bay Area in 1976.

My Father’s Story | Pastor Sen Wong

My father, Sen Wong was born in Canton, China in 1929, the youngest of three sons. His grandmother raised him after his mother died when he was five years old. He would regularly visit the village temples becoming immersed in ancestral worship. He remembers vividly the burning incense, the food offerings and the prayers they used to make to the idols.

Several years later, his father (my grandfather), remarried and immigrated to the United States; He eventually brought his family including their youngest son, Sen Wong over from China to farm in Parma, Idaho. The Wong Farms became one of the largest farms in the area, mostly growing sugar beets, potatoes and onions. Just across the road from their farm was the Roswell Baptist Church. Their church pastor, Dan Hagar would meet my dad driving the tractor while he was out working in the field.

My dad (Sen Wong) would come to Christ when he was in High School.

“I’m just a small potato from Idaho”, my father would say…

After graduation, my dad felt called to Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland Oregon. There he would meet my mother, June Wong. After graduating, marrying June, and being ordained as a pastor, he had a dream to return to China. He wanted to minister to his fellow brothers and sisters there. But it was the time of the cold war between US and Asia 1950-1960’s. When Mao Zedong proclaimed the birth of the Peoples Republic of China in October 1949, the bamboo curtain descended.

That meant travel to and from China was curtailed. Though he was frustrated and discouraged, God would lead him to the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.

The Chinese Bible Mission was begun in 1952 by Rev. Sen Wong. A recent Bible college graduate from the Multnomah School of Bible located in Portland, Oregon, Sen received a gift of $30 from his pastor, Rev. Daniel Hager, to start a ministry to reach the American-born Chinese for Christ. In 1956, God would lead them to move from Portland Oregon to Oakland, CA. This was the beginning of the Chinese Bible Evangel, later known as Chinese Bible Mission (CBM).

My father’s passion was to share the good news of Jesus Christ, so he reached out to the children and young people in the neighborhood, and from there, he started his first church. He felt God was showing him he wanted to establish Chinese American churches for second-generation Chinese.

The second generation Chinese Americans (ABC’s) found themselves caught between two cultures. One, they were born and raised in the United States, yet they were not fully accepted into the American church. Secondly, they were Chinese in origin yet found the Chinese churches primarily catered to serving recent immigrants. This left the ABC’s in limbo.

CBM First Church | Chinese Bible Church (1956)

My father’s vision was to plant Chinese American churches for American-born Chinese (ABCs), especially the youth. In 1956 the Chinese Bible Church in Oakland (CBC – Oakland) became the first church. This later became the Bay Area Chinese Bible Church (BACBC).

By 1979, with over 500 members, Chinese Christian School was started in two small apartments next door to the church. In Sept. 2003, the church and school opened a 35,000 square foot educational building located in the Harbor Bay area of Alameda. Ministry among the Chinese Americans mushroomed. Today it is called the Bay Area Chinese Bible Church (BACBC).

In the next few years, Chinese Bible Church – Stockton (1962) would be established. Focused on youth, it began with Vacation Bible School (VBS). My father would drive a bus to pick up the kids. “There was not a lot for kids to do on weekends or during the summer in those days.” So I would get about 100 kids to VBS. Gradually, as more attendees added to the small group, a church service, then a Wednesday prayer meeting, Sunday evening service, and a young people’s club were established.

Few years later, in 1964 Pastor Sen Wong founded the SFBC (San Francisco Bible Church), a church plant of Chinese Bible Mission. The first Sunday School class comprised of seven high school girls. Over the years, SFBC has been blessed by a number of pastors who faithfully taught God’s word to a growing community of believers. In recent years, the church has grown in its outreach to the Cantonese, Mandarin speaking communities and senior citizens.

In 1967, my family relocated to Sacramento, where my father helped establish the Chinese Grace Bible Church. The church was originally founded as the Chinese Gospel Mission by Pastor Frank Fung, who started it as a Gospel literature distribution ministry. However, in 1967 Pastor Frank Fung reached out to Pastor Sen, who then assumed leadership of the ministry. After incorporation, the church’s name was changed to the Chinese Grace Bible Church (CGBC).

After 60 years since its inception, the CBM aims to replicate itself by establishing “daughter churches” and training leaders to manage these new ministries. Over the past five decades, Pastor Sen Wong has begun planting additional churches as they have expanded. The idea of smaller, localized congregations aligns with the Chinese culture’s emphasis on family community.

My father was a gifted evangelist. He was known as “the visionary”. He wanted to establish churches to impact the Chinese American community for Christ. He was especially good at connecting with youth and planting bible believing churches to teach and train qualified Chinese Christian service. God stirred his heart and gave him that strength. Also, my mother was very able to connect with people in a heartfelt way. She was always working alongside him and a fun person to be around -- “kind of nutty”. They made an excellent team.

It challenged me growing up to see what God can do.

In 1999, I, Tim Wong, joined CBM. After over 15 years in commercial printing, God led me to help expand the publishing ministry at CBM. After several years, Pastor Sen asked me to consider becoming the next director. "I had resisted stepping up for years," I confessed. My main obstacle was feeling unable to match my father's dynamic and forceful presence. I didn’t believe I was the right person to continue this mission. However, my years spent with churches and ministries allowed me to cultivate valuable relationships. With established connections at core churches, I felt I was better positioned to forge deeper ties.

One night, on the eve of 2007, I reached a moment of clarity when God told me, "You are it!"

In the years since I stepped into the General Director role and identity of the CBM ministry that my father founded, I have carried on his important work with a renewed sense of purpose.

Chinese Bible Mission Legacy

Churches started by CBM

• 1956 – Chinese Bible Church, Oakland, CA.

• 1962 - *Chinese Bible Church, Stockton, CA

• 1964 - San Francisco Bible Church, San Francisco, CA

• 1968 - Chinese Grace Bible Church. Sacramento, CA

• 1976 - Fellowship Bible Church, Belmont, CA.

• 1989- **Chinese Faith Bible Church, Fremont, CA

• 1997 - **Chinese Bible Fellowship Church, San Ramon, CA

• 2002 - Maranatha Bible Church, San Ramon, CA

• 2008 - *Hope Bible - Friday night youth Ctr., Visitacion Valley, CA

• 2002 - Maranatha Bible Church, San Ramon, CA
  

  * These churches are now closed
  ** Merged - MBC

CBM Camps

As CBM planted more churches, it established more camps, which tied the churches together. The more churches planted, the more people attended camp. To support these new churches, auxiliary ministries for camps, retreats, and literature evangelism were introduced.

Growing up in the 1950s, my father observed that Chinese churches primarily focused on immigrants. He believed that American-born Chinese were being "left behind." He recalls the impact Bible camps had on his teenage years. Pastor Sen believed that CBM's emphasis on youth camps has helped youth find mentors, support, and lifelong friendships.

“My father was good at working with youth. Together with my mother they made a really good team”. They taught them about the spiritual life within the power of living in a secular world.

The first camp, a family camp organized by the Chinese Bible Church, took place in 1957. From there, CBM adopted a new focus on investing in the lives of young people. In the 1960s, CBM partnered with Mount Hope and rented facilities for two weeks each July and August. CBM’s multi-church ministry made it easier to maintain a consistent camp program. In addition to connecting, different churches allowed students who met at camp to connect with others going to the same college. Graduates were grouped by college, and counselors and staff would connect them with recent college graduates.

We hear many stories of those who return to become counselors, directors, pastors, and even missionaries. I continue to marvel at the incredible blessings I had the privilege to recognize only in hindsight.

Our Family Witness

My life story completes the circle that began with my father's dream 60 years ago. I see this circle fulfilled in our ministry in China and Taiwan.

My father's lifelong motto, "The world in view, the Chinese our goal," has become a reality.

I am in awe of Jesus’ greatness. God knows both the beginning and the end. While we are finite beings who can only see a portion, not the whole, I have had the privilege of reflecting on this journey 60 to 70 years later. Looking back at how God has worked over the years, it seems clear what He intended. CBM started with minimal resources, but my father’s devotion and heart for ministering in Asia have always been present.

In 2016, Dr. Peter Wang, church planter and long time member of the board was appointed the new executive director. I stepped down and became the General Director US Operations CBM. Together we helped CBM extend its mission to Asia and has continued to grow and develop.

With the ministry expanded to China many individuals fluent in Mandarin arrived with their own organizations and were skilled at networking. One person even became an itinerant pastor, traveling from village to village. From 2018 to 2022, five churches were established in China. However, the pandemic in 2022 prevented CBM from entering China. The ministry was then relocated to Taiwan, where CBM now has a vibrant church plant and a summer youth camp program. Expansion to Asia came later in 2017. Five churches are now serving various regions in China.

Today, CBM has adopted a multi-church approach. We have the resources to partner with Biblically-minded Christian ministries and engage in church planting, not only locally but also in movements across China and Asia to proclaim the gospel of Jesus. The beauty of this approach is that CBM is not the only organization involved. While CBM is unique, other churches have partnered with us to raise up the next generation of global missional leaders.

In hindsight, I continue to marvel at the work God has done. It’s incredible to witness what He has accomplished both locally and in Asia. Now, I see the privilege that my father did not have the chance to see. It has become the source of my greatest joy that I did.

*This interview with Tim Wong was safeguarded and written into a story by Pearl Diver Elgin Quan.

Elgin Quan is a writer, journalist, family historian, pianist. She contributes to Medium online publications and currently oversees spiritual development of Chinese speaking seniors at Sunset Church in San Francisco. Elgin has served as a lecturer for BWGI and facilitator for Head to Heart ministry. She received an M.A. in spiritual formation and discipleship from Western Seminary. She is the blest wife of one, mother of two, grandmother to three and loves children, little people who are spontaneous, joyful, playful.

Related

• Pastor Sen Wong’s 1996 Interview: “Oral History Collection: Sen Wong”

• Sen Wong Interview: Transcript

• Chinese Bible Mission’s Enduring Commitment

• Pastor Garland Chan’s letter and testimony to Sen Wong (April 30, 1986) from Elgin Quan (Feb. 26, 2025)