Meet the new generation of Hong Kong’s part-time pastors serving God… and beverages

“If I spent three years in the seminary and another two years serving in a church, I would become out of touch for five or six years, and I wouldn’t even be able to catch up with what other people say,” the part-time preacher said.

Li, who graduated from a theological school in 2019, said he enjoyed serving the 150-strong congregation, but felt it was his calling to reach out to people outside the church, with his commercial work helping him to fulfil that goal.

He said young working adults were the most likely to lose their Christian faith, attributing the trend to other pastors’ lack of experience with the everyday struggles of their congregations.

Li said he believed he could reach more people through his work as the founder of a fair trade company and as an executive director for an event management company.

“Inside the church, people see me as their pastor, while people outside view me as one of them,” he said. “This allows me to act as an agent in between.”

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Reverend James Chan, Li’s supervisor, said their non-denominational church in Mong Kok was looking at how to adapt to the post-Covid era.

Some leaders in the community shared their belief that one’s spiritual calling should not be limited to a single role within the church, he added.

As part of this recognition, the church made the unprecedented decision to offer Li a part-time contract as a preacher to allow him to continue his work in the private sector.

Chan said that while slash pastors were not widely accepted at the moment, he believed they would become more common as a new generation of preachers sought to avoid being tied to a single church.

Churches were also struggling to hire full-time preachers due to a drop in donations after past waves of Hongkongers had left for other countries, he added.

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Reverend Tim Lam Chun, president of the city’s Methodist Church, said he believed the part-time pastors would gain more visibility at non-denominational churches because the institutions could offer them greater flexibility.

But slash pastors might struggle to fulfil the duties required of clergy working for denominational churches, he added.

Lam said he respected how the new generation of pastors served their faith and felt that preachers should strive to offer their best services to God.

Derek Lam Shun-hin is also part of the new wave of part-time preachers, beginning his studies at Chinese University’s Divinity School of Chung Chi College eight years ago, on his path to becoming a multi-vocational pastor.

The 30-year-old worked as an editor for a digital marketing company and as a catering consultant before he graduated from divinity school last summer, before taking up the role of a pastor at two small independent churches.

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Lam also sells alcohol at a pub in Sheung Wan twice a month and offers pastoral care to those who have rejected traditional church settings.

The slash pastor said he was impressed with the turnout for a Halloween event last year, with many coming in fancy dress to visit the bar.

“They didn’t go to Lan Kwai Fong [nearby], but joined the pastor bar’s event … This shows that society needs pastors,” Lam said, referring to the city’s popular entertainment district.

Dr Kung Lap-yan, adjunct associate professor at Chinese University’s divinity school, said the emergence of slash pastors reflected a post-materialistic era in which the younger generation placed more emphasis on purpose and values.

“This slash work caters to their desire to avoid dedicating their entire lives to a single pursuit and being defined by only one occupation,” he said.

But Kung said other generations might accuse slash pastors of not serving God wholeheartedly, without realising that the digital era allowed for people to take on multiple roles at the same time.

Daniel Ku, 35, said he had encountered such misunderstandings in his past job as a full-time pastor at a Baptist church.

He maintained a harmonious relationship with the minister in charge until he diversified his career into running a board game ministry about three years ago, with his boss raising concerns about the amount of time he dedicated to the church, he said.

“The church thought that I was allocating my working hours to other endeavours that did not directly benefit the church,” Ku said.