|
Jochebed Chen was born in the bustling city of Taipei but raised in the rural region of Hua Lian, Taiwan in a non-Christian family. Her childhood upbringing was in accordance with Taiwanese ethnic traditions
in a polytheistic culture. At the age of 16, however, she was called by the Lord and converted to Christianity
as the result of her affinity with American presbyterian missionaries, surmounting severe family, cultural, and financial hurtles in the process. One year later,
in 1957, she began her studies in a presbyterian seminary in Taipei found by the first female Taiwanese minister in Taiwan.
During the next three years, while she was a seminary student, she became an instrumental, influential, and active evangelist.
She embarked on three missions throughout the island nation of Taiwan at a time when Christianity was scarcely taken
seriously. In fact, Christianity was suppressed as a religion and life style by traditional and pagan values.
Nevertheless, she was a persuasive and charismatic preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in each of these three
missions, which toured the entire island of Taiwan.
In 1960, she married Rev. Dr. Noah Chen. Together they journeyed across the world, proclaiming the Gospel and sowing the seeds of God's grace wherever
they went, fostering new generations of Christians. They first began their ministry in Malaysia in 1963. In the following seven years, their pastoral ministry included the pastoral care for
the Presbyterian churches of Malaysia and Singapore. During this period, they established a family of their own. Between 1961 to 1967, they were
blessed with 5 children. [photo of Rev. Chen's Family in the early 1970s]
In 1974, Jochebed and her family first came to the United States, when their eldest son, David, fell ill to leukemia and sought treatment here. Unfortunately the disease had already become terminal, and the family had to
suffer the pain of seeing David go. Through their faith in the Lord, however, they endured and overcame their loss
and heeded the Lord's call to new ministries and missions in the United States. Together with her husband, Noah, Jochebed
gave herself to the Lord and helped Noah found and raised six new churches ministering to Fukinese / Taiwanese speaking immigrants in the United States.
Throughout her career as an evangelist, missionary, wife of a pastor, and the mother of 5 children, she was steadfast in her faith in the Lord and worked with great perseverance in
the preaching of the gospel to anyone who would listen and in caring for those who came in need. She has brought many
to Christ and counseled and healed countless hearts and minds, as well as cared for the recovery of those fallen
ill. She continues the Lord's caring and counseling ministries today at the SF and Burlingame congregations, where you
might also hear her preaching a sermon on occasion.
She lives with her husband, the Rev. Dr. Noah Chen, in Millbrae, California. She is close to her adult children,
Sam, Mary, Ruth, and Esther, and her grandchildren, Megan Nicholas, and Lucas.
|
