THE REV Dr Hwa Yung, who has been elected Bishop of The Methodist Church in Malaysia, grew up in Penang and studied at Pykett Methodist School and Methodist Boys' School.


From 1967-71, he studied at the University of Tasmania on a Colombo Plan scholarship. This was followed by five years of teaching at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College in Alor Star. He then went on to complete the Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Theology from London. Later, he completed his doctoral studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in the United States.


He began his ministry with The Methodist Church in Malaysia in 1981, first as a pastor and later as a theological college lecturer. Before taking up his current position as Director of the Centre for the Study of Christianity in Asia at Trinity Theological College, Singapore, he was the Principal of Seminari Theoloji Malaysia in Seremban for 15 years.


He is also involved in other ministries of the church. Among other positions, he is the Chairman of the Board of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies and a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for Mission Studies.


His wife, Lee Bee Teik, is also from Penang, and she studied at Methodist Girls' School. She graduated in medicine from Monash University, Australia, in 1977, but now works full-time as a Christian counsellor and writer. They have three children.

Bishop Datuk Dr Peter Chio putting a stole on the Rev Dr Hwa Yung as Bishop Dr Robert
Solomon looks on. -- Picture by WONG MENG LEI of Chinese Methodist Message, Sarawak.

A section of the delegates at the General Conference.

A delegate raising a point during a plenary session at the General Conference.