On England Drive in Overland Park, Kansas, Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church gathers a congregation that crosses three languages, three continents of origin, and three generations. Known locally as ECBC, the church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and is best understood as a Chinese Baptist congregation that has, over the years, opened its doors to a wider English-speaking community as well. Sunday mornings here mean two back-to-back worship services, one in English and one in Mandarin, with parallel Sunday school tracks running in between, and a third Mandarin service held quietly on Monday evenings for those who cannot come on Sunday.
A Congregation of Three Languages and Three Continents
The members of Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church come from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea, and the United States, and the congregation reflects that diversity in its three working languages. The English congregation welcomes people of every nation and culture. The Mandarin service, called 国语崇拜, gathers Chinese-speaking believers, and a Cantonese-language adult Sunday school class meets alongside the Mandarin tracks each week. The church's stated mission is to call people in the local Chinese community, and other people groups, to be children of God, disciples of Christ, and vessels of the Holy Spirit. Its vision is to raise up leaders and disciples who display the love of Christ and a changed life, and to fill the sanctuary with true worshippers of God.
Membership in the Southern Baptist Convention is stated plainly on the church's materials, and its beliefs follow the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. Many of the church's pastors have studied at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, including Senior Pastor Steve Tan, Pastor Emeritus George Hsu, and Pastor Emeritus Jerry Jean, all of whom describe that training in their written testimonies.
Sunday Mornings in Two Languages
Sunday is the church's busiest day. The English Worship Service runs from 9:15 to 10:30 AM, and the Mandarin Worship Service follows from 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM. A separate schedule also lists the Mandarin service simply as beginning at 11:00 AM. Both services take place at the church's home on England Drive and are open to visitors. Sermon recordings for both services are posted on the church's YouTube channel for those who cannot attend in person.
Between and after the two main services, three parallel Sunday school programs are running at the same time, so parents and children stay on site rather than shuttling across town. Children meet from 10:45 AM to 12:15 PM, the Youth class for middle and high schoolers meets from 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM, and the English Adult Sunday School meets from 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM. The English Adult class is working its way through LifeWay's The Gospel Project, a three-year, Christ-centered, chronological Bible study curriculum, and was about halfway through the program at the time of writing.
For visitors who want to attend only one service, the English service is the simpler option: arrive by 9:15 AM and stay until 10:30 AM, or come for the Mandarin service at 11:00 AM and stay until 12:15 PM. Families with children can plan to attend one of the worship services and let the children join their own class during the overlap.
Monday Evenings and Weekday Prayer
A third Mandarin worship service meets on Monday evenings from 7:30 to 8:30 PM. Unlike the Sunday services, this one is held in person only, without a livestream, and serves members and visitors whose work or family schedules keep them away on Sundays. The Mandarin and English prayer meetings take place on Thursday evenings from 8:00 to 9:00 PM, giving the congregation a regular midweek touchpoint outside of Sunday. In addition, on the last Sunday of each month, the church holds a brief combined English and Chinese prayer meeting from 12:30 to 1:00 PM, right after the Mandarin service ends, bringing the two language communities together for thirty minutes of focused prayer.
Sunday School for Every Age and Every Dialect
Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church runs five Sunday school classes every week, organized by age and by language. Two of the Chinese-language classes begin at 9:15 AM and run until 10:30 AM, before the English service begins.
- Chinese Adult Basic Truth Sunday School. Held from 9:15 to 10:30 AM, this class is aimed at seekers and new believers. Topics include how to know and connect with God, how to read the Bible, how to pray, and the meaning of baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the church. Important scriptures and their everyday applications are also covered.
- Chinese Adult Sunday School. Also from 9:15 to 10:30 AM, this class is led by Pastor Chien-Wen Chou together with several brothers, working through both Old and New Testament books. The curriculum is LifeWay's Explore the Bible.
- Cantonese Adult Sunday School. Meeting at the same time as the Mandarin class, this Cantonese-language Bible study follows the same Explore the Bible curriculum used by the Mandarin adult class.
- Youth Sunday School. From 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM, this class serves middle school and high school students and aims to build a solid biblical foundation. It is also using The Gospel Project as its curriculum, working through the entire Bible over two years.
- Children's Sunday School. Meeting from 10:45 AM to 12:15 PM, the children's class is designed to build a spiritual foundation in young hearts through the gospel of Jesus Christ. A Vacation Bible School is held in the summer as well.
- English Adult Sunday School. From 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM, this class covers the Bible in light of the gospel, following The Gospel Project from LifeWay.
A separate fellowships list, available as a downloadable PDF, names the small-group ministries and fellowship circles that meet outside of Sunday.
What They Believe
The Bible is the foundation of Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church's teaching, ministry, and values. The church holds that Scripture was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man, with God as its author, salvation as its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, as its matter. All Scripture points to Christ.
The church teaches that there is one living and true God, an intelligent, spiritual, holy, perfect and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. This God is all-powerful and all-knowing, and reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes but without division of nature, essence, or being.
On Jesus Christ, the church teaches that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, that He perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking on human nature yet without sin. He made provision for the redemption of men from sin by dying on the cross, was raised from the dead with a glorified body, ascended into heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the one Mediator between God and humanity. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission, and He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever-present Lord.
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole person and is offered freely to all who trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense, salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal trust in Jesus Christ alone as Lord and Savior.
Bible Memorization Across the Year
Bible memorization is one of the church's most distinctive regular programs. The 2026 Bible Memorization Challenge, open to both English and Chinese participants, runs in two tiers, a Standard Track and a Challenge Track, and is offered in three formats: cell phone or digital download, and printed paper copies. Both Simplified and Traditional Chinese versions are available, alongside the English tracks. Participants sign up through a Google form, and the church provides lists and practice materials for each round of verses. The program is structured in upper and lower halves of the year, with the lower-half round for 2026 published in July.
Children's Vacation Bible School
Each summer the church holds a Children's Vacation Bible School. The 2026 program, organized by the children's ministry team, brings together children from the congregation and the wider community for a week of Bible teaching, games, crafts, and music. Information and registration for that program is posted on the church's events page.
Emmanuel Chinese School
The church is also home to the Emmanuel Chinese School, a separate educational ministry. The school uses the church's facilities to teach Chinese language and culture to students of all ages and serves as another bridge between the congregation and the wider Kansas City Chinese community.
Pastoral Leadership
Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church is currently served by two pastors and an office manager, with two additional pastors serving in emeritus status. Each has a written testimony posted on the church's pastors page.
Steve Tan, Senior Pastor
Steve Tan was born and raised in Malaysia and came to Christ at the age of thirteen. He moved to Wichita, Kansas, in 1991 to attend Wichita State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in electrical engineering. After graduating in 1998, he moved to Kansas City to work as a software engineer. He met his wife, Mandy Hu, at Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church, and they married in 2000.
In 2001 Pastor Tan began part-time study at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and in 2006 he became a full-time student. He completed a Master of Arts in Biblical Languages in 2008. He has been involved in the church's youth ministry since 2007 and began preaching regularly in the Cantonese service in 2016. He and his wife have three children: Joseph, Benjamin, and Ruth. He teaches the Bible, helps people apply God's Word to daily life, and focuses on spiritual discipline and the Great Commission.
Chien-Wen Chou, Assistant Pastor
Chien-Wen Chou grew up in Busan, South Korea, and graduated from the Chemistry Department of National Taiwan Normal University. He worked as a chemistry teacher at a local Chinese high school. On Easter Sunday in 1978, he was baptized at the Chinese Baptist Church in Busan and began leading the youth fellowship.
He and his wife immigrated to the United States in 1981, living in California, Indiana, and Missouri. Since 1990 they have considered Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church their spiritual home. Their three sons were all baptized here. From 2013 to 2018, Pastor Chou earned a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies from the Global Chinese Bible Institute in Hong Kong. In February 2017 he was called by God to serve as a preacher at ECBC. He leads the Chinese Adult Sunday School.
Eric Li, Office Manager
Eric Li came to the United States in 1996 to study and became a Christian that December at a Winter Conference after being invited to a campus fellowship. He served as a deacon for nine years. After a heart attack in November 2008, his zeal for the Lord grew stronger, and he began serving the church full-time in April 2009. He has also participated in Global Media Outreach, reaching more than 760 seekers online and conducting over 2,000 online counseling and preaching sessions by email. He completed an online Master of Arts in theological studies through Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in December 2019.
George Hsu, Pastor Emeritus
George Hsu was born in Chongqing, China, in 1943 and moved with his family to Taiwan. He graduated from National Taiwan Normal University in 1965 with a major in physics. He heard the gospel first at the age of ten through a Sunday school invitation, but his interest in science kept him from becoming a believer until 1975, when he was baptized in the United States. After serving in Lincoln, St. Paul, Kansas City, and Fort Worth, he resigned from BNSF in 1996 to become a pastor-in-training at ECBC while studying at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He graduated in 1999 and was ordained as pastor. He retired from the senior pastor role in 2011 and became an itinerant preacher, serving Chinese churches and fellowships across the Midwest.
Jerry Jean, Pastor Emeritus
Jerry Jean came from Taiwan in 1970 to study chemistry at Marquette University in Milwaukee, where he met Jesus in 1971. Sandy, from Hong Kong, became his wife. He completed ten years of part-time seminary training at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1992 to 2002. In 2011 he responded to God's call to serve as Senior Pastor of ECBC. A key goal during his tenure was the Vision 2020 initiative: to grow into a Christ-centered church with more than 500 regular worshippers, ministering primarily to the Chinese community.
Deacons and Co-Workers
The 2025 to 2026 Board of Deacons is chaired by Yiming Li. Serving with him are Mike Cheung, Mingpu Yu, Dennis Ong, Yaoli Lee, Yang Zou, Timothy Hsu, Ting Chang, Sharon Go, Andrew Chan, David Cage, George Chen, Jon Lee, Meizhang Li, and Patrick Yu. The broader list of co-workers, ministry leaders, and small-group coordinators is published as a downloadable PDF on the co-workers page.
Sermons, Media, and the Teaching Archive
Worship services are recorded and posted on the church's YouTube channel. English-language worship announcements and sermon videos are kept on the church's media page, and the Chinese-language sermon recordings are posted on the parallel Chinese-language page. A long-running sermon archive of audio recordings, organized by book of the Bible and by preacher, reaches back to 2017 and earlier, with regular preaching from Steve Tan, Brian Tung, and others, walking through books such as Mark, Acts, Ephesians, and Malachi. A separate archive of Sunday School Pre-Study audio recordings prepares adult classes for the upcoming lesson. A Theology series of audio recordings rounds out the teaching resources.
Member testimonies are published on the testimonies page in English and on the corresponding Chinese-language page, with written accounts from members including Changqing Song, Nathan Zhao, Fulian Mo, Yasu, Jingjing Huang, Weiwei Huang, and others.
Online Giving
Tithes and offerings can be given online through the church's Breeze platform, which is used by more than 100,000 churches and protects financial information with standard security technologies. At present the platform supports one-time gifts only; recurring gifts can be arranged by contacting the office manager, Eric Li. To keep processing costs down, the church does not accept credit card gifts through the online platform.
Calendar and Practical Information
Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church is located at 10101 England Drive in Overland Park, Kansas, in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The phone number is (913) 599-4137. The church publishes an online calendar showing room and facility usage, and weekly English and Chinese worship announcements are made available as downloadable slide decks on the announcements page. For those new to the church, the easiest way to visit is to come on a Sunday morning for either the 9:15 AM English service or the 11:00 AM Mandarin service, where greeters and English-language and Chinese-language bulletins are available, and where children's classes and youth classes run alongside the second service.
Help for Others
The church maintains a resource page titled "Ways to Help Others," with downloadable guides in English and Chinese that lay out a practical, faith-based approach to walking alongside people who are hurting, struggling, or asking hard questions. The list of small fellowships and care groups is published as a downloadable PDF on the fellowships page.
Roots in the Southern Baptist Convention
Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church identifies itself as a "Member of SBC" on every printed page. Its beliefs follow the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, its pastors have trained at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and its adult Bible study curriculum is drawn from LifeWay. The English-language bulletin, the Chinese-language bulletin, and the church's announcements are all bilingual, reflecting the congregation's commitment to serve both its Chinese-speaking heritage and its English-speaking members, neighbors, and visitors from any background who wish to worship with them.