Pittsburgh Chinese Church occupies a one-story building on Old Perry Highway in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, where two worship services - one in Mandarin and Cantonese, one in English - fill its sanctuary at 10 AM every Sunday morning. The congregation is multigenerational and bilingual, bringing together immigrants from China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, American-born Chinese families, college students, youth, and children around a shared statement of faith and a wide network of life groups.
From a Chinatown Storefront to Old Perry Highway
The congregation began in 1937, when Mrs. Lizzie Shaw founded Providence Mission in a rented storefront in downtown Pittsburgh's Chinatown, reaching out to Chinese neighbors with the Christian gospel. By 1945 the mission had partnered with the Salvation Army, expanding both its teaching program and its outreach to Toishanese-speaking residents. A wave of overseas Chinese students in 1960 brought new leadership and vision, and on the strength of years of prayer, Pittsburgh Chinese Church was formally incorporated in 1965 with Ben Au-Yeung as its first part-time minister.
In its first decades, the body moved several times: from Oakland to a worship service at First Presbyterian Church downtown, then to its first purchased building on Perrysville Avenue in the Northside in the 1980s. Under Pastor Wally Yew, the mission began holding its own baptismal services, sponsoring intercity retreats, and launching short-term mission trips. In the early 2000s the congregation purchased the former ESPE school building at 8711 Old Perry Highway, dedicated the new property on April 26, and held its first worship service in the space soon after. The church offices and a church library occupy the same building today.
Along the way the church planted and shepherded daughter ministries: the Monroeville Fellowship, which became the Eastern Suburban Chinese Church; Pittsburgh Chinese Church of Oakland (PCCO); and concurrent Mandarin, Cantonese, and English services that have continued for three decades.
Sunday at 10 AM: Mandarin/Cantonese and English
Two Sunday morning worship services share the same 10 AM hour on Old Perry Highway. The Chinese Language Service gathers Mandarin and Cantonese speakers in a service shaped by hymns, prayer, expository preaching, and congregational singing. The English Language Service runs at the same hour for second- and third-generation American-born Chinese, college students, and English-speaking neighbors. Both services are open to anyone who wants to attend; the English service is livestreamed on YouTube for those joining from elsewhere.
After the services, at 11:30 AM, Chinese-speaking adults gather for Chinese Adult Sunday School while English-speaking adults attend White Harvest, a parallel Bible study hour. Children's Sunday School runs alongside, laying a biblical foundation for kids from K through fifth grade. Members and visitors regularly gather for church-wide luncheons after Sunday School, a tradition that dates back to the 1980s.
Life Groups Across the Region
Pittsburgh Chinese Church organizes its adult community around small groups called life groups, which meet weekly either in homes or at the church building. The Chinese congregation runs more than a dozen life groups, each with its own flavor: Dawning Life Group is a women's fellowship that meets the second and fourth Thursdays at 10 AM in the church library, rotating through topics on faith, family, and practical life skills before sharing a pot-luck lunch. Grace Life Group, formed in 2007 by five families, is known for discussion-focused Bible study and a robust sports ministry that includes a well-attended weekly beach volleyball gathering at Blueberry Park.
Revival Life Group meets Fridays at 7:30 PM (currently on Zoom) for in-depth study and evangelism training, encouraging members toward personal witness. Pioneer Life Group, established in 2017, focuses on drawing new seekers and on structured discipleship courses ranging from Foundations of Assurance to Cell Leader Training. Two Cantonese Life Groups serve the Toishanese and Cantonese-speaking families in the body; two Abundance Life Groups minister to Fuzhou-dialect speakers, including restaurant workers. Other groups - Galilee, Hope, Rock, Cottage, Elim, Bethel - each take a slightly different angle on the same calling to read the Word together, pray for one another, and reach out.
For English-speaking adults, Life Cell Groups A and B provide weekly Bible study, fellowship, and accountability. A separate Young Professionals group called RISE, launched in 2016, gathers young adults centered on pursuing the Lord.
Youth, Children, and College
Sunday School runs every Sunday during the 11:30 AM hour, giving children a graded biblical foundation. PCCYF, the youth fellowship for students in grades 6 through 12, meets Friday nights from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM at the church building. Through Bible study, worship, prayer, and small-group discipleship, the youth ministry works to take a faith inherited from immigrant parents and turn it into a personal relationship with Christ. Short-term mission trips and an annual retreat round out the program.
On the college side, the Asian Christian Fellowship (ACF) - formerly the English College Fellowship - equips college students at area campuses to be disciples of all nations, gathering for Bible study, mentorship, and an annual graduating-senior dinner. The church is currently hiring both a Youth/Family Pastor and a Youth Ministry Intern, signaling that these ministries are a priority for the season ahead.
What the Church Believes
Pittsburgh Chinese Church holds to an evangelical confession centered on the Bible, the Trinity, the person and work of Jesus Christ, and salvation by faith. The church believes the Old and New Testaments are the inspired, authoritative Word of God; that humanity, created in God's image, fell into sin in Adam and needs salvation; and that the one God exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection atone for sinners and who now reigns as High Priest and Advocate and will return personally. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, regenerates, indwells, and empowers believers for godly living and service. The church, of which Christ is the Head, is one body of all who are born again; its work is to proclaim the gospel in word and deed and to nurture members through prayer, teaching, fellowship, and worship. The church also looks forward to a bodily resurrection of the just to eternal life and of the unjust to eternal punishment.
Music, Mission, and the Search Committee
Congregational music is shaped by both English and Chinese worship teams that draw from hymnody and modern praise. Several life groups use music and testimony sharing as part of their meetings, and the church has produced recordings of past services, retreats, and seasonal cantatas that are available online.
Mission has been a constant thread since the 1960s. Pittsburgh Chinese Church has supported short-term trips for adults, college students, and youth in the United States and overseas, and sent long-term missionaries to East Asia. A standing Mission Committee keeps the congregation focused on cross-cultural witness, while a Mission Deacon on the Council oversees the church's global partnerships. Members of Pittsburgh Chinese Church also regularly engage in local outreach through evangelism training, Spring Revival meetings, and seminars for the wider Chinese-American community - including past events like the Career Breakthrough for Asian Americans gathering.
A Council-Style Church at Old Perry Highway
The Church Council is composed of the pastors, the elders, and the deacons and deaconesses. The Chinese Pastor is Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Jeng, who grew up in Taipei, came to faith shortly after college, and was ordained at the church in 2024. He serves alongside his wife Shuefung. The English Pastor is Rev. Hans Sun, who joined with his wife Irene in 2020 after an extended season of prayer by the congregation.
Paul and Monice Tong serve as Chinese elders; Gordon and Julie Ott, both PCC lifers who met in the youth group, serve as English elders. Deacons and deaconesses fill specific roles: Mike Shaw as Trustee, Jacqueline Liao as Secretary, Jacob Peng as Curator, Jane Shum as Treasurer, Howard Hoi as the Y-Team (youth) deacon, and Jian Wang as the Mission deacon. Wai Shan Cheng serves as administrator, with Jimmy Liu handling general affairs.
The church is governed by its own constitution and is independent in denominational affiliation. Giving is collected by check to PCC or Pittsburgh Chinese Church at the Old Perry Highway address or through online banking, and past sermons, retreat recordings, and bulletins are available online for ongoing study.
Living Life Together Across Generations
What sets Pittsburgh Chinese Church apart is the way it has woven together the Mandarin, Cantonese, and English streams of its congregation into a single body. Children whose grandparents arrived from Taiwan or Hong Kong, college students from Pittsburgh-area universities, and recent arrivals from mainland China all share the same sanctuary, the same statement of faith, and the same network of life groups that meet across the city each week. The Dawning women sing hymns in Chinese on Thursday mornings; the Grace group's volleyball players compete against teams from across greater Pittsburgh on summer evenings; the youth group studies the Gospel of Matthew on Friday nights; the elders shepherd the whole flock on Sunday mornings. It is a church that has spent eight decades learning how to do this, and the next generation is currently being recruited, equipped, and prayed for.