Dr. Sudipta Singh
Deputy General Secretary-Programmes 
Council for World Mission

With hearts attuned to both lament and doxology, we gather today to give glory to God for the life, labour, and enduring witness of the Reverend Lee Ching Chee—beloved teacher, missionary, theologian, and pastor. 

Rev. Lee embodied what we might rightly call the prophetic imagination of the Gospel.  She disrupted patriarchy—not through spectacle or confrontation, but by walking faithfully into spaces where women had long been excluded, and by living out a vision of the Church that was inclusive, liberative, and radically Christ-centred.  As a pioneer in the ordination of women in Hong Kong, as an educator filled with the wisdom of the Spirit, and as a pastor whose love mirrored the compassion of Christ, she bore witness to the reign of God breaking into history through faithful resistance and liberative discipleship.

In 1977, Rev. Lee responded to God’s call to wider service and joined the staff of the Council for World Mission in London as Executive Secretary for Mission and Education.  She brought to that ministry a rare integration of intellect and spiritual depth—a theological conviction in the unity of the Body of Christ and a passion for God’s mission in all places.  With a heart formed by ecumenical vision and global solidarity, she journeyed as a pilgrim of peace—visiting partner churches in Northeast India, Northern Ireland, Wales, and the South Pacific. In communities torn by conflict and held under curfews and economic struggle, she listened deeply, acted courageously, and lived out the reconciling love of Christ.

Rev. Lee became a bridge-builder between churches in the global North and South, weaving a network of compassion, mutuality, and shared vision.  Her diplomacy was not political, but pastoral.  Her solidarity was not performative, but prophetic.

She was also a fierce, Spirit-led witness to the reign of God through her unwavering commitment to the dignity and calling of women in the Church.  As a long-standing advisor to the Hong Kong Women’s Christian Council, she accompanied women in their vocational discernment, quietly and firmly advocating for gender justice rooted in the Gospel.  She nurtured leadership not by commanding it, but by recognizing it—walking alongside younger women, encouraging them to see themselves as God sees them: gifted, called, and sent.

Her leadership defied the dominant paradigms of power.  She led not by command, but by presence, not through assertion, but through spiritual discernment.  In a world too often captivated by noise, she practised quiet resistance—a strength grounded in humility and prayer.  It was this counter-cultural, Spirit-infused leadership that gave her voice its moral weight and prophetic resonance.

To her students, she was not merely a teacher, but a theological companion—opening space for honest inquiry and nurturing lives shaped by hope.  To her colleagues, she was not just a professional, but a trusted friend and source of calm wisdom.  To the Church, she was a reformer of ecclesial imagination—challenging gendered hierarchies and institutional rigidity with a holy persistence and the quiet force of example.

To her friends, she was a soul of humour, hospitality, and unshakable serenity.  She embodied the fruit of the Spirit—gentle in demeanor, fierce in conviction, unwavering in faith.

Rev. Lee did not seek to build a legacy; she lived a vocation.  And in doing so, she left more than memory—she left a movement.  Her life continues to ripple through communities, classrooms, and churches that still dare to believe in a Gospel that liberates, heals, and reconciles.  She taught us that theological education must speak to life, that leadership must emerge from humility, and that peace must be practised in the small, often unseen, acts of faithful witness.

The Council for World Mission gives thanks to God for Rev. Lee Ching Chee—a theologian in action, a matriarch of mission, and a bearer of Gospel hope.  She was, and remains, a gift to the global Church.  Her legacy is not entombed; it is planted seeds of the Kingdom sown into the lives she touched and the systems she quietly transformed.

May we honour her not only in remembrance, but in the continuing struggle for the world she lived toward—a world reconciled in Christ, where justice and peace shall kiss, and where every daughter and son of God may live fully into their divine calling.

Amen.

(Editorial note: This is the speech delivered by Dr. Singh at the memorial service held on 6 July 2025.)