PHOENIX — In the eastern part of the city, the First Chinese Baptist Church of Phoenix has served as a central hub for Asian immigrants in the Valley for decades.
These days, both the young and older pack the English service, a living showcase of the generations that have sat in these pews, and sometimes, found solace here.
“When I was a little kid — like 1st and 2nd Grade — I always, I don’t want to say hated, but despised the fact that I was Chinese. I wished I looked like all the other kids in school, but I didn’t. And of course, you got teased a great deal,” said Roxanne Song Ong, the church’s nursery director.
Song Ong has never known life without this place. Born into the church’s “cradle roll,” she learned how to assimilate into American culture as a Chinese kid growing up in Phoenix.
“We had a special affinity with our church friends because they, by and large, are all Chinese. And so they had the cultural aspect in common with each of us,” said Song Ong. “So they ate the same food we did, they understood our broken Chinese English the same way we did.”
“It’s obvious with like eastern cultures that it is more communal, and so that collectivistic mindset, it does strengthen the bonds especially at like an Asian church,” said Senior Pastor Dillon Le.
Le now leads First Chinese Baptist. As a first-generation Vietnamese American, he sees firsthand just how essential this church has been for Asian immigrants in the Valley.
“Even though it’s a Chinese church, it’s still like an Asian culture that is easily identifiable and relatable to a lot of different Asian ethnic backgrounds,” said Le.
This congregation traces its roots back to 1937. Back then, 80% of Chinese immigrants here made their living by running grocery stores, primarily south of McDowell Road.
It was through a produce provider, who was a very devoted Christian, that a Baptist pastor started a mission for these Chinese families. That mission eventually became a church, led by Dr. G.L. Stanley, who did not speak a lick of Cantonese, the predominant Chinese dialect among those immigrants at the time.
“They would have a guy up front near the podium area… who would translate or interpret Brother Stanley’s English into Chinese,” said Song Ong.
Today, First Chinese Baptist is the oldest Chinese congregation in the Valley, intertwined with Phoenix’s historic growth. It has played a vital role in keeping many cultural traditions alive, passing them from generation to generation.
“I had a sense of people who are like me and a sense of my culture because I have never been to China, so this is the only kind of sense that I get within my culture,” said Mikayla Yue, a lifelong member of the church.
“It has become not only a house of worship in our religious beliefs, but it has been an all-encompassing place of comfort and a foundation for our community,” said Song Ong.
