Reverend Hwa Chien was born in 1951 and became a Christian in his teens. He grew up in Penang and attended the Methodist School until his Lower Sixth Form.
In 1974, he graduated from Bates College in Maine, USA, with a degree in Chemistry, followed by a Masters in Divinity from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary in 1977.
On his return to Malaysia that year, he joined the Trinity Annual Conference (TRAC) of the Methodist Church in Malaysia for full-time ministry work. He was sent to pastor Taiping Wesley Church in January 1978 until 1981. His fiancé, Goh Kim Guat, went to Taiping that year as a teacher. They were married in Wesley Methodist Church, Penang on September 3, 1978.
Taiping Wesley was a small church of 50 worshippers who were mostly long-time members and older than Hwa Chien who was then just 27. But his seriousness in preaching the Word through well-reasoned exegesis showed the church what it meant to be a Christian in a deeper way.
Within months, the adult Bible study groups grew and later so did the church numbers, often through the parents of Christian youths in the church coming to know the Lord.
His four years in Taiping were transformational and produced a group of core leaders that was prepared to grow in the faith and build the church.
His next posting was to the Methodist Church in Kuantan where he served from 1982-1987. He prioritised prayer and Bible study groups and encouraged the church members to pursue and grow in discipleship. He introduced the Navigators 2:7 discipleship training course which emphasised teaching and strict discipline to equip future leaders.
After Kuantan, he left for the United Kingdom on study leave. On his return, he was appointed pastor of Wesley Methodist Church (WMC), Sitiawan in August 1987 and arrived with his wife and two children, a boy and a girl. They had another boy while in Sitiawan.
The small church in Simpang Ampat, Sitiawan, which was built in 1953, could only accommodate around 100. By 1985, the congregation had grown to 120 and the Sunday worship service was moved to the Methodist High School hall with seating capacity of 350. Plans were made for a new church for 530 worshippers with church offices, Sunday school-cum kindergarten rooms, a library, multi-purpose hall, canteen and seminar facilities.
The new church was completed and dedicated on December 17, 1994 by Bishop Denis C. Dutton of the Methodist Church in Malaysia. Hwa Chien spent more than nine years in Sitiawan and Sunday service attendance reached nearly 300.
A visionary, Hwa Chien initiated the Bahasa Malaysia (BM) Language Services in 1991 for Christians from Sabah and Sarawak who were working in the Malaysian Navy in Lumut. The ministry was a collaboration between WMC, Sitiawan and Canning Garden Methodist Church, Ipoh. They conducted monthly BM services on Saturday afternoon in the WMC building with about 30 worshippers including children.
Under Hwa Chien, WMC Sitiawan bought a piece of land at Teluk Muruh near the naval base to cater to the BM-speaking Christians there and a wooden building was erected as a meeting place. Years later, in 2014, a 2-storey bungalow named Wesley Bungalow was built on the land for Bahasa Malaysia Wesley (BMW) multi-purpose use.
In December 1996, at the 21st Methodist TRAC Session held in Penang, Hwa Chien was elected TRAC president. He left Sitiawan for Seremban to serve as pastor of two churches, Seremban Wesley and Taman Ujong Methodist Church (TUMC), Seremban from 1997-2000. Passionate about upholding biblical truths, he ensured that TUMC was spiritually grounded in the Word of God under his leadership.
While in Seremban, he set up a temporary TRAC office in a shophouse and later shifted it to Petaling Jaya when a bungalow was bought to house the office of the TRAC president. He also took up appointment as pastor of Emmanuel Methodist Church (EMC), Petaling Jaya.
On November 24, 2001, Hwa Chien was on his way home to Seremban with his wife, Kim Guat, after attending a wake service for TRAC conference secretary Ong Tit Hoe in Teluk Intan, when he met with a road accident and was killed. He was 50 years old.
Hwa Chien served God with great passion and devotion and was a caring pastor who regularly visited his parishioners to pray for the sick, even late at night, and would listen, pray, advise and walk them through their problems. He strongly believed in punctuality and often reminded his congregation that “if you are not 10 minutes early for service, you are 10 minutes late.”
He was passionate about preaching and was a man of integrity who walked his talk. He lived a humble and simple lifestyle and was a mentor and model of servant leadership.