Khoo Chiang Bee was born in Banjarmasin, Indonesia in 1877.^[1] He is considered the pioneer and probably best-known colporteur in the early days of mission work in Southeast Asia (a colporteur was a travelling distributor of Bibles and religious tracts). His primary responsibility was to travel throughout the region with the purpose of sharing the Gospel, distributing Bibles and religious tracts to believers and non-believers alike. His impact and influence has been long-lasting.

In April 1898, Reverend Dr Benjamin West started the Methodist Theological School in Penang for the purpose of training local helpers in missionary work.^[2] West was acutely aware that ultimately, the most effective method of evangelising the indigenous people would be the locals themselves; foreign missionaries were just too few in number and the work would be unsustainable in the long run if it depended only on them.

Reverend West, then the presiding elder (district superintendent) of the Penang district, started residential ministerial training of the locals in his own home in Penang.^[3] The first students were four labourers who had no money or education.^[4] The illiterate men needed to be taught to read and write first, followed by learning elementary subjects as their studies progressed. Teaching them the Bible and Gospel message was the end goal.^[5]

In 1900, Reverend J.R. Denyes recommended Khoo Chiang Bee to Reverend West as a student. Khoo had been converted and nurtured by Reverend William Shellabear and Reverend Emil Luering.^[6] After completing his theological training in 1903, Khoo was appointed a mission worker in Penang to work among the Baba or Straits Chinese and Hokkien-speaking Chinese. The language used was Baba Malay (a version of the Malay language) and Hokkien. He laboured for 3½ years in his first ministry.^[7]

Reverend Denyes had started mission work at Batavia (present-day Jakarta) in 1905 and after 18 months, he had established three schools and five churches with 235 members and probationers. Khoo was sent to this new field in Java in 1906 as he was conversant in Malay.^[8]His arrival boosted the pioneering work and he proved to be a valuable asset.^[9] By 1918, the work had grown so much that a separate mission conference was established which would include West Borneo and Sumatra. The Malaysia Conference rejoiced that it had succeeded in giving birth to a child which had grown up and gained independence.^[10] In the course of his work as a Methodist colporteur and preacher, Khoo Chiang Bee was ordained.^[11] 

In early 1910, it was time for Khoo to move on to Medan, Sumatra. His friend, Lim Whuay Gin, followed him. Methodist work had begun there in 1905 through the establishment of a school and a church. Both Khoo and Lim shared the workload, with Lim taking care of the school while Reverend Khoo pastored the church and preached.^[12] In 1912, when a  missionary by the name of W.T. Ward went to Medan, he was pleased to find the school had about 100 pupils while the Cantonese church had some 20 members.^[13]

Towards the end of 1910, Reverend Khoo’s ministry took him further afield when he joined the British and Foreign Bible Society under the leadership of Charles Tisdall. His field of labour now extended throughout the Malay Archipelago. He wrote: “I am still in the Society, and during these past years of colportage work, I have travelled as no other man has ever done in the territories of Dutch Indies. It has been my privilege to carry the Gospel where no missionary work is ever known. Right into the depth of the wilds of Sumatra, Djambi, Indragiri, Acheen where danger lurk in unknown quarters, (the) Lord has enabled me to bring the good tidings.”^[14]

In 1932, at the behest of Ernest Tipson, Khoo explored even further into the unreached land of Papuans located in Dutch New Guinea. He was probably the first colporteur ever to venture along the island’s northern coast, and considered it a privilege to bring the gospel to these natives who were surprised at the “cheapness of the scriptures”.^[15]

Reverend Khoo’s wife was Lena Khoo Yoke Eng (born 1885). As he was away most of the time, she took care of the family and had to work as a midwife to supplement her husband’s income. The couple had three sons: Cheng Ee, Philip and a third whose name is not known.^[16]