Rev Percy King was born in Tasmania, Australia on August 25, 1911. He came from a Christian family but was truly born again and saved at the age of 18, and clearly heard the Lord’s call to preach the gospel to the Chinese. ^[1]

Rev King completed his theological training at the Melbourne Bible Institute (now Melbourne School of Theology) in Australia in 1934. In September 1934, he joined the China Inland Mission and went to Sichuan, China, to evangelise to the Chinese.

In Sichuan, Rev King met Ventress Lydia Greenfield, a missionary who also had a great burden for the Chinese. They were married in 1938 in Chengdu, Sichuan. Together they proclaimed the gospel to the local Chinese people till 1940 when they had to return to Australia due to the political upheaval in the country. In Australia, they continued to evangelise to the Chinese diaspora .^[2]

In 1954, Rev and Mrs King went to Southeast Asia and visited Malaya, Singapore, Brunei, Sabah and Kalimantan to preach the gospel to the overseas Chinese. In 1962, they visited Miri, Sarawak and then served in Sabah for four months, preaching in Hakka to the Hakka people there. Rev King led many people to Christ and laid the foundation for the Christian Fellowship Centre in Brunei which was set up later.^[3]

In May 1963, he rented a house next door to the Thai Poo Community Association on Brooke Road in Miri and started a church called Miri Gospel Chapel. The owner of the house, a Miss Wong, had previously taught Sunday School in the house and an old Fuzhounese, Mr Wong, led in the Bible studies. Miss Wong and Mr Wong later moved to Sabah and the meetings stopped.^[4]

The Miri Gospel Chapel was planted with the help of an Indonesian Chinese evangelist named Wu Li Xuan who served together with Rev King in this pioneer work. She was responsible for training the youth as Sunday school teachers, teaching them worship leading and storytelling. She also conducted children’s Vacation Bible School and later set up a Sunday School.^[5]

Rev King and sister Wu often led the youths to the streets to distribute leaflets and sell gospel publications such as The Lighthouse, a Chinese magazine. They also went to the nearby villages of Sibuti, Niah and Riam Road to hold open-air evangelistic meetings.

After starting the Miri Gospel Chapel at the rented house, Rev King applied to the relevant authorities for a piece of land on Canada Hill in Miri for a future church building. The authorities granted the land on September 4, 1970 and Pastor John Liu Yu Han led the believers to build a new church here. The church was completed in February 1972, and the building’s opening ceremony was held on August 27, 1972.^[6]

After pastoring the Miri Gospel Chapel for seven years and seeing the congregation grow to more than 50 people, Rev King retired in 1969 and returned to Australia. In 1975, Rev and Mrs King were called by the Lord to go to Mauritius to preach the gospel to the Hakka people there.^[7] They served for 11 years until 1986 when they retired and returned to Australia.  During their retirement, they made several visits to the Miri Gospel Chapel.

Rev and Mrs King both passed away in Australia in 2005. They had made prior arrangements for their ashes to be returned to Miri and the Miri Gospel Chapel cemetery is where they are both buried.