Echopedia

Rev. Jonah Chang (張瑞雄)

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Rev. Jonah Chang (張瑞雄)

Rev. Jonah Chang (張瑞雄) was a former minister of the Presbyterian Church of Formosa who, while serving the United Methodist Church in Fresno, California, led the one-month experimental Formosan church in Los Angeles in August 1970 that catalyzed the permanent Formosan Christian Church / FPCLA.

Identity Snapshot

Primary work page: |Toward A Community of Hope (work & sources)
Full text (GitHub): complete extract

  • English: Rev. Jonah Chang
  • Chinese: 張瑞雄
  • Era: 1960s–1970s (documented 1967–1970 experiments)
  • Geography: Formosa/Taiwan → Fresno, California; ministry impact in Los Angeles
  • Core roles: Experimental-church leader; Methodist pastor (Fresno); former Presbyterian Church of Formosa minister

Role in FPCLA Origins

August 1970 Experimental Church

From Dr. Albert S. Lai’s 1971 dissertation:

  • In August 1970, Rev. Jonah Chang started a one-month experimental church to test feasibility of a Formosan congregation in Los Angeles.
  • First experimental Sunday worship: August 9, 1970 — 22 adults and 11 children attended.
  • After four Sundays, when Chang returned to Fresno at month’s end, the majority decided to organize a permanent church without a settled pastor and without outside financial support.
  • Early facility support came via Centenary United Methodist Church and Rev. Peter Chen (Wesley Hall) until the move to Wilshire Crest Presbyterian Church in July 1971.

Taiyou Church (台友教會) Context

Later republication materials and wiki narrative also associate Chang with an earlier Taiyou Church (台友教會) experimental effort (c. 1967) using Japanese Methodist facilities — treat as content priority B context pending fuller primary citation in the archive chunks.

Name erratum (Albert S. Lai, LINE 2026-10-24, author-ordered): the correct Chinese name is 「台友教會」 (Church of Taiwan Friends); renderings back-translated from the English dissertation text (「太陽教會」／「太陽教練會」) are mistranslations — do not use in derived text. Co-naming HOLD: the book’s English back matter reads 台友教會 / “Taiwanese Friendly Church”, co-named by 張瑞雄 and Pastor Chen — reconcile the two co-naming accounts (see FPCLA page + knowledge/operational/albert-lai-reprint-errata.md E1) before any single-attribution wording in print-facing text.

Education

  • Tainan Theological College and Seminary (TTCS) — graduated
  • San Francisco Theological Seminary — earned master’s degree

Timeline

  • Early 1960s — Came to the United States
  • 1967 — Switched to the United Methodist Church
  • 1967 — Assigned to a Japanese church in Fresno, Central California
  • August 9, 1970 — First experimental Sunday worship; 22 adults and 11 children attended
  • August 1970 — Conducted one-month experimental church (“Taiyou Church”) to test feasibility of a Formosan congregation in Los Angeles
  • August 30, 1970 — Experimental church ended; congregation decided to organize a permanent church
  • September 6, 1970 — Church officially established as Formosan Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles
  • Post-1970 — Returned to Fresno to continue pastoral work

Works

albert-s-lai has 1 article where they appear in the title and 1 additional article that mentions them in the body.

Body Mentions (1 article)

  1. 2025 — |Toward A Community of Hope (2025 reprint) — August 1970 experimental church, first worship attendance, catalyst for permanent organization

Publications

  • 1971 — Referenced in Dr. Albert S. Lai’s dissertation Toward A Community of Hope — A Mission to Formosan Community in Los Angeles (San Francisco Theological Seminary). Chang is documented as the leader of the August 1970 experimental church.
  • 2025 — Referenced in the 50th anniversary republication of Toward A Community of Hope with NTPC/PCT forewords.

Quotes

“In August 1970, Reverend Jonah Chang of the United Methodist Church in Fresno, California, a former minister of Presbyterian Church of Formosa, started a one-month experimental church to test the feasibility of such a church group in the Formosan community.” — Toward A Community of Hope, Ch. IV

“On the first experimental Sunday worship held on August 9, 1970, by Rev. Jonah Chang, 22 adults and 11 children attended.” — Toward A Community of Hope, Ch. IV

“Rev. Jonah Chang noted this situation and got to know several church friends, desiring to establish a Taiwanese church in Los Angeles.” — Toward A Community of Hope, Ch. IV

“After Rev. Chang led the worship service, he asked everyone to stay for a discussion… the majority of the congregation envisioned the importance of carrying on such fellowship among the Formosan people and decided to organize a church.” — Toward A Community of Hope, Ch. IV

Network

Pages that link to jonah-chang (jonah-chang):

People (5)

  1. albert-s-lai
  2. albert-s-lai
  3. c-c-chen
  4. chaolong-kao
  5. daniel-kao

Organizations (3)

  1. formosan-presbyterian-church-in-los-angeles
  2. formosan-presbyterian-church-in-los-angeles
  3. formosan-presbyterian-church-in-los-angeles

Sources (1)

  1. toward-a-community-of-hope

Source Notes and Confidence

  • Content priority A: Aug 1970 experiment; Aug 9, 1970 first worship attendance; Fresno UMC; former Formosan Presbyterian minister; catalyst for permanent organization (Lai dissertation Ch IV)
  • Content priority B: Taiyou Church 1967 narrative
  • Needs verification: Full bio dates, later career, Chinese name characters confirmation

Name Variants / Disambiguation

  • Jonah Chang
  • 張瑞雄

Graph View

Backlinks