HISTORY

St. Stephen's Chapel was built in the grounds of St. Stephen's College and consecrated in 1950.  It was built on the highest point as a memorial to all those who suffered and died in the College, during the invasion of Hong Kong and subsequent internment.

During the Battle for Hong Kong in 1941, St. Stephen’s College was used as a hospital, but on Christmas Day, the invading troops entered it and killed many of the patients and staff there.  After Hong Kong’s surrender, the College became an internment camp for civillians until the end of the war.   The beautiful memorial window over the West door was generously donated, and depicts not only the suffering in the internment camp, but the faith, hope and love which sustained so many through those years, and which still inspires us today. 

The Chapel also commemorates, in a wall plaque, those who lost their lives on the “Lisbon Maru”, a ship taking Allied Prisoners of War to Japan that was sunk in 1942

The Chapel has been continually used for worship by the College, and in its early years was used for services by the Chinese community.

Since 1977, the Chapel has been the home of the English speaking congregation, as a daughter church of St. John's Cathedral, mainly serving families living on the South side of Hong Kong Island.

The addition of the Annex in 1988 added much needed meeting and recreational space.  It is well used by the Chapel groups, such as Mother & Toddler, Cubs and Brownies.

Generous donations in memory of congregation members has enabled the addition of a pipe organ which was installed in 2003 and a bell, hung in 2000

Today, the multi-national congregation worships God in this beautiful chapel, set high on a hill with views across Stanley and the South China Sea.