Macau, a special administrative region of China that is known for its glittering skyline of neon-lit casinos, has long been considered the “Las Vegas of Asia.” According to the latest figures, Macau’s gambling revenue reached $30.9 billion in 2024, its highest revenue level since the pandemic. Macau is now considered the world’s biggest and most profitable gambling hub, surpassing Las Vegas.
Yet beneath the neon lights of the world’s largest gambling hubs lies a complex spiritual landscape. How are Christians shining their light in Macau? What are the challenges they are facing, and how has the Macau church progressed so far? While Christians in Macau are a minority in the global church, they remain a strong beacon of hope for us who may be presented with certain unique mission fields.
Evangelism Amidst Vices
Gambling has long been a part of Macau’s identity. Since the mid-20th century, Macau citizens have witnessed a transformation of entire streets filled with mahjong tables (a popular Chinese gambling activity) and gamblers to tall, bright, and colorful multi-billion-dollar casino skyscrapers that boost a strong growth in tourism.
Yet it is not just gambling problems that Macau faces, but other vices and problems that have resulted from it. Local churches and parachurch ministries are now working on reaching out to gambling addicts who are facing debts and many family and personal issues that ensue.
Cheang Kun Weng, a local Macau citizen and founder and director of Hopeland Family Harmony Association, a Christian gambling recovery center, recalls Macau’s ghetto landscape of triads, mafias, drug addicts, and ex-prisoners during the mid-20th century, a sight which he thinks still persists today.
Today, Hopeland Family Harmony Association is one of the few Christian organizations in Macau that focuses on helping gamblers overcome their addictions, manage their finances, and most importantly, be transformed by Christ through gospel-centered teachings. He founded the association knowing that despite official statistics that may present a more conservative picture, he thinks that one in five Macau locals may be struggling with compulsive gambling.
Cheang, who first struggled with gambling before becoming a Christian, knows the personal struggles that gamblers go through and the labels they receive. His association is now working with churches and volunteers to help hundreds of individuals quit their gambling addictions and find change and help in God alone. His association’s interventions do not just include counseling and teaching of the Word, but also practical assistance with financial management and habit-changing practices, which can help these individuals and their families.
Cheang’s transformation is a result of local Christian pastors who ministered faithfully to him during his ordeals. Today, Cheang is paying it forward. He continues to witness how God is using dark, vice-filled pasts to help those who are still trapped within them. Seeing that many churches and ministries are not yet sufficiently equipped to help Macau locals who struggle with compulsive gambling, given the uniqueness of Macau’s situation where gambling is prevalent, Cheang also hopes for his association to be a stronger partner to churches in Macau and to reach more people who may be facing such crises in silence.
Macau’s Religious and Family Culture
Yet the challenges of evangelism in Macau are not limited to such vices, but also the city’s deep-rooted religious and family culture.
Macau is a former Portuguese colony where Catholicism entered the territory in 1557. However, the faith did not take hold, whether before or after the 1999 handover, despite its many historic cathedrals. Today, only about 5% of the population is Catholic, of which about half are foreign domestic workers and expats. These numbers are slightly more than double those of Protestants in the city, where less than 2% of the population are Protestants, according to the 2022 International Religious Freedom Report by the U.S. Department of State.
On the other hand, Chinese religious culture, including Chinese folk religion, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism remains much stronger in Macau compared to Hong Kong and Taiwan. In the latest 2022 International Religious Freedom Report by the U.S. Department of State, about 76% of Macau residents are adherents of such faiths—a far higher percentage compared to approximately 68% of such worshippers in Taiwan and roughly 27% in Hong Kong.
Jackson Tsui, Senior Pastor at Macau Cumberland Presbyterian Church and Research Associate at the Xavier Centre for Memory and Identity, University of Saint Joseph Macao, has seen greater challenges than gambling for locals, such as resistance to the gospel among locals due to the worship of Guanyin or Mazu in Macau families. Unlike in other Chinese cities such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, where he believes most families are now open to family members attending church and exploring the Christian faith, Chinese religious culture in Macau remains strong. On Macau streets today, it is still a common sight to see locals pray to Chinese gods in their shops and streets, which he believes is gradually lessening in other cities such as Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Tsui has also seen how close family ties can hinder the growth of the church. Because Macau is small enough to travel across the city within a 15-minute drive, he believes that 40-60% of the Macau workforce usually takes their lunch back at home with their families. He explained that even after Macau locals are married, they would still have lunch with their families of origin at midday, separately from their spouses, and return to their married families for dinner with their spouses. Such generational closeness of Macau families could affect evangelism and church growth as many prefer to spend time with their families rather than at church.
Another concern of Tsui is Macau locals’ apathy, especially as Macau offers a low cost of living, affordable housing, and good healthcare. He has witnessed the rising comfort levels of Macau locals who do not feel they need God and do not consider rising early to attend church or join a Bible study group as important to them, especially when their lives are comfortable enough.
Nonetheless, Tsui still sees opportunities among young people. For about a decade, Tsui’s church has been focusing on children and youth ministries. He believes that as long as there are activities for them, entire families will attend church services, and then whole families can be ministered to. As Macau’s birth rate is low, Tsui believes that children here are very precious in God’s eyes and to the church.
Church Growth in Macau
Today, Macau has about 70 Chinese evangelical churches with a turnout of 4,000 to 5,000 each week, according to numbers collated annually by the Macau Bible Institute, the territory’s only Protestant seminary.
However, Tsui thinks this number would likely double if foreign churches and congregations were included, due to the large number of foreign workers in Macao. For example, in Tsui’s church, 300 of the 450 congregants are part of the Myanmar congregation. He also thinks that the number of Christians among Macau’s foreign workers would likely increase, as many who moved to Macau for work have already embraced their faith in their home countries before the move.
Yet, for the Macau locals, there remains a challenge to reach the workforce. Based on the latest survey by the Statistics and Census Service, direct employment in the gambling industries accounts for 26.1% of the workforce, while indirect employment including hotels, restaurants, retail, and real estate could account for another 30% or more. These numbers include front and back-end jobs, including both shift and non-shift work. Because Macau’s gambling-related industries, including hotels, restaurants, and retail, employ such a high percentage of the Macau workforce, many locals are not able to attend church on Sunday mornings as they need to work. Some even take the Sundays off to rest from their hectic schedules. It remains a challenge to reach out to people working in such shift jobs as this represents a high percentage of the population.
While some churches are stepping up to conduct weekday or weekend services at non-traditional times, many logistical issues are still difficult to overcome, and those that have tried still find low attendance rates a problem.
Moreover, for those who have become Christians, some still struggle with their vocation, according to Alex Chi, principal of Macau Bible Institute. Chi sees many who have accepted the gospel still struggling to fit church commitments into their busy work schedules, and many can only attend church once a month.
Some Macau Christians have also felt convicted to leave their jobs in the casinos as they believe such jobs did not glorify God. For them, this presents another challenge: finding work that fits their skills. Chi noted a case of one such local Christian who decided to take up a private-hire job, which severely impacted his family earnings. Furthermore, as a small city with a limited range of opportunities, Chi thinks that many Macau residents would either leave the city for better opportunities, or resign to a fate where they start to question whether the Christian God could provide for them in tough times.
Future of Christianity in Macau
Chi knows the difficulties faced by various Macau pastoral and ministry teams and is aware of the different challenges in Macau evangelism. Therefore, Macau Bible Institute strives to provide a wide range of courses to pastors and ministers, from theological courses to practical ministry workshops.
Because of the many social and cultural issues in Macau, Chi knows it can be tough to get pastors and ministry workers to look beyond what seems impossible and remember the importance of being well equipped to tackle these problems and advance God’s Kingdom in Macau. Having joined the institute last year as its newest principal, Chi hopes to change these beliefs and let Macau pastors and ministers know that gaining theological and practical training is not merely for themselves, but for God and for the Church.
Presently, the seminary prepares pastors and ministers for the unique challenges they may face in ministry in Macau. For example, the institute customizes theological courses for pastors of every age and seniority level, and organizes workshops where ministers can obtain certifications in gambling addiction recovery support. They are also looking at starting English-language courses for foreign workers. Furthermore, they are actively increasing the quality of their theological courses, which they believe is essential to strengthening pastors and their congregations.
As Macau’s first and only Protestant seminary, Macau Bible Institute has now served the city for over 40 years. The pastors and ministers of Macau also remain hopeful that they will continue to see God’s hand in the city. Recognizing that Macau’s Christian community is small and close-knit, Chi plays an active role in bringing Macau pastors and ministers together to work alongside each other to tackle these unique challenges that much of the global church does not face.
It is our prayer that Macau’s Christians continue to be salt and light in this city, outshining even the most glittering skyscrapers of the “Las Vegas of Asia.”
