Samuel CS Young passed away in his sleep on October 13, 2018 at the age of 90. Born in Shanghai, China in 1928, the eldest of five children, Samuel grew up traveling. During the war years, Samuel and his family traveled of necessity. As he grew older, Samuel traveled for work and for pleasure, eventually traveling to every continent except Antarctica. He started his education but had to leave school to support his family during the war. He became a teacher because he couldn’t complete medical training due to the wars. He became a student again years later, receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. Samuel joined the Adventist Church in 1947, and spent 46 years in denominational work, serving in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and at Adventist world headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Samuel was an educator and mentor. He was also a builder and visionary. As principal, he transformed a small primary school and to a premier K-12 school in Hong Kong. He expanded the secondary school in Clear Water Bay from a secondary school to a college. He built a new campus for a college in Taiwan. Later in his life, as executive secretary of the Chan Shun International Foundation, he was an instrument in directing philanthropic funding to many college building projects and scholarships, funding over 100 projects across SDA colleges in North America and across the world.
He was bold and humble, and committed to being an influencer and a change-agent. His persistence and foresight led to positive changes in Adventist church organizations in Asia, allowing non-white workers to hold positions of trust in church administration and reorganizing the administrative structure to meet area needs. During the 1970 General Conference Session of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Atlantic City, Samuel pushed the church to nominate a diverse officer team for the Far Eastern Division instead of an all-white team. In 1977, while he was the President of the Hong Kong Macao Mission, he was able to change the Mission to self-supporting status of a Conference. This set an example for other missions in the Asia Pacific region to see the possibilities and follow his lead. In the 1980s, while working at the General Conference in Washington DC as one of the executive officers, he was instrumental in reorganizing the Far Eastern Division to what it is today: The Northern Asia-Pacific Division and the Southern Asia-Pacific Division. This allowed the church managing body to better serve the local churches and constituents.
Samuel was a thought leader and an organizer. In the 1960s, he was asked to lead a team to publish a new Chinese SDA hymnal. Later, in 1979, he was invited to author a Sabbath School lesson. He published Law, Love and Life in 1981. In his retirement, he published two volumes of China Church History.
Samuel was a church builder. He supported the establishment of three East Coast Chinese congregations. He often travelled to China and met with church leaders there.
Samuel had a keen mind for business but chose to help build people rather than wealth. He was a dreamer and visionary, a big idea man. He was a minister and a counselor, a reader and an author, a servant and an administrator. He loved good music, good food and a big television. He was a husband, a father and a grandfather and loved his family. He was a brother and an uncle and could always be expected to offer words of advice.
Samuel is survived by his wife, three children, eight grandchildren, two brothers and a sister.
“I am humbled that the grace of God has given me and my family countless blessings. Until we meet again in that glorious home where God has made for us. Farewell my family and friends. I hope to meet all of you on resurrection day at the sound of the trumpet.” Samuel CS Young
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