Rev. William Alvin Ury and his wife came to Sarawak in 1971. He was appointed as the Senior pastor of Chin Fu Methodist Church in Kuching the following year. The ministry at Kuching had started in 1954 and in 1957, the English Sunday Evening Service at 5 p.m commenced. Starting from 1959, foreign missionaries were appointed to take charge of the English Services. Rev William Ury served a year there.
Rev. William Alvin Ury accepted Jesus Christ at twelve. He had grown up without a father. However, he was serious in his faith. He graduated from Baldwin-Wallace and Drew Seminary with a Bachelor and Master degrees in Arts and Theology. At Drew he met his sweet-heart, Beth Callis, who had wanted to be a missionary as well. After their marriage, they waited to be posted to Asian countries. While waiting, he served at Willoughby Hills, a Methodist church in Ohio, for four years. The church building was still under construction then and he was photographed and reported preaching under a tree by a newspaper.
In 1959, the couple went to India for a year, supported by his church in Ohio. On their way back to America, they stopped in Singapore and visited the then Bishop Hobart B. Amstutz. There, the couple felt a strong calling from God to serve overseas. Four months after they arrived home, the Methodist Church of America sent them to the Drew Seminary to study Chinese for a year.
The Beginning of
Chinese Missions
In 1960, Rev William Ury took his wife and two children, Billy (1956) and Thane (1958) to Kaohsiung, Taiwan where he continued to learn the Chinese language, In the meantime hosted a program at a radio station. At that time the communist regime in China had caused many to flee to Taiwan.
In 1961 he became the pastor-in-charge of the Kaohsiung Methodist Centre and Feng Shan Preaching Centre. Many people heard his radio talks and came to Feng Shan. The Sunday Worship attendance at Feng Shan once hit 80 to 90 people. Later due to some mob incidence, he had to leave Feng Shan and served solely at the Methodist Centre. He also helped in the purchasing of land to build a church.
In the same year, his wife gave birth to a set of twins who were named Faith and Hope. Life in Taiwan was not easy but they were still devoted to the Lord. Their children witnessed their parents’ faith and many dedicated their lives to serve the Lord.
In 1963, they had another girl, Grace. From 1965 to 1968, Rev William Ury was appointed the Superintendent of the northern district to assist the Bishop. He also set up an executive committee to handle the work of the Annual Conference.
Besides working at Kaohsiung, he also assisted at Shi Lin and Mazu in setting up churches there. He even went round raising funds for the building of churches. From1966 to 1967 he was appointed to serve at the International Church in Taipei. In 1969, he was again appointed to Kaohsiung for one year before returning to America. Besides, he also served as a chaplain at the US navy base in Kaohsiung.
Coming to Kuching
By 1970, Rev William Ury had served in Taiwan for ten years. He went back to America for a year and was posted to Kuching in 1971. He acted as the Senior Pastor of Chin Fu Methodist Church for a year in 1972.
From the third issue of the church magazine published in 1971, there was an article by Rev William Ury’s family and the editorial committee also wrote a welcoming message “Our Warmest Welcome to the Urys”.
In 1976, they returned to America and ministered the Methodist church until 1982. Because of his deep concern for the mission work in Asia, he went to Hong Kong to serve at the Universal Radio Station, and was later transferred to work in Singapore.
When he retired, he still participated in mission work with OMS and travelled widely, calling for English teachers to serve in China. He died in Wilmore at Avon Park.
In his 50 years of ministry, he faithfully served the Chinese. He had 5 children, two sons-in-law and fifteen grandchildren. Many followed his footsteps. Bill, his eldest son, served with Billy Graham mission team and taught at the Wesleyan Bible Seminary for 21 years. Thane was a missionary to China and taught at Bethel Seminary for 15 years and also served with OMS. Hope and Grace serve in Brazil while Faith is with Methodist Church in Mississippi. Cameron Ury, Thane’s son, is a pastor at Waynesburg’s Little Country.
Rev. William Alvin Ury was born on 10 April 1930 and went to the Lord on 22 June 2010.