Born circa 1920 Peter Jenkins came from Bristol and as a boy wanted to be a drafting engineer. Then two events changed his mind. The first was his sister’s decision to become a missionary. As her brother, Peter felt she shouldn’t have to do this alone. The second event was a sermon he heard preached at his home church, which said that the cross of Christ was like a letter ‘I’ crossed out, and Christ himself epitomised the ‘I’ of selfishness crossed out. That was enough for Peter to abandon his own ambitions and choose to live for Christ and for others.
He trained in medicine and then did missionary training with the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) and went out to serve in China. Out there he met another missionary, Josephine ‘Billie’ Jenkins, who was supported by the Church of God, Anderson Indiana, back in the USA. The two married and continued in a joint ministry for the BMS until 1949 when the Communists drove them out, and at that point they came to Hong Kong and worked independent of any missionary society.
Peter and Billie worked with the Emmanuel Church and Clinic in Hong Kong and may well have taken over from Dr Lechmere Clift, who died in that year.
Like Dr Clift, Peter, together with Dr Vaughan Rees, was Honorary Medical Adviser to the Shatin Babies’ Home, run by Mildred Dibden.
He supported Ethel Groce, the Boat Lady, seeing boat people patients with more serious conditions, beyond the scope of her medical skill.
He was also superintendent of the Haven of Hope Sanatorium and Rennies Mill Clinic, Junk Bay, aided by wife Billie, until 1974.
In 1959 when Bob Pierce, Head of World Vision, stopped off in Hong Kong on his World Tour looking for more projects to sponsor, Dr Jenkins was part the group showing him round the places mentioned above, together with Dave Morken and others.
Billie Jenkins’ last 20 years of missionary service were at the Hong Kong Baptist College where she became Head of the Counselling Dept and ultimately Dean of Business Management.
In 1985, Peter and Billie retired and returned to the United States.
Sources:
Let My Heart Be Broken – Richard Gehman
Baptist Missionary Herald 1974
Routsong.com - Josephine Jenkins
Shatin Babies’ Home Newsletter 1960