Community

The Chinese Information and Service Center (CISC) has played a vital role in supporting and uplifting the immigrant communities of Redmond, helping the city become a more inclusive and culturally responsive place. Though CISC is headquartered in Seattle, its presence on the Eastside, particularly in Redmond, has been crucial in bridging gaps for immigrant families who often face challenges with language access, public resources, and social inclusion. CISC was invited to expand services into Redmond as the city’s demographics began shifting rapidly in the early 2000s. Historically a majority-white community, Redmond began experiencing an arrival of families from China, India, Eastern Europe, and other parts of the world. But while the population was changing, city services and community programming often did not reflect the needs of these new residents. That’s where CISC stepped in. 

Through partnerships with schools, libraries, and local government, CISC helped build culturally and linguistically accessible services, focusing on family support, youth development, and civic engagement. Their team provided translation support in languages such as Mandarin, Russian, Ukrainian, and more, making it possible for immigrant families to better navigate healthcare systems, education services, and legal resources. In addition to outreach and advocacy, CISC also offers a variety of community classes, such as English as a Second Language (ESL) and Chinese calligraphy, which not only support skill-building but also foster cultural pride and intergenerational learning. One of CISC’s most impactful contributions in Redmond has been their community outreach efforts, which include participating in events like Redmond Derby Days, where they’ve hosted booths on topics like healthcare access, voter registration, anti-hate education, and more. These events serve not just as informational platforms but as powerful symbols of belonging, where families from all walks of life see themselves reflected in the civic life of their city. 

At the most recent Derby Days, CISC led an engaging activity for children focused on 911 awareness and emergency preparedness. Understanding that many children in immigrant households may not be familiar with how or when to contact emergency services in the U.S., CISC took the opportunity to provide age-appropriate education on calling 911 for police, fire, or medical emergencies. This kind of practical, safety-focused education is vital – especially for children growing up in multilingual households.

  Perhaps what sets CISC apart the most is their focus on multigeneratinal support, from after-school programs for children to legal aid and health navigation services for seniors. A key strength of CISC lies in its diverse and multilingual team, which includes 137 bilingual staff members fluent in over a dozen languages. This linguistic and cultural diversity allows CISC to effectively serve a wide range of immigrant communities, ensuring that language is never a barrier to accessing critical services.Their work reinforces the idea that immigrant communities are not just temporary populations to be accommodated, but essential threads in the fabric of Redmond. 

  Though CISC does not operate a permanent standalone center in Redmond, their flexible, outreach-based approach has allowed them to meet people where they are. By embedding their services within trusted local spaces, CISC has helped immigrants feel not only supported – but truly seen and heard. Ultimately, CISC’s work in Redmond reflects a broader vision for what a community can be: diverse, inclusive, and connected. Their efforts continue to shape Redmond into a city that not only recognizes its changing demographics but celebrates them – building a future where all residents, regardless of background, have the tools and support they need to thrive.

CISC’s services are available to the community seven days a week, providing consistent support to families across Redmond and beyond. Their team works hard to ensure that programs and assistance remain accessible year-round. The only exceptions are major federal holidays, during which offices may close in observance. 

The Evangelical Chinese Church (ECC) traces its roots back to the 1960s, when a group of Chinese students and immigrant families nearby the University of Washington formed a Bible study group. In 1967, ECC was formally established in Greenwood, Seattle. As more and more Chinese families settled in the Greater Seattle area—especially on the Eastside—the challenges of limited capacity at the Seattle campus and the 40–50-minute commute became increasingly evident, creating a pressing need to establish a church on the Eastside.

In 2002, ECC Eastside Campus was founded in Redmond. During the first few years, Sunday worship services were held in borrowed school facilities across the Eastside, including Sherwood Forest Elementary, Stevenson Elementary, and Odle Middle School. Attendance at Eastside services grew from just over 60 people in the beginning to several hundreds, to the point where, in 2007, Bellevue School District informed the church that the growing numbers had exceeded the capacity that Odle school could accommodate.

When the 2008 financial crisis hit and real estate prices fell, an opportunity arose in Redmond where a seafood factory was selling three buildings. In 2010, ECC purchased two of the buildings and carried out major renovations. By 2012, the congregation officially moved into its current church location at 17360 NE 67th Ct, Redmond, WA 98052.

Growth of the Church

Because Redmond and the surrounding areas have a large Chinese population and offer convenient transportation, many families from Redmond, Bellevue, Sammamish, Everett, and even Maple Valley began attending Sunday worship at the ECC Redmond Campus. With new apartment complexes rising nearby, the opening of the light rail, and continued growth in congregation size, parking has become one of the church’s major challenges. To address this issue, starting in 2024, ECC Redmond Campus began to offer two Sunday worship services, held at 9:30 AM and 11:15 AM respectively.

ECC Redmond Campus offers Sunday worship services in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, meeting the different needs of people from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Mainland China, as well as both new and long-time immigrants. According to church records, more than 6,000 Chinese people have visited the ECC Redmond Campus. Currently, about 1,300 disciples attend worship services there each Sunday, including roughly 600–800 Mandarin speakers.

The church provides small group ministries and activities for all age groups, from newborns and K–12 children to adults and seniors. More than 220 children and young people currently attend Sunday school there. In the English-speaking worship group, about 40% are second-generation Chinese American kids born and raised in the U.S., 40% are young professionals, and 20% are young parents from countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, and various parts of Europe.

Many of the youth and young adults have grown up in the church and love being part of it, because ECC Redmond Campus provides a space where their parents’ traditional Chinese upbringing can be integrated with their American education. The church also helps them reconcile generational differences with their first-generation parents, preserve aspects of Chinese cultural heritage, and experience the warmth of a big family.

The Church and the Community

Although most current disciples are Chinese, ECC Redmond Campus upholds an open and inclusive vision, welcoming people of all ages, ethnicities, and cultural backgrounds. Since 2016, ECC has partnered with Damascus International Fellowship and University Presbyterian Church to establish Kindred, which unites different churches as one multi-ethnic family of God. Each year, for 6 to 7 weeks, the three churches take turns exchanging pastors to preach, bringing healing, positive change, and reconciliation to people throughout the city for the sake of Jesus Christ. Together, the three churches also lead community service projects such as food distribution and street cleaning.

Recognizing that many seniors have limited mobility and prefer nearby activities, ECC Redmond Campus members also visit Grace Place on Mercer Island to spend time with the elderly there—singing, telling stories, playing games, and engaging in meaningful face-to-face fellowship. The church also regularly participates in community services at the Salvation Army, provides food and school supplies for children from low-income families at Redmond Elementary, and serves new immigrants in Seattle’s Chinatown.

Beyond the Greater Seattle area, ECC sends out mission teams every year to places such as Taiwan, Mongolia, Northern Thailand, and Cambodia, bringing practical help and spiritual encouragement to local communities in need.

As they believe: inspired by God, everyone is empowered to serve, and even the smallest acts of love can make a great impact on the community.

Pastor Bin Qian

Pastor Bin was born in Sichuan and attended college in Wuhan and Beijing, China. In 1999, he moved to the US for his doctoral studies at the University of Michigan Medical School. During his time there, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord through the campus ministry of the Ann Arbor Chinese Christian Church. In 2003, he relocated to Seattle, where he became a research associate at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Washington. He then worked as a research fellow funded by a grant from the American Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Between 2007 and 2014, he became a serial entrepreneur in the information technology sector.

Upon his arrival in Seattle, Bin started worshipping and serving at the Evangelical Chinese Church (ECC), first at its Seattle campus, then at its Redmond campus. He began his seminary training at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) in 2012 and, following a series of remarkable events, he was called into pastoral ministry at ECC in 2015. He completed his master’s degree at DTS in 2017 and was ordained as a pastor in 2019.

Pastor Bin is happily married to Zhuolin. Together they have three children: a son named Joseph, and two daughters, Rebecca and Annabelle.

Note: this research report on the ECC Redmond Campus is based on Meiling Hou and Yixuan Li’s interview with Pastor Bin Qian on August 11, 2025, as well as the church’s website.

The Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple (also known as Lei Zang Temple), located at 17012 NE 40th Ct, Redmond, was established in 1985. This year marks its 40th anniversary.

The founder, Living Buddha Lian Sheng  Grandmaster Lu (original name: Sheng-Yen Lu), was born and raised in Taiwan before moving to Seattle at the age of 38. He received a BS degree majored in geological surveying, served as a military major, and once taught Sunday school at a local Christian church. At the age of 26, however, he experienced a miraculous event that opened his celestial eye. He subsequently dedicated years to studying Taoism, exoteric Buddhism, and Vajrayana Buddhism, growing under the guidance of highly realized spiritual mentors. Using Taoist practices, intuitive insight, and divination, he helped people in distress, transformed their destinies through Feng Shui, taught the law of cause and effect and inevitable retribution, and guided many to learn Buddhism. It was during this period that many disciples began to follow him.

In 1982, after traveling around the world, Grandmaster Lu chose to settle in Seattle to cultivate the True Buddha Vajrayana Dharma. Eight disciple families immigrated with him. They purchased a piece of land in Redmond from a local landlord, built eight houses along a cul-de-sac, and reserved the largest central plot for the temple. This marked the beginning of the Redmond Lei Zang Temple.

In the 1980s, there were still very few Chinese immigrants in Seattle, and even fewer Buddhists. At beginning, Grandmaster Lu and his family lived in Ballard. Guided by Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, he came to Redmond and, by chance, discovered the site where the Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple now stands. He recognized its superb geomancy Feng Shui as a true “dragon land”: “a prominent “dragon head” hill with a solid backing (later the site of Microsoft), a bright “water mirror” in front (Lake Sammamish), protective arms on either side, and a beautiful “table mountain” reflected in the water. It was an ideal, pure, and solemn site for a Dharma hall for worship."

Construction started on May 8th, 1983. The eight disciple families established a religious organization and got approval from Washington state government to build a temple. The design plan was submitted to the Redmond City Planning Commission for review. Unexpectedly, it was at this stage that they encountered greatest setback. Since Lei Zang temple was to be the first Chinese Buddha temple in Redmond’s history—and given that the United States was founded as a Christian nation—many residents attended the public hearings to voice their concerns and resistance: worries about lighting disturbing the peace at night, obstructed views, the noise of bells and drums, declining property values, increased traffic congestion, fire safety risks, and more. Over the course of three years, they went through twelve public hearings and countless explanations to local residents. In the end, the plan was finally approved, though the size of the temple was reduced significantly from the original design.

On September 14, 1985, the first-ever Lei Zang temple was officially completed and consecrated in Redmond, WA and the number of disciples increased to over 30,000 worldwide. On March 19, 1986, Grandmaster Lu formally received monastic ordination and  tonsure. Since then, the number of disciples had surged to 5,000,000 globally by year 2000. Every weekend, 200–300 disciples attended the Dharma assemblies in the Redmond temple, while the annual grand ceremonies drew tens of thousands of followers from around the world. Disciples included the first generation of disciples, their now 40- to 50-year-old children, as well as the third generation—many young people in their teens and twenties who came with their families to the temple. Today, there are over 100 Lei Zang Temples, 400+ chapters, and countless Dharma practice groups established around the world. The second Lei Zang Temple in Washington—the Rainbow Temple—was also established in North Bend in 1991. Each temple operates independently in terms of finance and administration, but they support one another spiritually.

The Redmond Lei Zang temple is not limited to its own religious activities; it has also been actively involved in community service and charitable work. To name a few: ever since the earlier years, it supported the Disabled American Veterans, Seattle Fire Department, Kin On Health Care Center, the Chinese Information and Service Center (CISC), Icra-Yat Sen Chinese School, UW East Asian Library through donations, and hosted memorial services for 9/11 victims in New York, Since 1997, the temple has participated annually in the Walk for Rice fundraising event for the Asian Counseling & Referral Service (ACRS) Food Bank, and donated winter clothing to Thrugood Marshall Elementary School and Facing Homelessness Center for people in need through the Winter Relief program. It also organized numerous health lectures, educational programs, cultural exhibitions and fun fairs to the local community.

In 2008, Grandmaster Lu founded the Sheng-Yen Lu Foundation (SYL Foundation), driven by the belief that the practice of compassion is an essential part of Buddhism and of life. Based on this mission, the SYL Foundation “primarily focuses on serving low-income immigrant and refugee communities in Washington’s King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. The grants benefit all people regardless of religion, race, age, national origin, ethnicity, gender, physical ability, sexual orientation, or political affiliation.” They set up the Health and Education grants to provide equitable access to health care and education to immigrants and refugees; the Lotus Scholarship Program to provide scholarship for immigrant students to pursue higher education; the Justice Fund to help immigrants and refugees facing inequities and injustices; and the Rapid Response Fund in responding to the emergent need of immigrant and refugee-serving non-profit organizations. In August 2024 alone, Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple donated $200,000 to the SYL Foundation to support healthcare and educational opportunities for immigrants and underserved groups. Since 2008, over $14,000,000 grants were given to community organization and health institutions to help immigrants and refugees having equal access to health care, education and legal service, and 101 students from 36 countries received scholarship to pursue higher education.

Grandmaster Lu is also a romantic and diligent poet, writer, and artist. To date, he has written 306 books, including poetry, prose, essays, and reflections on Buddhism. Stacked together, these books would reach a height of 4.2 meters (13′9″)—a level that many people could never hope to attain in a lifetime.

Note: this research report on the Lei Zang Temple is based on Meiling Hou and Yixuan Li’s interview with Master Lian Chi on August 12, 2025, the temple’s website information, as well as written material provided by Master Lian Chi.