Rev. Wendell Paul Karsen

On Monday morning January 19, Wendell Paul Karsen went to his eternal HOME after a 4 month decline due to a rare kidney cancer that had spread to his lung and elsewhere. He was able to be home and continue participating as much as possible in life here in our community and church until less than a week before he died. On December 12 we began to get amazing help from Hospice, and they provided 24-hour support over the last 3 days.

Wendell (which means wanderer/adventurer and was named after a pastor his parents respected and admired), was always doing and going. In his own words, he wanted the following read at the Thanksgiving Service which he had planned:

“Wendell was a flawed, but forgiven and dedicated follower of Jesus Christ who spent his life loving his spouses (Joyce, and after her death, Renske), raising his family (Steve, Philip, Rachel & Andrew; 10 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren), enjoying life and exploring the world, pastoring churches, creating Christian programs and resources, teaching, preaching, singing and serving the others at home and abroad.”

A Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Wendell Paul Karsen and for the Hope of the Life to Come, will be held on Saturday, February 28, 2026 at 2:00PM at Penney Memorial Church located in Penney Retirement Community, Penney Farms, Florida where Wendell and Renske have resided since 2010.

Services will be live streamed and recorded: https://penneymemorialchurchfl.org

In Lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to:

1. Checks to: Penney Retirement Community: (Memo: JCP Legacy Fund, in memory of Wendell) send to: Penney Retirement Community at P.O. Box 555 Penney Farms, FL 32079
2. 
   
3. CROP Hunger Walk online: https://crophungerwalk.org/penneyfarmsfl

See below for Wendell’s own summary of his 89 years (90 years in Chinese, as you are 1 year at birth):

Rev. Wendell Paul Karsen was born to Siebert and Margaret Karsen on November 16, 1936 in Oak Park, IL and raised in the Chicago area with his sister, Nancy.

He holds degrees from Wheaton College (BS in 1958), Fuller Theological Seminary (BD in 1962) and Western Theological Seminary (ThM in 1967). He was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Reformed Church in America in 1963. He served two parishes in Michigan for seven years and then as an RCA missionary in Taiwan (1969-1973), Hong Kong (1974-84, 1990-98), Indonesia (1998-2000) and Thailand (2023). He also served as a visiting professor at the RCA’s Western Theological Seminary (1984-85) and as the denomination’s Coordinator for Mission Communication and Secretary for Appalachia (1985-90). In 1996, he became the pastor of Union Church Hong Kong and in 1999 became the founding pastor of the Bukit Doa International Church in Bali, Indonesia. After retirement in 2000, he served as the Director of the Master of Theology program at Western Seminary (2001-2006). In 2012, he received a distinguished alumnus of the year award from the Seminary.

In Taiwan, he served as the Director of University Student Work for the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan during what was known as the “White Terror” period under the Chiang Kai-shek Nationalist regime. The regime persecuted the PCT, and because of Wendell’s involvement in the Church’s struggle, he was banned from the island for 19 years.

Transferred to Hong Kong, he first served as chaplain and teacher at Ying Wa College (1974-77) and then as Education Secretary for the Hong Kong Christian Council (1978-84). There he developed the Summer With A Purpose (SWAP) program for high school young people, launched the HKCC's English quarterly NEWS & VIEWS, directed the HKCC’s Communications Centre and helped to establish the Religious Education Teachers’ Association. He also wrote a major five-year, five-volume religious education textbook series entitled the FAITH & LIFE SERIES which was adopted by the Hong Kong Government Education Department as the official secondary religious education curriculum. Upon his return to Hong Kong in 1990, Wendell resumed his post as Education Secretary at the Hong Kong Christian Council, served as Coordinator and Producer for the Hong Kong Government’s Religious Broadcasting and Television Advisory Committee and wrote a new three- volume religious education textbook series for senior secondary school students entitled FAITH FOR TODAY, also adopted by the Government Education Department as the official senior secondary religious education curriculum.

Wendell is the author of fifteen books and numerous articles, including many articles on China. He first visited The People’s Republic of China in 1977, has made 23 trips there since that time, and has led six mission education travel seminars there. In 2003, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy invited him back to Taiwan where the President of Taiwan presented him with an award for assisting in the development of democracy and human rights during the ‘white terror’ period. His written account of his experiences in Taiwan was the spark that set off a major eight-year project to record the context and content of his ministry in Southeast Asia in two volumes entitled The Church Under the Cross: Mission in Asia in Times of Turmoil (published by Eerdmans in 2010 and 2012 respectively, and updated to a four-volume series and republished in 2024).

Wendell married Joyce Marie Hughes of Greenville, SC in June1960. Joyce was a graduate of Bryan College and held a Masters Degree from the Wheaton Graduate School of Theology. They had four children together – Stephen (1962), Philip (1965), Rachel (1968) and Andrew (1977). Joyce served with Wendell as an RCA missionary in Taiwan and Hong Kong from 1969-1984. Among her other contributions, she was a co-founder of the Wai Ji Christian Service, a major program for mentally and physically challenged young people in Hong Kong. After a long battle with cancer, Joyce died in 1989.

In 1991, Wendell married Amerentia (Renske) Greve. Renske was born in the Netherlands in 1950 and immigrated to the USA with her family in 1957. She holds degrees from Wheaton College (BS in 1972) and College of DuPage (RN in 1978). She had careers in teaching, nursing and business, serving as a Management Consultant for the ServiceMaster Corporation for ten years. She also served with Wendell as an RCA missionary in Hong Kong and Indonesia from 1991-2000, and in Thailand in 2023.

The Karsens moved to Penney Retirement Community in 2010. Having visited several RCA missionary colleagues here, they decided that this kind of sharing, caring, serving Christian community was the place for them. They worked at the PET Factory for over 12 years. Renske also served as a nurse at the Pavilion for 11 years while Wendell was involved in working with the Chaplain’s ministry, the PMC’s preaching and lay ministry committee and other things. They both sang in the choir for years and sang duets for funerals, special programs and on other occasions. Wendell also frequently preached at PMC and lectured at other venues like Symposium, the Bible, Worship and Theology group, and the Tuesday night Bible Study. He also taught a course in Asian Christian History and presented many audio-visual programs.

Wendell has had many interests – traveling (97 countries and territories over 72 years), gardening (including a small current flower garden behind our cottage), fishing, bird watching (still has two active bird feeders) photography (over 40,000 images and still clicking), reading (especially history), music (mainly classical and Christian), writing (even though he got poor grades in English), stamp collecting (7 collections) and ancestry.

As for pets, Wendell has enjoyed animals all his life. He has had a string of dogs, a string of cats, two aquariums, rabbits and things like frogs and snakes that boys like to catch and keep.

There were a number of important things in his life – his decision to follow and serve Christ; his breaking a leg on the first day of college that put him a whole semester behind (which he made up with home tutors and two summer schools), his decision to become a pastor, his marriage to Joyce Hughes in 1960, his decision to become a cross-culture missionary, his marriage to Renske Greve in 1991.

Wendell Karsen

Penney Farms, Florida

January, 2026

For PRC Spotlight on the 90’s

Wendell’s life verse: Philippians 4:6-7

“Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer make your requests known unto God with thanksgiving, and the peace of God will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.”