US Church Takes Payout to End Feud With Hong Kong's Top School

A long partnership between a major American church and one of Asia's best-known international schools has ended in a quiet, cash settlement. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), a US church group, helped co-found Hong Kong International School (HKIS) in Repulse Bay decades ago. Last September, the church sued the school, claiming it had broken their operating agreement. Now the church has agreed to walk away in exchange for a payment, according to a source who spoke to the South China Morning Post. The source described the split as the end of a 'bad marriage' between two partners who simply no longer agreed on anything.

The church's complaint was about mission, not just money — at least on paper. LCMS accused the school of serving only the 'rich and privileged few', straying from its religious purpose, and piling up large financial reserves. The church said the school's alleged breaches deserved a 'very, very substantial penalty'. School leaders fired back that the lawsuit was really about money. They said the church had explored turning part of the Repulse Bay campus into a US$1 billion commercial development — a plan that would have been enormously valuable land-wise.

Court documents painted an even sharper picture. A High Court writ said the church had threatened to evict the school from its Repulse Bay campus, and it was seeking US$1.75 million in compensation. The LCMS still legally owns the campus land, even after the settlement. That ownership detail matters: it means the church keeps a long-term hold on one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in Hong Kong, regardless of who runs the classrooms.

For families, staff and alumni, the practical question is what changes on Monday morning. The answer, for now, is very little day to day — the school keeps operating and the church stops suing. But the episode is a reminder that elite private schools are also businesses and property holdings, where religious founders, boards and donors can end up in court over money and mission.