The Hongcouver | ‘God’s servant’: Beijing-friendly and born again, former HK official Stephen Lam wants to woo Christians in Canada

Religion and politics go hand in glove south of the border, but in Canada, politicians have traditionally been more shy about making big with their beliefs.

Ex-PM Stephen Harper’s politics were closely scrutinised for the extent to which they were influenced by his evangelical Christianity – but even that suggests Canadians find the prospect of mixing the two awkward in a way that many of their American cousins do not.

Enter Stephen Lam Sui-lung, the former chief secretary of Hong Kong and devout Christian, who exited the battle over Democratic reform in Hong Kong in 2012 to read theology at Oxford University. Lam next week embarks on what is being billed as a “cross-Canada evangelistic tour”, speaking on his transformation “from public servant to God’s servant”.

The organisers of the tour, the Chinese Christian Mission (CCM), deny any political aspect to the tour, but some pro-democracy Christians are deeply discomfited by the prospect of Canadian pulpits being occupied by Lam, once derided as “The Eunuch” for his behind-the-scenes Beijing-friendly manoeuvring and as “the human recorder” for his pro-forma public responses.

Lam – once touted as a future chief executive of Hong Kong - will kick off his tour next Tuesday in Calgary, going on to speak at churches in Edmonton, Richmond, Port Moody and Vancouver over the next five days.

A spokeswoman for CCM said a board member of the mission had recommended Lam as a speaker, and she had no specific details about what he planned to say. However, she rejected the suggestion of a political component.

“No, not at all. From our organisation’s name, you can see that this is an evangelistic meeting, it’s nothing regarding politics – it’s his calling from God, and that’s it,” she said.