Gabriel and Iris Li were both born in Hong Kong. They immigrated to Canada in 1979 and finished their post secondary education. Gabriel was baptized in 1977 and has been attending an Alliance church since 1979. Iris was baptized in 1973. They met in 1979 in Edmonton when both were a part of the grade 12 adult class. They were married in 1984.

Iris has worked in many areas of church ministry and at one time was the principal of a Chinese school. Gabriel has worked as a teacher in the field of business development, has run his own import/export business, and has worked for Industrial Safety Consulting before becoming a fulltime pastor as of January 2005.

Gabriel and Iris are involved in Chinese church ministries in Aruba.