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The Word Changes the World…….June 25, 1865

English missionary J. Hudson Taylor formed the China Inland
Mission on this day one hundred and forty six years ago. Its
missionaries would have no guaranteed salaries, nor could they
appeal for funds; they would simply trust God to supply their
needs. Furthermore, its missionaries would adopt Chinese dress
and press the gospel into the China interior. Prior to this it was
normal for missionaries to dress as westerners and “encourage” the
indigents to dress the same.

Put off a Heart of fear…

Is there any man who is fearful and faint-hearted Let him go back to his
house, lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own. Deuteronomy
20:8b (ESV)

… Put on the heart of Faith

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a
good conscience and a sincere faith First Timothy 1:5 (ESV)

Hudson Taylor popularized—in the face of severe criticism at first—
the now commonplace idea that missionaries should live and dress
like the people they seek to evangelize.

When Taylor arrived in China in 1854, many Protestant
missionaries were content to minister in the coastal cities. Taylor's
example of pushing into the vast interior was one reason other
missionaries began doing so as well.

Put off the need to be of this World

But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the
desires for other things enter in and choke THE Word, and it
proves unfruitful. Mark 4:19 (ESV)

Put on a heart to witness to the World

Remembering the word of the apostle Paul…

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have
become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I
do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its
blessings.
First Corinthians 9:22-23 (ESV)

Taylor—contrary to the mission conventions of his day—believed
that single women were fully capable of managing distant mission
outposts without the help of male missionaries.
Taylor's China Inland Mission was founded in 1865 on the
premise that it would never solicit funds from donors but simply
trust God to supply its needs. Today, though the organization has
changed its name to Overseas Missionary Fellowship OMF
[International]), it has not changed this policy.

Taylor battled severe depression all his life, both from the way he
drove himself and because of the immensity of the task. Even after
thousands of conversions, there were still some 400 million Chinese
to reach. At one point late in life, he sank towards black despair,
and "the awful temptation," as an unpublished note in the Taylor
papers runs, "even to end his own life."

While China allows “approved” churches today, in the early 1800s,
evangelism and printing Christian literature were capital offenses. It
was forbidden for foreigners to learn Chinese. Robert Morrison,
the first Protestant missionary to China arriving in 1807, paid
exorbitant fees to study Chinese. His two tutors lived in such fear
of torture they carried poison so that if in danger, they could end
their lives in Morrison's home rather than in a Chinese prison.
Because early Protestant missionaries were fluent in Chinese, they
played key roles in international diplomacy. William A. P. Martin, a
Presbyterian missionary, was responsible for the clause in the
Treaty of Tientsin (Tianjin) (1858) that allowed missionaries to
enter the interior of China to propagate the Christian religion.
This treaty opened the way for Hudson Taylor's China Inland
Mission.
In the 1860s, missionaries began opening schools for Chinese girls.
This was a radical break with tradition: education for women was
unheard of in China.
The largest massacre ever of Protestant missionaries took place in
China in 1900. During the Boxer Rebellion, 188 Protestant adults
and children were martyred.

Word4History will provide periodic information on historical events
that have affected the Christian world. Join us as we explore
historical events that exemplify the power of The Word of God!

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