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Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China
Hudson
Taylor (1832-1905) was raised in a devout Christian home filled with much Bible
reading and prayer. Often, missionaries
would come to visit the house and share their stories. At his birth, his
parents prayed that he would eventually become a missionary to China. Despite
his Christian upbringing, Hudson somehow managed to wander away from the faith
during his teen years. He had been working
at the bank where his co-workers were a bad influence. However, a problem with his eyes forced him to
return home for several months to recover.
During this time, he happened to pick up a Christian gospel booklet
called “It is Finished” in his father's apothecary shop. He promised
himself that he would only read the interesting story at the beginning and then
set it down when it got to the religious part at the end. However, he was
so fascinated that he read the whole thing. The Holy Spirit worked in his
heart to trust in Christ's “finished work” – his sacrifice on the cross for our
salvation. Hudson didn’t know it at the time, but that very day his
mother, who had been away for weeks visiting her sister, had been
gripped with a desire to pray fervently for her son. After
several hours of praying, a sense of peace came over her and she was
certain her son had become a Christian. Some time later, Hudson
mistakenly picked up his younger sister Amelia's notebook, thinking it was his
own, and read that she had been praying every day for his salvation for a
month prior to his conversion.
Later
that year, Hudson became convinced that God was calling him to be a missionary
to China. To prepare for this, he had to
learn the Chinese language, get used to living simply without a lot of money or
comforts, and start training to be a doctor so he could go as a medical
missionary. (He didn’t finish his medical
training then, because it seemed urgent for him to go to China, but he did
complete them later when he was on furlough back in England.) On the way to China, his ship nearly ran
aground on an island with cannibals, but Hudson prayed and a strong breeze blew
them away from the shore. He arrived in
China at the age of 21. During his 51
years of service there, he faced many hardships, including civil war, people
who were hostile to the Christian “foreign devils”, riots, severe illness, more
eye problems, the death of his first wife and four of his children, deep
depression, lazy fellow missionaries, conflicts with the mission agency,
difficult travel, a fire which destroyed his supplies, and the Boxer Rebellion
in 1900, in which 56 CIM missionaries were killed.
However,
Hudson Taylor’s work was still very fruitful. In his own lifetime, he founded the China
Inland Mission, established 20 mission stations, recruited 849 missionaries to work
in China, trained about 700 Chinese workers, raised $4 million by faith
(instead of appealing for money), developed an evangelistic Chinese church of
125,000, and revised a Chinese translation of the New Testament. It is believed that he personally baptized about
50,000 people. To help his efforts at
reaching the Chinese people, he even dressed and wore his hair like them.
Hudson Taylor’s
legacy continues. After the communist
(atheist) takeover of China in 1949, the China Inland Mission removed its
workers from China and reassigned them to other countries. The name was changed to the Overseas
Missionary Fellowship, which still serves today in many Asian countries. Even though CIM missionaries left China, there
is still a strong “underground” Chinese church that grew from their efforts. John and Betty Stam, Lottie Moon, and Gladys
Aylward were some other famous missionaries to China, though they weren’t with
CIM. Although mission work is officially
forbidden, many Christians still go to China as teachers and build personal relationships
in order to share their faith.
Hudson
Taylor’s work was birthed in the prayers of his family, and he became quite a
prayer warrior himself. His son Howard’s book, Hudson Taylor’s
Spiritual Secret, is about the
strength he gained from prayer. Here are few of Hudson’s quotes about prayer:
"I
have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is
impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done."
"Do
not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin
the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with
Him."
"You must GO forward on your
knees."
~*~*~
I compiled this information for a handout to supplement the study about China in the World Geography class I teach three days a week. I wrote much of it years ago, but added to it today using information obtained on-line. Here are some resources for further study:
- J. Hudson Taylor at Christian Classics Ethereal Library - includes download of free e-books
- James Hudson Taylor at Wholesome Words - includes links to many other articles
- James Hudson Taylor at OMF
- CIM/OMF History
