J. Hudson Taylor
In 1999 a grave marker was erected near the Yangtze River in China. The protestant cemetery where it had originally been placed had been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but this grave marker had been rescued and stored in a local museum. The marker read:
Sacred to the memory of Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, the revered founder of the China Inland Mission. Born May 21, 1832, Died June 3, 1905
“A MAN IN CHRIST” 2 Cor. XII:2
This monument is erected by missionaries of the China Inland Mission, as a mark of their heartfelt esteem and love.
J. Hudson Taylor had spent most of 51 years in China and, during that time, founded a missions organization, brought 800 missionaries into China, started 125 schools, and was directly involved in 18,000 Chinese coming to follow Christ.
Taylor was born into a devout Christian family, but he walked away from that faith in his youth. At age 17 his life took a major turn when he read an evangelistic tract in his father’s library. Everything seemed to make sense at that moment, and he gave his life to Christ. This was not a casual thing for him. He understood the great love God had for him and trusted his full life to God and his purposes. He expected his life to change and it did.
“Can all the Christians in England sit still with folded arms while these multitudes [in China] are perishing—perishing for lack of knowledge—for lack of that knowledge which England possesses so richly?”
Soon after his conversion, he heard that the gospel that had added so much to his life was almost unknown in China. He believed that the Chinese should have as much chance to respond to God’s blessings as the English did. He believed it was selfish and unfair that those who had the gospel would keep it to themselves, so he answered the call himself and set his face toward China.
In preparation, he worked among the poor, studied medicine, studied scripture, and began to learn the Mandarin language.
He arrived in China in 1854 at age 21. But he found that his initial ministry was largely unsuccessful. The Chinese distrusted him and even referred to him as the “Black Devil” because of the dark, English overcoat he wore. His English culture and customs were a wall to healthy ministry.
Taylor decided to take seriously the Apostle Paul’s example in I Corinthians 9:22 “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” He exchanged his Western apparel for traditional Chinese clothing and grew his hair out into a queue, a Chinese ponytail, and began to practice elements of the Chinese culture. Because he met the Chinese in their world, they were willing to respond. His medical work grew as did his opportunities to communicate the gospel.
In 1865 Taylor founded the China Inland Mission with William Thomas Berger. He had disagreement with his earlier missions organization. He saw too many missionaries spending their time translating for foreign dignitaries and involved in other non-missionary activities. In addition, the former organization could not keep up its missionary support and had problems with debt. Added to that, the organization had been very chauvinistic in its denominational ties.
In response, the China Inland Mission was built on a very different set of principles. They decided to be non-denominational in make up. They remained true to this commitment and missionaries represented a large number of Protestant denominations and came from several different countries.
The second principle had to do with funding. Instead of broken promises, they made none. Missionaries were not guaranteed an income and the ministry would not go into debt. Instead, they decided to depend entirely on God. The organization did no personal solicitation or collects. They relied entirely on free-will offerings.
In less then a year they had accepted 24 missionaries and had the funding they needed to return to China.
Taylor’s ministry raised many eyebrows back at home.
“Let us in everything not sinful become like the Chinese, that by all means we may save some.”
All the missionaries now assumed Chinese dress and culture while other ministries made a point to preserve their British ways. It was seen as somewhat scandalous that women as well as men adopted Chinese attire, but Taylor didn’t stop there. He allowed single women to lead ministry teams.
China limited foreign access to just a few port cities, but that was too limiting. Taylor and his teams moved inland. Because of the respect for the Chinese people and medical skill they brought, they were not harassed.
“China is not to be won for Christ by quiet, ease-loving men and women… The stamp of men and women we need is such as will put Jesus, China, [and] souls first and at every time—even life itself must be secondary.”
The ministry was costly. Over the years, Taylor lost a wife and four children in China. 56 missionaries were killed during the Boxer Rebellion. In 1949 all the missionaries were forced out by the Communist takeover. But the China Inland Mission still exists as the Overseas Missionary Fellowship and some of J. Hudson Taylor’s descendants minister in China today.
Taylor died on June 3, 1905. There was a marker erected in his honor, but that would have meant little to him. What mattered more were the thousands of Chinese he was able to reach with the gospel and the multitude whose lives have been transformed since.