china – Page 2

Griffith John Impacts Central China

December 14, 2008 by Chris Field Leave a Comment

Griffith John was born in Swansea, Wales on December 14, 1831. His mother died when he was eight months old.

At the age of eight he was admitted to the membership of the Congregationalist Ebenezer Chapel, and by the age of 16 he was known as “the boy preacher”, having first preached at a prayer meeting at age 14, then regularly preaching from age 16.

With a desire to serve the Lord in Madagascar he applied to the London Missionary Society in 1850, and they accepted him – for China!

He was ordained in 1855. That same year he married the daughter of a missionary, Jane Griffith. The couple arrived in Shanghai in September 1855 and from 1861 made their permanent base in Hankow, central China. It was here that John established his reputation as author and translator and as a powerful preacher. He set up schools, hospitals and training colleges. Griffith John’s missionary work in China lasted for 57 years.

He founded the Religious Tract Society in Hankow, and literally millions of copies of the Scriptures were distributed during his lifetime. He was a prolific author and pamphleteer.

“The first Protestant convert in central China was baptized at Hankow in March, 1862” (Griffith John, by C. Irwin, page 19). By 1905 the church membership in that city had grown to 6,500.

Griffith John established a medical work, itinerated thousands of miles to other towns and villages, and translated the New Testament and parts of the Old Testament Scriptures into Mandarin and Wenli.

Many a time he faced bitter opposition, not only from rebel Chinese – “kill the foreign devil!” – but also from the “Times” newspaper in England, which accused missionaries of “provoking the men of this world”. This outburst even led to a Member of Parliament condemning missionary activity, and the London Missionary Society instructed Griffith John to withdraw from central China to one of the ‘treaty ports’, where churches were already established. “Griffith John protested so vigorously the LMS Directors cancelled their instructions!” (page 24).

John also found opposition for his Mandarin Bible, by the man who helped create the Peking Bible. He attacked John’s facility with Greek and Hebrew, but lost out to the intentions of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Peking Bible had been a collaboration of American and British translators, but since its time the two nations had become competitive in their endeavours, rather than cooperative.

After the death of his first wife, Jane, in 1873, Mr John married the widow of Dr Jenkins in 1874.

With his colleagues he established over 100 mission stations in Hupeh and Hunan. He acquired an intimate knowledge of the Chinese language and literature.

Not only did the Chinese Government hold him in high honour, but the Congregational Union of England and Wales elected him as Chairman in 1888, and the University of Edinburgh conferred upon him a DD degree (1889) in recognition of his work in China. A “Griffith John College” was also established in the Yangtsze valley, for native preachers.

In 1911 his health finally gave way at it was in Swansea, Wales, where he had come to know the Lord as his Saviour that he was laid to rest. He passed into his Saviour’s presence on 25 July, 1912.

This post is based on notes by my late friend Donald Prout. I have updated these historical posts with information gleaned from other sources. I am indebted to Don for awakening in me an interest in Church History. Don’s notes can be found at: www.donaldprout.com

John and Betty Stam Martyred in China

October 25, 2008 by Chris Field Leave a Comment

This is the day that John and Betty Stam married, in 1933.

John Stam was born in 1907 in Paterson, NJ, and Betty (Scott) Stam was born in 1906 in Albion, MI. They met during their years at Moody Bible Institute where both felt a call to China. Both decided to go under the auspices of the China Inland Mission.

Betty had graduated a year earlier than John and sailed for that distant land in the autumn of 1931. The following year John completed his studies and sailed for China, but was stationed in a different region to Betty.

They met again … and were united in marriage just over a year later.

Baby Helen Priscilla was born in a Methodist hospital in Wuhu in September 1934 at a time when the civil war between government forces and the communist Red Army had already begun.

In November the Stams returned to the remote brick-walled village of Tsingteh, in South Anhwei, where they had set up a small shopfront house as their preaching chapel. Tsingteh was accessible to the outside world only by stone paths cut through the mountains.

John proved to be an able linguist, not only learning the language but being able to reproach conference messages he had heard, in Chinese.

In early December rumours ran rife that communist rebels were in the area. The village leaders hastily fled, fearing for their lives. The Stams were unsure what to do or even if the rumours were true.

The bandits entered the village through the unguarded East Gate and then beat down the door to the Stam’s home. John urged the invaders to sit at the table while he served them tea.

The couple were ordered to leave and then paraded down the street in their underwear, with Betty holding baby Helen. They journeyed for 12 miles and were then locked in a mud hut overnight. A ransom of $20,000 was demanded – to no avail.

Overnight John wrote a letter to the CIM leaders. “My wife, baby and myself are today in the hands of communist bandits. Whether we will be released or not noone knows. May God be magnified in our bodies, whether by life or by death. Philippians 1:20″

Betty fed and wrapped her baby, putting money and food into her blanket, then hid the child in a pile of heavy winter bedding. On 6 (or 8?) December, 1934, they were beheaded.

A courageous Christian, Mr Lo, followed the trail, once he thought it was safe to do so, and found the Stam’s bodies. He did not know what had become of the baby but found her quite by accident. The baby had slept without a cry for 27 hours, saving it from death.

All that remained of this heroic couple was laid to rest by faithful Chinese believers, who also cared for baby Helen Priscilla until she could be returned to the United States.

This post is based on the work of my late friend Donald Prout whose love for books and Christian history led him to collate a daily Christian calendar. I continue to work with Don’s wife, Barbara, to share his life work with the world. I have updated some of these historical posts and will hopefully draw from Don’s huge files of clippings to continue this series beyond Don’s original work. More of Don’s work can be found at www.donaldprout.com. I am indebted to Don for awakening in me an interest in Church History, which I previously considered to be a little stuffy and of little practical value. I find in the process of updating Don’s Christian Diary that I am being constantly refreshed, illuminated or challenged by the lives of those who have gone before.

Women Impacting China

June 11, 2008 by Chris Field Leave a Comment

This is the day that … Miss Mildred Cable, and two sisters, Misses Evangeline and Francesca French, set out from Suchow, China, to cross the Gobi desert! They would push westward through Mongolia, Chinese Turkistan and Siberia.

Four months later, on 12 October, 1926, these three middle-aged women arrived in London. They had travelled over 6000 miles on a route almost unknown to civilization (God’s Adventurers, by M. Tiltman, page 31).

During the previous 20 years these remarkable missionaries had lived in wayside inns and peasant’s dwellings, everywhere presenting the gospel to Tibetans, Mongols and Chinese.

And more than once they faced incredible danger… like the time they were captured by a brigand chief! (Three Women, by W.J. Platt.)

Ruth Tucker writes, “It was through the amazing pioneer work of these three single women that the Great Northwest (of China) was initially opened to the Gospel. They did not found churches or theological learning centres, they simply obeyed the command to take the Gospel to every creature” (Guardians of the Great Commission, page 88).

These and many other women were prepared for missionary endeavour by a faith-filled woman of God in England, Henrietta Soltau. Her role as part of the China Inland Mission was to determine the suitability of women who sought to go into missions. In thirty years Miss Soltau prepared 547 women for ministry and rejected as many.

In 1934 Mildred and Francesca wrote a book about Henrietta, which they titled, ‘A Woman Who Laughed: Henrietta Soltau Who Laughed At Impossibilities And Cried: “It Shall Be Done”’. Their book says of Soltau, “There is one unforgettable image of Miss Soltau and the dingy Liverpool Street station saying Good-bye to a part of timid Swedish and English women. She is of heroic type with a magnificent soprano voice, singing above the clatter, “Stayed Upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest”.”

These three brave women became famous for their travels and their writings.

This post is based on the work of my late friend Donald Prout whose love for books and Christian history led him to collate a daily Christian calendar. I continue to work with Don’s wife, Barbara, to share his life work with the world. I have updated some of these historical posts and will hopefully draw from Don’s huge files of clippings to continue this series beyond Don’s original work. More of Don’s work can be found at www.donaldprout.com.

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