One of my favorite books is Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret. Last week we took a brief look at the great missionary William Carey – this week we’ll briefly look at another great missionary: Hudson Taylor.

        J. Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) was an English missionary to China. He founded the China Inland Mission which at his death (1905) included 205 mission stations with over 800 missionaries, and 125,000 Chinese Christians. As a young man his heart had burned for many years to carry the gospel to China. Through weary struggles, through bouts of depression, through storm and danger of shipwreck, through heart-wrenching separation from his family, in isolation from other Englishmen, in hours of intense prayer, he had persevered to go there and when he stepped onto Chinese soil in Shanghai on March 1, 1854 (at the age of 22) he wrote: “My feelings on stepping ashore I cannot attempt to describe. My heart felt as though it had not room and must burst its bonds, while tears of gratitude and thankfulness fell from my eyes.” When he arrived he didn’t know anyone or where he should go – although he did have a letter to a missionary already established on Chinese soil. But Hudson had learned much about trusting the Lord, and somehow, the Lord led him through the unfamiliar oriental streets to a mission compound where he was kindly received.

        Initially nothing worked out according to his expectations and his first 6 months in China were dreary and lonely. Civil war began the week he arrived and rival gangs slaughtered people right before his horrified eyes. He flung himself into language learning, learned it, and also made up his mind to adopt native dress because he felt the Chinese had little to do with Christianity because they hated foreign ways. In time his methods proved successful and it wasn’t long before he broke away from his English board and founded the China Inland Mission – a mission based wholly on faith. He did not tell anyone of his financial needs, trusting that the Lord would provide whatever was needed. He prayed specifically for his needs and for more missionaries. One year he prayed for 70 missionaries. The Lord sent 76. Another year he asked for 100 and got 102. The Lord also provided their passage money.

        Hudson married Maria Dyer, who died tragically young. Nearing death, she kissed Hudson again and again, for each of their 8 children. She had been a true support to him and Hudson was left to carry on without her. Chinese Christianity grew slowly. For many years the number of Protestants hung at barely a million. However, under savage persecutions, Christianity flourished. Today the Chinese church is thought by some analysts to be the fastest growing in the world – although the majority of it is an “underground” church out of fear of the government. Chinese Christians owe their first contact with the Gospel to the evangelism of men such as Hudson Taylor. When he stepped in faith onto Shanghai’s soil, he became one of the greatest missionaries the world has known.

        Pastor John