Hudson Taylor

Hudson Taylor was a pioneer missionary in China. Born in 1832 and died in 1905 in his adopted homeland. During his 51 years of service, his China Inland Mission established 20 mission stations, brought 849 missionaries to the field, trained some 700 Chinese workers, raised four million dollars by faith following George Mueller’s example, and developed a witnessing Chinese church of 125,000. It has been said that at least 35,000 were his own converts and that he baptized some 50,000. His gift for inspiring people to give themselves to Christ wholeheartedly was amazing. Hudson Taylor is indeed the father of the modern Chinese church. This is the story of the missionary journey of Hudson Taylor as only he could tell it. You are holding in your hands a piece of history. It is the story of a people and a place when the gospel first began to take hold. As such it is an instructive historical narrative, yet it is much more. This story holds keys to the heart of a people. It holds keys for us today to the minds and hearts of China. Not knowing he had only three months to live, Hudson Taylor left for China one last time...his 11th trip there, leaving in February, 1905, and arriving in March. He went alone as his beloved second wife had passed on the year before. At the end, he had retired to his home in Changsha, the capital of Hunan. His daughter-in-law, Mrs. Howard Taylor, visited him as he was busy going over his homeland letters. One gasp and he was gone. Christians carried his body to Chinkiang where he was buried with his first wife Maria at the foot of green hills near the Yangtze River.