Country served: China Dates: 1832 - 1914 Famous Quote: “ A million a month dying without Christ.” Major Influence: Believed in immersion into the culture by taking on native dress and living as the national. One of the first missionaries to have long range plans of reaching China with Chinese. Short Story: In 1832 a young man was born who would have a great influence in missions. His name was Hudson Taylor. Hudson Taylor received Christ as his Savior as a young man at the age of 17 years old. When he was just a young 21 years of age he traveled to China as a missionary, leaving behind a young lady who did not share a love for missions. At the time of Taylor’s ministry there was approximately 400,000,000 people. Hudson Taylor had plans to reach each and every one of them. His thinking was one of figuring out a systematic way of reaching China. During his years with China Inland Missions he had over 800 missionaries surrender to go to the foreign field. Taylor is also known for adapting to the culture of the Chinese. At the time many people disagreed with what he was doing and did. He immersed himself in the culture so that he might reach the country. He dressed in the Chinese dress and even had a shaved head and pigtail. Taylor’s plan was to train 1000 evangelists and train them and send them out to reach 250 souls per day. At that rate he could reach China in 3 years. He never met his goal but he eventually had 640 missionaries with the China Inland Mission working in China. Now someone said concerning reaching China, “If nobody died and no one was born, it would take 2000 years of Pentecost’s to reach China.” China Inland Mission became the worlds largest mission board. In 1934 it boasted some 1,368 missionaries. In 1964 it changed its name to Overseas Missionary Fellowship. Written and Prepared by Jon Allinson 2001
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