Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Speaker 1

This is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada sharing hope with a story from Joni about a hero of the faith.

Speaker 2

If you know anything about the history of global missions, I'm sure you know the name of Hudson Taylor. Even before he was born, his parents were fascinated with the Far East. So much so that they prayed that their newborn son would serve the Lord in China. And indeed, this passion for the east caught on as Hudson grew. Prior to becoming a missionary to China, Hudson Taylor prepared by studying Mandarin, learning the rudiments of medicine, and immersing himself in prayer and scripture.

In the mid-1800s, Hudson became one of the few dozen missionaries stationed in China. But he was very different from others who were serving there. He dressed in Chinese clothes and even grew a pigtail, as Chinese men did back then. Hudson Taylor, for his part, was not happy with most missionaries he saw. He believed they were worldly and spent too much time with English businessmen and diplomats who needed their services as translators. Instead, Hudson Taylor wanted the Christian faith taken to the interior of China.

So within months of arriving and the Chinese language still a challenge, Taylor set off for the interior, setting sail down the Huangpu river, distributing Chinese tracts. Eventually, he established a church in the town of Ningpu and continued to practice medicine there, sometimes seeing over 200 patients a day. He was a driven man, and years later, he contracted hepatitis and had to return to England to recover. But even back in England, while he was still battling this disease, Hudson continued translating the Bible into Chinese.

He was dismayed by the apathy of the English people all around him toward the millions in China who were unsaved. He once said, "Can all the Christians in England sit still with folded arms while these multitudes in China are perishing?" Thankfully, Hudson Taylor was able to return to China, where he established the China Inland Mission. He had a policy that CIM missionaries should not solicit funds. Yet despite that restriction, the China Inland Mission grew and prospered between his work ethic and his absolute trust in God.

He inspired thousands to forsake the comforts of the west to bring the Christian message to the vast and unknown interior of China. And even after he died in 1905, the China Inland Mission continued to reach far and wide into that nation. Decades later, after World War II, mission work in China had to be interrupted by the Communist takeover in 1949. But the CIM continues to this day under the name of Overseas Missionary Fellowship International.

You know, looking back over Hudson Taylor's life, I am so grateful for the seeds of the gospel that he planted. Because now, when our Wheels for the World outreach teams distribute wheelchairs and Bibles in China, we see such a hunger, such a thirst for the word of God. I mean, so many people want to open up their hearts to Christ. We see the same thing when we hold retreats for special needs families in China. People hungry, thirsty for God's Word and His Gospel.

And as they come, I cannot help but think of the soil which Hudson Taylor furrowed and watered with his prayers and nurtured. Truly, the gospel right now is enjoying much success in this day and age in China because God used one man and a single mission organization to pave the way. And it's why, when we travel to China to reach the disabled for Christ, I thank God that the prayers of Hudson Taylor are still having repercussions across that great nation far and wide.