A Changing of the Guard
Opening day of a new church at Zhengxian in 1918.
The 1910s was a decade of transition for Christians in Zhejiang. Church leadership in the province continued to shift away from being in the hands of foreign missionaries to native pastors and elders. While in some denominations and mission groups the transition proved painful, others, like the CIM, were able to adapt more easily because of the influence of their leaders.
Hudson Taylor, the founder of the CIM, had always recognized that the key for future expansion of the kingdom of God in China lay with local believers. He once wrote: "I look upon foreign missionaries as the scaffolding around a rising building. The sooner it can be dispensed with, the better; or rather, the sooner it can be transferred to other places, to serve the same temporary use, the better." 1
Many of the missionaries in Zhejiang had given decades of sterling service to the Lord and His people, but the outbreak of the First World War devastated the financial resources of all groups. Donations dried up as Christians in the home countries focused on survival, and many of God's servants on the other side of the world struggled to get by. Hundreds were forced to leave China and return home.
Students at a women's Bible school near Wenzhou in 1912.
Fresh Impetus
The 1920s began with fresh impetus for the churches of Zhejiang. Growth had been steady in the previous two decades, and although many millions of people throughout the province had yet to hear the gospel, the new decade saw renewed efforts to reach the lost for Christ. In 1922, a missionary based at Xingu reported: "Upwards of 2,000 villages have been visited in our evangelistic efforts throughout the year, not to count the many homes in this city that have been left with a word for the Lord.... Gospels and literature have been sold and distributed to the number of some thousands." 2
Statistics of the number of Christians in Zhejiang at this time were sketchy at best, although a 1904 survey of Evangelicals in the province had shown a total of 12,367 Evangelical believers. 3
No more surveys were conducted until 1922, when The Christian Occupation of China revealed that the Evangelical enterprise in Zhejiang had nearly quadrupled in size to 48,079 believers. 4
Footnotes:
1. George Sweeting, More than 2000 Great Quotes and Illustrations (Waco, TX: Word Publishing, 1985) p. 184.
2. Mr. McGhee, "Think on These Things," China's Millions (September 1922), p. 140.
3. Harlan P. Beach, "Recent Statistics of Missions in China," China's Millions (November 1905), p. 139.
4. Milton T. Stauffer (ed.), The Christian Occupation of China (Shanghai: China Continuation Committee, 1922), p. 54.
© This article is an extract from Paul Hattaway's book 'Zhejiang: The Jerusalem of China'. You can order this or any of The China Chronicles books and e-books from our online bookstore.