The Student Mission story is always unfolding. With every new story of salvation and answered prayer, there is another story of someone committing to pray to see a move of God in the student generation. Some of these stories are hundreds of years old, with people whose names we may not know, making a huge impact on the student mission narrative we are a part of today. To highlight the story you're a part of, we're sharing some stories from years before. Check out this one below.
Born to a Methodist couple in 1832 in Barnsley, Hudson Taylor would continue the student mission legacy of those before him. His parents were fascinated with East Asia, and prayed for Hudson: ‘Grant that he may work for you [Lord] in China.’ He experienced a spiritual awakening as a teenager during a time of prayer and reading an evangelistic pamphlet entitled ‘Poor Richard.’ As he later put, he lay stretched before God ‘with unspeakable awe and unspeakable joy.’ He then spent the next few years learning about China and Mandarin, and began studying medicine. However, still a student, he left for Shanghai in 1853 before completing his studies.
He went to the interior of China where most people lived and had never heard the Gospel. To show respect to Chinese culture, he grew a pigtail and wore traditional Chinese clothes. Decisions such as these meant he was ostracised by other missionaries. Amid much opposition, he ultimately founded the China Inland Mission (CIM) in 1865, and started to recruit students from England and other countries to come help him reach the Chinese. In 1876, CIM made up one-fifth of the missionaries in China. Before the missionaries were forced out following the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949, CIM (now OMF International) had sent almost six thousand missionaries into China’s interior and seen tens of thousands of conversions, with hundreds of schools and social action projects started. They were among the first missionaries to live by faith and raise their full salary.
Taylor faced many battles in his life. He at times suffered from hepatitis and depression, saw his wife die as well as four of his eight children before the age of ten. During the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), which targeted Christians and foreigners, CIM lost more missionaries than any other agency. Despite these trials and tribulations, Taylor fully trusted in God and asked Him for great things, and God provided for him in ways he never expected.
