Meeting descendents of Hudson Taylor’s converts
Ten years ago one of teams went on a mission trip to a town in the mountains of China. One of our team members, Deborah White, reported: After we checked into the hotel we started out on our walk. As we walked by a group of new homes, I noticed a little older lady on the front porch of an unfinished home doing dishes and turned to wave to her. What a surprise! She jumped up and began frantically waving at me and beckoning us to come. I hollered at the others and we all turned around and walked over to the house.It turned out that this lady and her family are Christians and belong to a very large underground church. When she saw us, her spirit testified that we were Christians and she was so excited that the Lord would send us from so far to encourage them. We spent a good bit of time with them.Late that afternoon, while we were sleeping we got a knock on the door and THERE THEY WERE!!! The old lady had brought her whole family including her brother. They brought a lot of pictures of the church family and we found out they are 4th generation Christians – back to Hudson Taylor.The lady and her brother looked to be in their 70’s or 80’s. They had handwritten in Chinese a couple of banners for us to have. One said, ‘Hallelujah’ the other loosely translated said ‘Christ makes us one.’You could see the joy of the Lord on their faces and the love of Christ for us. They were so happy to meet us and kept telling us so and holding our hands and hugging.
You read about Hudson Taylor in history books. He was an innovative missionary pioneer who left his home in England forever. Once in China, he took on the customs and language of the people.
Some estimates place the number of Chinese Christians at 100 million, many of them like this family, traceable to Taylor’s ministry.
The long-term fruit of his life makes me think deeply about what I’m living for. Is what you and I are living for worth what Christ died for? Put another way, what will the fruit of your life and ministry be four generations from now?
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Bless you all with the JOY and PEACE of the Lord this year as never before. Let God fight for you…He wins.
Thanks Seth for this question…something worth pondering about as 2010 fades away into History.
With lots of Love from here.
Sola.
Hudson Taylor’s great great grandson or something around that line has spoken at my church’s mission conference.
Thank you, Seth. My quiet time today had disintegrated to “name that distraction.” The image of an elderly far off woman and her family so excited about God sending missionaries to bless her makes me eager to dive in again. Perhaps the distraction was part of the plan so this story would encourage and sharpen focus with urgency. Anyhoo, thank you, as always.
Still praying about your trip to Spain. Can’t wait to hear what you will unwrap once you get there.
a.
Wow what an inspiring post! In so many ways I am constantly striving to focus on having an eternal perspective in how I live out my life on a daily basis. Your challenge to think through what life will look like four generations from now gives me a goal that is eternal in nature, but is also a snapshot of time that I can get my head around.
My wife and I LOVE what you are doing at AIM. Our two boys (18 and 19) are committed and called to missions and we are excited about introducing them to your real life program.
Keep up the great work. Your eternal family tree will have many branches, with lots of fruit. What an inspiration.
Thanks again,
Steve Hooper