Hudson Taylor
He was born in 1832 in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England. At the ripe old age of 17, Hudson was driven to dedicate his life to studying Medicine, Mandarin Chinese, Greek, Hebrew and the Bible in preparation to live out his life in China.
In 1853, at the age of 21, he sailed alone to China, and the next year, barely alive, arrived in Shanghai. With a harsh life of disease, lonliness and massacres, what set him apart was his decision to live “as the Chinese lived”. He dressed and ate like, followed the customs of, did his hair weird and spoke Mandarin, like the Chinese. The western missionaries criticized him, but the Chinese began to trust him.
His desire to transform China started when he was 17. He was raised in church, but didn’t care much for his parents’ religion, until one day, after reading a leaflet in his father’s pharmacy about how much God loved him and wanted him in Heaven with him, that changed it all. When he learned that Jesus died for his sins, was buried and after 3 days, was raised from the dead, that changed his heart completely.
When he finally deeply believed that it was true, he felt fulfillment and hope and purpose like he had never felt before and then handed the reigns of his life over to God. That’s when he sensed God saying to him, “Go for Me to China.” Little did he know, before he was even born, his parents asked God to send him as a missionary to China. That prayer shaped his entire life.
In 1858, Taylor married Maria Dyer, the daughter of missionaries in China, and they had 8 kids. Several of whom died from disease.
In 1860, the family returned to England to recoup from a major illness and that was when Hudson Taylor published a Chinese New Testament translation.
In 1865, the Taylors returned again to England to recover from another serious illness and Hudson didn’t waste that time just laying around healing. He founded China Inland Missions (CIM), now called OMF International, and wrote the book China’s Spiritual Need and Claims.
His guiding principle was “to move men, through God, by prayer alone.” After publishing that book, he put out a call for others to join him in going deep into inland China to tell the good message of what Jesus did for us (the gospel), to the millions who had never heard the greatest story ever told. He prayed for laborers and God sent them by the hundreds.
In 1870, Hudson Taylor’s wife, Maria, died and in 1905, Hudson Taylor finally left the land of the dying to enter the land of the living. He was buried in Zhenjiang beside Maria.
After 50 years of persevering in China, there were over 800 missionaries, 300 mission stations, at least 125,000 Chinese Christians and hundreds of Chinese pastors spreading the good message about what Jesus did across every province of China. And it only grew from there. Hudson Taylor’s faith, courage, and cultural humility inspired generations of missionaries like those at Overland Missions, Frontier and others and reshaped the face of global missions forever.
He famously said, “There are three stages in every great work of God: first it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.” He also said, “The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.”
Like George Mueller before him, he was defined by his faith and refused to ask for money and so relied on prayer only. He famously said, “God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.”
He is a great example for all of us to evaluate our own lives by. Do you desire to be a man or woman used by God like Hudson Taylor? Have you handed the reigns of your life completely over to God or do you still have a few fingers on the reign?
Here’s a suggestion for you. Just ask God this. “God, would you help me to hand the reigns of my life over? Would you give me a humble heart for the lost and hurting?” It’s that easy to start.