HUDSON TAYLOR
Born May 21, 1832, in
Barnsley
At the age of 17, he was
dramatically converted
Sailed for China with the
Chinese Evangelistic Society
September 19, 1853 at the
age of 21
HUDSON TAYLOR
Landed in Shanghai March 1, 1854
Taylor: “Depend upon it, GOD’S work done in GOD’S way will never lack GOD’S supplies.”
Philippians 4:19: “My
God will supply every
need of yours
according to his
riches in glory
in Christ Jesus.”
HUDSON TAYLOR
On January 20, 1858, when he had been in China
almost five years he married another missionary
Maria Dyer
July of 1860, Hudson and Maria sailed for
England. He was seriously ill with hepatitis
He longed to go back with a new missions
agency
HUDSON TAYLOR The moment came on Lord’s day in June, 1865 on the Brighton
beach in, England:
“On Sunday, June 25th, 1865, unable to bear the sight of a
congregation of a thousand or more Christian people rejoicing in their
own security, while millions were perishing for lack of knowledge, I
wandered out on the sands alone, in great spiritual agony; and there
the LORD conquered my unbelief, and I surrendered myself to GOD
for this service. I told Him that all the responsibility as to issues and
consequences must rest with Him; that as His servant, it was mine to
obey and to follow Him — His, to direct, to care for, and to guide me
and those who might labour with me. Need I say that peace at once
flowed into my burdened heart? There and then I asked Him for
twenty-four fellow-workers, two for each of eleven inland provinces
which were without a missionary, and two for Mongolia; and writing
the petition on the margin of the Bible I had with me, I returned home
with a heart enjoying rest such as it had been a stranger to for
months.”
HUDSON TAYLOR
On May 26, the following year (1566) Hudson and
Maria and their children sailed with the largest group
of missionaries that had ever sailed to China at the
time— sixteen besides themselves.
The year 1870, was the most difficult of his life
HUDSON TAYLOR
In his lifetime, Hudson Taylor made ten voyages to
China
February of 1905, Hudson Taylor sailed for China for
the last time. He died June 3 at Changsha, Hunan, at
the age of 73.
HUDSON TAYLOR
At the time of Hudson Taylor’s death, the China Inland Mission was an international body with 825 missionaries
Today about 1,600 missionaries work for what is now known as OMF international
The Mission Statement is: “To Glorify God by the urgent evangelization of East Asia’s Millions.”
The Vision Statement is: “Through God's grace, we aim to see an indigenous, biblical church movement in each people group of East Asia, evangelizing their own people and reaching out in mission to other peoples.”
HUDSON TAYLOR
2015, will mark the 150th anniversary of the
mission that Hudson Taylor founded.
In 1900, there were 100,000 Christians in
China, and today there are some estimates
around 150,000,000
WHY STUDY CHRISTIANITY IN ASIA?
Studying Christianity in Asia allows us to watch the promise of the Great Commission unfold.
Matthew 28:18: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”
Hudson Taylor said, “The Great commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.”
Matthew 24:14: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
WHY STUDY CHRISTIANITY IN ASIA?
Studying Christianity in Asia reminds us of why we must give and why we must go.
Matthew 9:37-38: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
The story of Lottie Moon: spent 1873-1912 in China
WHY STUDY CHRISTIANITY IN ASIA?
Studying Christianity in Asia shows us the changing tide of Christianity in the world.
D.A. Carson (writing in the year 2006): “The triumphant spread and growth of Christianity during the past twenty centuries, especially during the past two centuries, are nothing short of astonishing. Indeed, the figures for the last few decades take one's breath away. China had just over a million Protestants in 1949 when the Communists took over; today, there are perhaps 80 to 90 million. The number of Christians in Asia rose from 22 million in 1990 to over three hundred million in 2000. In the late 1970s there were only two thousand Christians in Cambodia; today, there are about one hundred fifty thousand. At one time, Mongolia was considered one of the most closed countries in the world: in 1989, there were only four known Christians. Today, there are about twenty thousand, worshiping in about six hundred churches and house churches. In 1959, there were only twenty-nine known Christians in Nepal; today there are about half a million. Korea has now sent out between twelve and fifteen thousand missionaries.”
WHY STUDY CHRISTIANITY IN ASIA?
Studying Christianity in Asia reminds us of the breadth and beauty of the family of God
John Piper: “The beauty and power of praise that will come to the Lord from diversity of the nations are greater than the beauty and power that would come to him if the chorus of the redeemed were culturally uniform. The reason for this can be seen in the analogy of a choir. More depth of beauty is felt from a choir that sings in parts than from a choir that sings only in unison. Unity in diversity is more beautiful and more powerful than the unity of uniformity.”
WHY STUDY CHRISTIANITY IN ASIA?
Studying Christianity in Asia demonstrates God’s sovereignty in evangelism.
Piper writes in a section entitled Victory from Inside the Tomb: “It will often look as though Christ is defeated. That’s the way it looked on Good Friday. But in all he was in control. So it will always be. If China was closed for forty years to the Western missionaries, it was not as though Jesus accidentally slipped and fell into the tomb. He stepped in. And when it was sealed over, he saved fifty million Chinese from inside—without Western missionaries. And when it was time, he pushed the stone away so we could see what he had done.”
WHY STUDY CHRISTIANITY IN ASIA?
Studying Christianity in Asia demonstrates God’s sovereignty in evangelism.
Johnstone and Mandryk in Operation World:“The survival and reviving of the Church in China was one of the decisive events of the 20th century. The growth of the Church in China since 1977 has no parallels in history. The atheist rulers of China became unwitting instruments in the hand of our Sovereign God to prepare the way for this growth. Mao Zedong unwittingly became the greatest evangelist in history…[He] sought to destroy all religious ‘superstition’ but in the process cleared spiritual roadblocks for the advancement of Christianity. Deng [Xiaoping] reversed the horrors inflicted by Mao and in freeing up the economy, gave more freedom to the Christians…[Today] the Church of the Lord Jesus is larger than the Communist Party of China.”
WHY STUDY CHRISTIANITY IN ASIA?
Studying Christianity in Asia displays Christ’s reward for His suffering. In Isaiah 53:11, God promised to the Son, “As a result
of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied
In Psalm 2:8, God the Father promises God the Son, “Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.”
Revelation 5:9: “Worthy art Thou to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”
CHINA
David Adeney:
One billion people live in China.
Out of all living persons one in four is Chinese.
Of every three non-Christians in the world, one is Chinese.
CHINA Number of People Groups
548
People Groups Unreached
455
Total Population
1,371,453,000
Unreached Population
184,640,000
% Christian Adherent
7.8%
% Evangelical
6.3 %
Largest Religion
Non-Religious(44.8%)
Official Language
Chinese, Mandarin
10/40 Window
Yes
CHINA
Johnstone and Mandryk, Operation World: “Elimination of all religious groups has always been the ultimate aim of the Marxist government. In the 1950s the government engineered the infiltration, subversion and control of all organized Christianity. By 1958 this had been achieved through the Three Self Patriotic Movement among Protestants. During the Cultural Revolution even these puppet structures were banned and all religious activity forced underground giving birth to the house church movement. In 1978 restrictions were eased and the TSPM resurrected as a means of regaining governmental control of the thousands of house churches. This has been only partially successful. The collapse of Communism in Europe is perceived as due to religion, so strict controls are maintained over Christian and Muslim organizations and all unregistered activity repressed wherever possible.”
CHINA AND THE OLD TESTAMENT
Some historians & theologians believe the land of Sinim to be in reference to China.
“I will make all My mountains a road, and My highways will be raised up. Behold, these will come from afar; and lo, these will come from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.” – Isaiah 49:10 (NASB)
Historians believe China, or Sinim, to be the exclusive source of silk in the ancient world.
Ezekiel makes mention of silk in Ezekiel 16:10 and 13
CHINA AND THE OLD TESTAMENT
Specific Chinese characters could have derived its
individual parts from stories in the Old Testament
CHINA AND THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Silk Road
no records of Christian missionaries using the Old Silk Road to come to china prior to the 7th century
it was the Buddhist missionaries from India who used it first
Christianity would not arrive officially in China until the 7th century.
Cave Drawing Depicting the
Silk Road as early as 128 B.C.
THEORIES OF AN EARLY GOSPEL PRESENCE IN CHINA
FuaSen Yang (Chinese Church History
published in Taiwan, 1984): both Chinese and
foreign traditions suggest the presence of the
gospel in China long before Christianity’s
official debut in 7th century Tang Dynasty
THEORIES OF AN EARLY GOSPEL PRESENCE IN CHINA
The Apostle Thomas
Thomas and his disciples went to India and
continued the gospel commission from South
Asia into China.
THEORIES OF AN EARLY GOSPEL PRESENCE IN CHINA
“According to tradition, when Paul preached the gospel westward, Thomas came to the East. First Thomas proclaimed the gospel along the eastern coastline near what is now Madras, then he moved to Malabar on the west coast. Thereafter, Thomas ventured eastward with the gospel until he reached China… when he returned to India again to preach the gospel on a mountain near Madras, Thomas was attached by unbelievers under the influence of Brahmin adherents. They threw stones at him, stabbed him with the sword, and buried his body inside the city. This happened in the year of our Lord in 68. Afterwards, his body was moved to Edessa. There are many other traditions that validate parts of the story above”
THEORIES OF AN EARLY GOSPEL PRESENCE IN CHINA
Apostle Bartholomew
Indian tradition says that at the same Paul
ministered in Asia Minor, Thomas and
Bartholomew brought the gospel to the East.
Thomas arrived in India; Bartholomew went to
China.
THEORIES OF AN EARLY GOSPEL PRESENCE IN CHINA
Persecuted Christians—Emperor Nero’s
persecution of Christians began in 65 A.D.,
Christians fled Jerusalem and arrived in China
Syrian Missionaries – During the time of the
Eastern Han Dynasty (25~220 A.D.), two Syrian
missionaries
THEORIES OF AN EARLY GOSPEL PRESENCE IN CHINA
Large Iron Cross – A large iron cross was recovered in the late 1300s with an imperial date inscription of the mid 3rd century. Also inscribed on the cross was a couplet of Chinese poetry which referenced “a cross which embosomed the masses with great grace.”
Seleucia Diocese –between 411~415 A.D., the bishop of Seleucia included both China and India in the districting of Dioceses
THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF THE EAST
Atiya, A History of Eastern Christianity: “It is no
exaggeration to contend that, in the early
Middle Ages the Nestorian CIhurch was the
most widespread in the whole world. The
staggering rapidity of tthe rise of the Nestorians
in Asia is equaled only by the rapid decline of
their influence in the later Middle Ages. Their
world was drowned in a surging sea of Islam…”
THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF THE EAST
Nestorius was originally a
monk of Antioch and
student of Theodore of
Mopsuestia.
Took Office as Bishop of
Constantinople in 428
A.D.
THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF THE EAST
The theotokos Controversy – Nestorius was
against calling Mary the theotokos, “the mother
of God” and vehemently refuted such a title.
Nestorious began to argue against the widely
popular title Theotokos (bearer of God) for the
Virgin Mary, reasoning that Christotokos (bearer
of Christ)
THE POSITIONS
Theotokos - Mary bore God.
Anthropotokos - Mary bore man (Jesus). The idea that Mary gave birth to a man whom the logos began to dwell in after His baptism.
Christotokos - Mary bore Christ. The idea that Mary gave birth to Christ who was both God and man.
THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF THE EAST
Cyril of Alexandria accused Nestorius of heresy,
dividing Christ’s humanity and divinity into two
separate persons
As a result, Nestorius was declared a heretic by the
synods of Alexandria, Rome, and Jerusalem in 430
A.D.
THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF THE EAST
The Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.)
Cyril of Alexandria arrived early with 16 bishops at the council and began the council with the absence of John of Antioch and Nestorius.
In his absence from the Council, Nestorius was condemned, excommunicated and deposed.
Theodosius II –exiled Nestorius
Nestorius died at the eve of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D.
THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF THE EAST
Second Council of Ephesus (449 A.D.), emperor Zeno ordered
the expulsion of all Nestorians from the Roman Empire
THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF THE EAST
Was Nestorius really a heretic? “Some were of the opinion that the patriarch of
Constantinople, Nestorius, supported the doctrine of two sons, two persons, that is, two subjects. Christ is both fully God and fully man, united only morally but not ontologically. According to the position of currently available sources, one can conclude that Nestorius did not support this doctrine, that Nestorius was himself no ‘Nestorian’.” Baum and Winkler, The Church of the East: A Concise History, 4
“Judged by his own words at last (referring to the discovery of the Bazaar of Heracleides), Nestorius is revealed as not so much “Nestorian” and more orthodox than his opponents gave him credit for. Luther, for example, after looking over all he could find of his writings decided that there was nothing really heretical in them.” – Moffett, A History of Christianity in Asia, 176.
THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF THE EAST
By the time of the collapse of the rise of the
Muslim Caliphate (the beginning of the 7th
century), the Nestorian church was well
established and began one of the greatest
missionary efforts in Asia