On this day in 1906, Elisabeth Alden Scott Stam, aka, “Betty” was born in Albion, Michigan. Her ancestors were Pilgrims who had come over on the “Mayflower.”

When she was still a toddler, her parents were sent to China as missionaries.  Betty grew up in China, where two younger sisters and two younger brothers were born.  Their parents built a strong environment of Christian faith, where their children grew physically, mentally, and spiritually. By their example, their parents laid a solid foundation of faith for their children. As they came to school age, each was sent to the school for foreign children at Tongzhou, Hebei.

When Betty was 17, her parents returned to America on furlough.  While she was back, Betty enrolled in Wilson College in Pennsylvania to study literature.  But her heart still belonged in China.  She would constantly pray, “If it is Your will, please allow me to return to China without any obstacle.”  After graduation, she enrolled at the Moody Bible Institute.  It was here, at a home prayer meeting, that she met John Stam, who also shred a vision for China.  The two would later marry and begin a powerful, but short, ministry in China.

When Betty was only 28, she and John were captured by Chinese rebels and beheaded with sharp swords.  The final letter they wrote to their mission board, the China Inland Mission, ended with these words, “May God bless and lead you. As for us, whether by life or by death, may God be glorified.”

Source:

Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christians

On this day in 1800, Ainsworth Blunt was born in Amherst, New Hampshire.

At the age of 22, Blunt set out from Boston to help start a mission among the Native American with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.  The mission was located in  Chattanooga, Tennessee and was named Brainerd station, in honor of David Brainerd.  It was built a top a beautiful, picturesque height.  This location would later be called “missionary ridge” and would, nearly fifty years later, be the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.

The mission grew rapidly.  At one time, more than 500 Cherokee children were being taught at the schoolhouse there.  The influence felt by the mission was so immense that, at one time, the President of the United States, James Monroe, made a surprise visit to the Mission to see if the stories he heard about it were true.  While he was working there, Blunt met a young woman, Harriet, who had come to the mission to work with her brother.  The two were married in 1821.

The Blunts continued to work among the Cherokee until 1838.  At that time, the Cherokee were forced to move off their homeland and to relocated.  This event became known in history as the trail of tears.  Blunt and his wife accompanied the Cherokee along the trail and helped them along the way.

Due to health issues, they were forced to return to Chattanooga.  In 1847, Blunt was elected the first mayor of Dalton, Georgia.

Source:

Ainsworth Blunt

The Pittsburgh Press

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On this day in 1945, Eric Liddell, missionary to China, died in a Japanese prison camp.

Eric had been born in china, where his parents were missionaries.  As a young boy, he had been sent back to England to attend boarding school.  Here, he trained hard in the athletic field, becoming a very accomplished athlete.  He actually went on to win an Olympic gold medal.  But at the age of twenty-three, he left all of that to return to China and took up the work his parents began.

For twenty years, Eric labored with his wife, Florence, and three daughters.  But in 1937, the Japanese army invaded China and slowly began to take control of the entire country.  The English embassy, alarmed by the danger, strongly recommended that all their citizens leave the China.  But Eric couldn’t bring himself to forsake his growing church.  He safely sent his wife and children to Canada, but he stayed behind with his brother to continue the work.

In 1943, Eric was taken by the Japanese and placed inside a horrid prison camp outside of Peking.  But Eric didn’t allow this to stop him.  He immediately began to work among the other inmates.  Day after day, he prayed with the sick, coached the children, and witnessed to the lost.  When the English government heard of Eric’s capture, they made a special prisoner trade to get him released.  But instead, Eric had a pregnant lady get exchanged in his place.

Eric became a spiritual leader in the camp and everyone looked up to him.  A friend, who was at the camp, said that he was “the finest Christian gentleman it has been my pleasure to meet. In all the time in the camp, I never heard him say a bad word about anybody”.  But soon problems arose.  As Eric labored, he began to suffer from severe headaches.  Nothing he did was able to help the pain.  Just a month after his 43rd birthday, Eric Liddell died.  It was discovered that a brain tumor had been what killed him.

His death not only shocked the United Kingdom, it shook the prison camp.  It was recorded that “the entire camp, especially its youth, was stunned for days, so great was the vacuum that Eric’s death had left.”  Eric had given up his chance to gain gold in this world, only to gain much gold in the world to come.

Source:

Eric Liddell

On this day : 365 amazing and inspiring stories about saints, martyrs & heroes

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On this day in 1809, Robert Morrison, one of the earliest pioneer missionaries to China, was married to Miss Mary Morton.

Two years earlier, Morrison had arrived in a heavily-closed China to begin his work.  But at this time, it was illegal for him to be a missionary.  In fact, the law was so tight that it was even illegal for a Chinese person to teach a foreigner how to speak Chinese.  In order to get past the law, Morrison moved into an American factory in the city of Canton, China and hired several Chinese teachers to come “repair his shoes”, as he called it.  Every time a teacher would come to teach him Chinese, he would have a pair of shoes sitting there in case they got caught, he could make it look like they were working on the shoes.

At last, Robert was able to get a job as one of the main translators for the East India Company in China (I wonder if they ever asked how he learned the language?)  While holding this job, Morrison met John Morton, a surgeon for the East India Company.  But more importantly, he met John’s daughter, the lovely Irish born Mary.  They were soon married in China.

In a letter to his father, Robert wrote this of his new wife:

As I have every prospect of being exceedingly happy with one whom I love and who is un attached to me, your anxiety respecting me being quite alone will be in some measure lessened. My missionary calling is as much as ever on heart and in it, I trust, I shall be considerably aided by my dear Mary.

The couple lived a very happy marriage, though Mary often suffered from sicknesses.  They were married for twelve years.  In 1821, Mary died from Cholera.  So his two children would always their mother, Robert wrote a book for them that comprised many of his and their mother’s correspondents.  The book was entitled, “The Domestic Memoirs of Mrs. Morrison”.

Source:

The Legacy of Robert Morrison

On this day in 1875, Leander Millican was licensed to preach.  Millican would become known as “the missionary to the mountains and circuit rider of the plains”.

Millican was a deputy sheriff in a small Texas town when he was converted at a camp meeting at the age of 21.  As he grew, he began to realize that there was no one who was reaching out to the cowboys and ranchers of the Texas plains with the Gospel.  Many of them lived too far from the town to ever attend church.  For more than fifty years, Millican would travel to ranches and rural settlements, preaching the gospel and teaching his converts to grow in the word.

As he traveled, he realized the need to take his converts to the next level.  Since there were no churches nearby, or really any people around to start a church with, he decided to bring the church to the ranchers.  He began to hold tent meetings all over the plains, where ranchers could gather to hear the Bible preached.  At his meetings, pastors and churches from the towns would come together to give the ranchers an intense week of preaching and Bible classes..  These meetings became known as “The Baptist Encampments.”

Source:

Lone Star History

On this day in 1836, Moses C. Clayton took his Sunday School Class and turned it into the first black Baptist church in Baltimore.

In 1834, Clayton had been sent out by the First Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia to begin a work among the growing Black population in Baltimore.    This group, though growing rapidly, had been largely ignored by most churches.  Clayton faced his task with zeal.  He found a small school house and started a Sunday school in there.  The work was slow and it was remarked that at times, Clayton “preached to an audience comprising his wife and two or three others, and strange as it may seem, spoke with as much ardor and enthusiasm as if he were addressing a thousand people.”

But soon, his piety and earnestness had attracted some eight or ten persons to become founders of the new church.  As the church grew, it became necessary to build a new building.  The financial stress this project required became too much for   Clayton and he resigned the pastorate in 1849.  However, the church pleaded with him to come back, and three years later, he did.  He stayed at the church until his death in 1861.

Source:

A History of Black Baptists

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On this day in 1776, the first Eskimo was baptized in the area of Labrador, one of the northern Canadian Providences.

Labrador was the vast, rich frozen home to thousands of Eskimos.  As explorers continued to discover the “New World”, they began to realizes just how many natives lived in these Northern snow lands.  One of these explores was named John Christian Ehrhardt.  John was a member of the Moravian church and an expert sailor.  When he returned from his trading trips to Northern Canada, he went before his church can strongly urged them to begin mission work among the Eskimos.

The Moravians, by this time, had become quite efficient at starting missions.  They had already done so in Greenland, the West Indies, and among the Native Americans of the colonies. After much discussion and planning, Ehrhardt and four other men were sent out to start the mission.  The year was 1752.  Prepared with plenty of supplies and resources, the men  set sail for Canada.  Their goal was to establish contact with the Eskimos, learn their language, and open a door for more missionaries to follow,  But when they arrived, Ehrhardt led a small delegation ashore with presents for the Eskimos,  For days, those aboard the ship waited for their return.  But they never came back.  The group, now void of their leader, had to return to Europe.  The first mission had been a failure.

But Ehrhardt’s work of faith was not altogether wasted. The death of the brave sailor, whose warm love for the Saviour had compelled him to go forth with the Gospel news to the wild natives of Labrador, excited deep interest and sympathy in the Church at home, and doubtless stimulated much  fervent prayers on behalf of these savage heathen. Jens Haven, a carpenter, decided to take up Ehrhardt’s work.

For nearly fifteen years, Jen would prepare to start the mission.  He worked hard learning the language.  He made multiple trips to Canada, meeting Eskimos and learning their way of life.  Finally, in 1771, a large ship loaded with supplies arrived at Labrador.  After a prayer of dedication, the work began to build the mission.

The work was slow and the climate was very difficult.  But at last, one of the Eskimos, Kinminguse, came forward to be baptized.  For four years, Kinminguse had faithfully attended the church service with his wife and children.  His baptism sparked excitement throughout the other Eskimos and on the day of his baptism, so many Eskimos showed up that the mission house couldn’t hold them all.

This baptism would only be the beginning of the fruit saw among the Eskimos.  Within the following years, hundreds of Eskimos would follow Christ and a total of five Mission stations would be opened across Labrador.

Source:

The History of the Mission in Labrador

On this day in 1812, a ship named the Caravan set sail from Salem, Massachusetts.  Its destination: Calcutta, India.  Its Cargo: the first Americans to ever be sent out as foreign missionaries.

The years of dreaming and months of planning by the five young men (Judson, Newell, Nott, Rice, and Hall) was finally being put into action.  Two of the missionary couples, the Judsons and the Newells, were aboard the Caravan (the others would set sail in another boat soon).  In the days before the ship departed, friends poured in with gifts for the young missionaries to bring with them.  Livestock was brought aboard so the missionaries would have plenty of good food during the voyage.

The night before the missionaries were loaded aboard the ship, a farewell party was thrown for them at the home of Mr. Kimball.  Friends and family poured in to see the missionaries off.  Adoniram, never a fan of big parties, saw all the people at the house and stealthily slipped out the back door and went aboard the ship to wait for Ann.  When it was discovered that he was gone, there was a lot of disappointed suprise.  But Ann and the Newells bid their friends farewell and then joined Judson on the Caravan.

Once aboard the ship, the missionaries gathered for a time of singing, praying, and conversing, which they described later as being  “cheerfulness and even joy!”  But in her diary, Ann recorded some of the pain and fear she felt inside facing this voyage:

Took leave of my friends and native land and embarked on board the brig Caravan for India. Had so long anticipated the trying scene of parting that I found it more tolerable than I had feared. Still my heart bleeds O America, my native land, must I leave thee. Must I leave my parents, my sisters, and brother, my friends, beloved, and all the scenes of my early youth. Must I leave thee Bradford, my dear native town where I spent the pleasant years of childhood, where I learnt to lisp the name of my mother, where my infant mind first began to expand, where I entered the field of science, where I learnt the endearments of friendship and tasted of all the happiness this world can afford, where I learnt also to value a Saviour’s blood and to count all things but loss in comparison with the knowledge of him. Yes! I must leave you all For a heathen land, an uncongenial clime Farewell, happy happy scenes but never, no never, to be forgotten.

Source:

To the Golden Shore

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*Entry submitted and written by Ian Wilson

On this day in 1781, Henry Martyn was born in Cornwell, England.

His parents, wanting to give their son a good education, sent him to Cambridge University.  There, in the October term of 1802, as he was preparing to go to the bar, he heard Pastor Charles Simeon give a lecture. Charles Simeon spoke of all the good that had been done in India by a missionary by the name of William Carey.

Soon after this, Martyn would the read the life of David Brainerd, a missionary to Native Americans. After a encountering the message of what William Carey was able to do in India and reading the Life of David Brainerd, Henry Martyn resolved to become a missionary himself.

Henry Martyn arrived in India in 1806 and during his time there, Martyn was able to quickly learn to worship and lead services in the local language, and even established schools. Translation of the Holy Scriptures would become a big part of Henry Martyn’s ministry. God used Henry early on in India to revise the Hindustani New Testament, then to translate the entire New Testament into Urdu. He would also go to translate the New Testament into Persian twice, and the Psalms into Persian. Just a quick look at Henry Martyn’s life one must come to the conclusion that he understood Romans 10:17, that “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God”, and that he gave himself to the task of getting the scriptures into their language so that they could hear and respond to the gospel.

On his final voyage, Martyn would become very ill with a high fever. On his way back to Britain in 1812 to regain his strength he would die. He was heard to say, “let me burn out for God”, a great proof of Henry Martyn’s strong zeal for things of God.

On this day in 1812, Ann Judson wrote a farewell letter to her mother.  She was aboard the ship, the Caravan, prepared to set sail the next day with her husband, Adoniram.  Their destination was India.

That night, before she went to bed, Ann picked up a pen and wrote:

Here am I, my dear mother, on board the brig Caravan in a neat little cabin.… I have at length taken leave of the land of my forefathers and entered the vessel which will be my place of residence till I reach the desired haven. Think not, my dear mother, that we are now sitting in silent sorrow, strangers to peace. O, no; though the idea that I have left you, to see you no more, is painful indeed, yet I think I can say that I have found the grace of my Redeemer sufficient for me—his strength has been made perfect in my weakness. We have been engaged in singing this evening, and can you believe me when I tell you that I never engaged in this delightful part of worship with greater pleasure?

I never shall repay you, my dear mother, for all the kindness and love you have shown me thus far in life. Accept my sincere thanks for every favor, and O, forgive me for so often causing you pain and anxiety. May the Almighty reward you a hundred-fold for your kindness to me. And now, my dear mother, what more shall I say but ask you to pray for me and engage other Christians to do the same.… It is late—I must retire dear mother, adieu.”

Source:

Ann of Ava By:E.D. Hubbard

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