During the early days of China Inland Mission (CIM), a watchnight service was held on the eve of the New Year, where members gathered together for a time of fasting and prayer for China and the work.   CIM’s first New Year’s Eve in China saw simmering tensions within the team

In June 1849, 17 year old Hudson Taylor came to know Christ personally after reading a tract– out of boredom. Taylor “became…convinced that Jesus had done everything necessary for him, Hudson. There was nothing he himself needed but to accept the ‘finished work of Christ’….”.In the months after, Taylor was

The Shanghai Bund, circa 1850. Hudson Taylor’s first year in China was an extremely difficult one, with “the cold, even the hunger, the times of watching, the sleepless nights of danger, and the feelings I had when I was alone and helpless”— as he recounted years later. Yet, God was

On September 30th 1866, a badly damaged London clipper ship the Lammermuir stumbled its way into the Shanghai harbour with Hudson and Maria Taylor, their 4 children and 16 new missionaries for China. Its arrival was the remarkable answer to many prayers. Prayer Card in English and Chinese for the

After Hudson Taylor first arrived in China, he made numerous preaching trips to Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. For his eighth trip, Taylor had special plans. The night before, he had his head shaved and his hair dyed in Haiyan. Then on Friday, August 24th, Taylor had a month’s hair growth

While giving birth to their ninth child in a China increasingly hostile towards foreigners, Hudson Taylor’s wife Maria contracted cholera. The newborn Noel was frail and Maria’s decline was also rapid. 13 days later, Noel died. And on July 23rd, just a few days after, Maria Taylor passed away. These

On June 25th 1865, Hudson Taylor walked alone on Brighton beach in internal turmoil. In 1859, health reasons necessitated his return home to London from China. As ‘an invalid in London’, Taylor, together with his wife, compiled materials that eventually came together as the book China: Its Spiritual Need and

A little over three years after Hudson Taylor’s arrival in China as the first missionary sent by the Chinese Evangelisation Society, Taylor resigned from the Society. He had known for some time that the Society was running a debt of more than £1000 pounds (the equivalent of USD$215,000 today). Remittances

When the Taiping Rebellion established its headquarters in Nanjing on March 19, 1853, Christians in Europe and America thought that it was a great opportunity to evangelize China. Caught up on the crest of such a tide, Hudson Taylor was ready to discontinue his medical studies and sail for China

This February 1st is the 247th wedding anniversary of James and Bettie Taylor, the great-grandparents of Hudson Taylor.  It was on this day, February 1, 1776, that James Taylor gave his life to Jesus Christ.  This born-again experience ended up making him two hours late for his own wedding!  It was