In the last few years, we’ve encountered stories of people impacted by Hudson Taylor’s example, whose lives — and those of their families — were transformed. Here at Half Crown Media, we hope the cinematic retelling of Hudson Taylor’s life in our project will similarly inspire today’s younger generations to experience lives of faith.
One such story comes from Elizabeth Jones: “In 1894, my grandmother, Mercy Anna Wood (‘Anna’) was 24 when she moved from Iowa to Toronto to attend Bible college after hearing Hudson Taylor speak of China’s mission needs. A year later, she arrived in China to work with China Inland Mission (CIM), led by Taylor. That was amazing for a single female missionary at that time!
In 1899, my grandfather Walter Ernest Tyler was sent, also by CIM, from Britain to China. Walter and Anna survived the Boxer Rebellion the next year and married in 1907, Shanghai. Walter was 10 years younger.
Walter and Anna had two sons, Walter and my father, William. At 18, my father left China for the first time ever, to attend the same Bible college Anna attended in Canada. William met my mother, Vera, and both were subsequently sent to China as CIM missionaries and later married there. She borrowed her wedding dress from a fellow missionary!
In the midst of World War II, in 1944, Anna, 75, William, Vera and their toddler — my eldest brother Gordon — were evacuated from war-torn China to peaceful Canada. She said they left with just the clothes on their backs — four pairs of underwear and multiple layers on top! William and Vera did not return to China afterwards. They led the OMF mission home in Toronto where my siblings and I grew up, hearing God stories from all over the world.
Today, my siblings and I, and our children, are still inspired to serve God — in various ways and places like Zambia, Liberia, Chad, the US and Canada! For instance, my daughter and her husband did mission work in Haiti. They just adopted a 7-year-old son from China that we are picking up tonight at 7:30pm!”
By Constance Fourie, the former Communications Director of Half Crown Media
