Since sports played an important role in his childhood, Herb SooHoo now finds inspiration in stories of renowned athletes who later became missionaries. He shares with us the story of the Cambridge Seven – a powerful testament to the sacrifice and hardship of pioneering missionary service, standing in stark contrast to the relentless pursuit of wealth, privilege, fame and elite education in our times.
Herb served in Taiwan with TEAM, a missionary organization, for eight years before retiring from medical instrumentation support earlier this year. Herb has been a prayer supporter of the Hudson Taylor movie project.
The Cambridge Seven is not an unknown British rock band or a British Premier League professional football team but a group of seven young aristocrats who gave their lives to make Christ known in China during the late Victorian era. These seven dashing, handsome and wealthy young men of high class and stature – six Cambridge men plus an elite military officer – formed a team of seven in 1885 that would inspire hundreds even thousands of new recruits for the China Inland Mission (presently OMF) and other mission societies. They left the comforts and privileges of England for the strange godless interior of China, a land full of idolatry, disease, poverty and hardship.
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.
Philippians 3:7-8 (NIV)
These are the names of the Cambridge Seven:
- Charles Thomas Studd
- Dixon Edward Hoste
- William Wharton Cassels
- Stanley Peregrine Smith
- Cecil Polhill-Turner
- Arthur Polhill-Turner
- Montagu Beauchamp
Ages 19 to 24, these seven were already men of peculiar distinction: Montagu H. P. Beauchamp was a son of a baronet. C. T. Studd was an internationally acclaimed cricket player. Stanley P. Smith was a distinguished varsity oarsman and captain of Cambridge University rowing team. And D. E. Hoste was a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery. In the eyes of the world, the seven had everything to lose in going to China; but the Cambridge Seven saw true privilege in life in total sacrifice and service to Jesus Christ.
Their conversion stories and testimonies were published as The Evangelization of the World and was distributed freely to every YMCA and YWCA throughout the British Empire and the United States. Queen Victoria was even pleased to receive this booklet.
Here are brief stories about three of the seven:
Charles Thomas Studd, one of the famous Studd brothers, who was probably the best known of “The Cambridge Seven” in England before his missionary work, as he was considered one of the best athletes of his day. He was sent home because of ill health in 1894. Later he worked in India and Africa and was the founder of Heart of Africa Mission (presently WEC International). He died in 1931. His motto was: “If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”
Stanley Peregrine Smith was sent to Shanxi in Northern China. There he learned the Chinese language and soon became as fluent a preacher in Chinese as he was in English. He died in China on 31 January 1931.
Dixon Edward Hoste was the only member of the Cambridge Seven who was not educated at Cambridge. He succeeded Hudson Taylor as the Director of the China Inland Mission and led the organization for thirty years. He retired in 1935 but remained in China until 1945. He was interned by the Japanese Army from 1944-45. He served in China for 60 years, and died in London in May 1946 and was the last member of “The Cambridge Seven” to die.
2025 marks the 140th anniversary of the Cambridge Seven sailing for China in February 1885. Their example continues to encourage and challenge us as followers of Jesus Christ to make His name known to all parts of the world.
The original version of this article was published in Mission Moments (June 2025) of Tri-City Chinese Baptist Church, Fremont, California. Permission was granted by the author for publication of this revised edition.
