In 2015, I stopped in China on my way to meetings in Singapore related to the Hudson Taylor film project. I attended a church where foreigners were welcome and enjoyed worshipping with brothers and sisters even though I don’t speak Mandarin. At the end of the service, the young lady next to me introduced herself and asked why I was visiting China. I told her that I was going to meetings in Singapore related to a film project and explained a little bit about Hudson Taylor. When she looked confused, I mentioned Taylor’s Chinese name Dai De Sheng.
An older gentleman sitting with us overheard our conversation and spoke up in animated Mandarin. He wanted to know if the film was about the missionary doctor who came to China from England many years ago. With the young lady’s help, I learned that his family had come to faith generations ago through the work of Taylor and the China Inland Mission (now OMF).
He took my hand and passionately told me that this film must be made. Still holding my hand, he said that without God’s work through Hudson Taylor, he and his family would not have been in church that day.
Half Crown Media began in 2012 to support the Hudson Taylor movie project. The years since then have been marked by perseverance, hard work, and our faith being stretched. There have been days when the project seemed impossible, but we have also seen God provide in amazing ways. Taylor once said, “There are three stages to every great work of God; first it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.”
In Hebrews 12, we are reminded that we are surrounded by “a great cloud of witnesses,” not just Hudson and Maria but all of those who poured their lives into the work in China over many years. Lives have been eternally impacted as a result – people like the gentleman I met in church.
When I think of witnesses today, I think of a Hollywood producer who named his son after Hudson Taylor, a young woman at a conference in Chile who was inspired by Taylor’s faith and went on to serve in East Asia, and a Korean business woman who has prayed for more than a decade that the film will win an Oscar – not for fame or prestige but simply so that a large number will hear this story of God’s faithfulness.
From the very beginning, the film project team knew that the last thing Hudson and Maria would have wanted is a film that glorified them! We also knew they would share the passion of these friends to see a new generation challenged to believe with Taylor that “without an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith.”
Recently we have seen God raising up a global community committed to seeing this film on screens around the world. Would you pray with us and these many witnesses towards the day when this project is no longer impossible, or even difficult, but done?
By Dr. Jon Fuller, the Resident Missiologist with the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. Jon and his wife Marilyn served with OMF in the Philippines and Singapore for many years. He is the Vice Chair of the Board of Half Crown Media and has a Doctor of Ministry degree in Leadership from Tyndale University. His passion is investing in the next generation, helping them become everything God has called them to be.
Editor’s note: You can make a huge impact by praying for this film project! Learn more.
Image generated using AI.
