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Baptist Christianity in Sichuan refers to the history and implantation of Baptist Christianity in the Chinese province of Sichuan (formerly romanized as Szchuan, Szechuan, or Szechwan; also referred to as "West China").
Baptist Christianity was introduced into Sichuan by the American Baptist Missionary Union (ABMU, belonging to the American Baptist Churches USA). The first missionaries to reach the province were Rev. William M. Upcraft and Rev. George Warner, who sailed in 1889. The journey required many weeks before their arrival in Suifu (also, Suichaufu) the following year, [1] [2] where they established the mission's first station. [3] Medical work was started by Rev. C. H. Finch in 1891, [4] in the same year Rev. Robert Wellwood and his wife joined the mission. [1]
At the end of 1892, the ABMU was represented by nine missionaries, with medical work, two preaching places, women's classes, a boys' school, a Sunday school and eleven converts. In 1893, twelve new workers joined the mission, and subsequently the opening of a new station in Jiading (Kiatingfu) in 1894. [5] At that time, the number of missionaries connected with the West China Mission was twenty-two. A small church had been gathered at Xuzhou (Suifu). The remote character of the province and its need of Christian missionary labors lent a romantic and unusual interest to the work of the West China Mission, especially since that was the nearest approach of American Baptists to reaching the people of an unevangelized country, Tibet. [4]
That same year (1894), Upcraft and H. J. Openshaw traveled to Yazhou (Yachowfu) and tried to rent some permanent quarters. This stirred up opposition and vile placards were posted abusing the foreigners. However, the tide was turned in favor of the missionaries after successfully treating the servant of an official bitten by a snake, they were allowed to stay. [6]
In 1895, a serious outbreak of anti-foreign agitation began in the capital Chengdu (Chengtu), and thence spread throughout the province. The missionaries had no choice but to temporarily leave their posts. Work was resumed after their return in the spring of 1896. By the middle of the year 1900, the Church had 68 converts with some 200 names on the enquirers' roll. The year 1900 was marked by the anti-Christian uprising known as Boxer Rebellion. Although this unrest did not affect Sichuan so much as some other parts of China, missionaries were obliged by consular orders to retire to the coast. During their absence, the local converts defended their faith and carried on all the regular services. Two new stations were opened at Ningyuan and Chengdu in 1905 and 1909 respectively; while Rev. Joseph Taylor and his wife were transferred from Yazhou to Chengdu. [7]
In 1910, the ABMU changed its name to American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS), [8] and became one of the four founding societies of the West China Union University, together with American Methodist Episcopal Mission (Methodist Episcopal Church), Canadian Methodist Mission (Methodist Church of Canada), and Friends' Foreign Mission Association (British Quakers). [9]
During the 1911 Revolution which overthrew the Qing dynasty, Openshaw took care of the wounded, with his wife as auxiliary. The local Christians later told of Mrs. Openshaw's bravery during the siege of Yazhou, how she would play the organ and sing while bullets whizzed about the house. [10]
In 1919, the ABFMS celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of its West China Mission. [11] In 1920, Rev. A. G. Adams assumed responsibility for the work of the evangelistic field, which had been for several years under the direction of Rev. David Crockett Graham, [12] a polymath Baptist minister who was ordained at the First Baptist Church of Fairport, New York, in 1911, and spent nearly forty years in Sichuan Province, arriving shortly after his ordination. [13] [14] [15] He was also one of the key figures in the discovery of the archaeological site now known as Sanxingdui, when a collection of jade pieces contributed to the Museum of Art, Archaeology and Ethnology at the West China Union University by an English Anglican missionary, Vyvyan Donnithorne, in 1931, drew his attention, subsequently leading to an archaeological excavation in 1934. [16]
By 1913, the American Baptists had 793 church members; [17] and by the end of 1921, 1,263 members. [18]
In 1924, a Swedish American missionary Esther Nelson was sent to Sichuan by the First Swedish Baptist Church of Minneapolis. Between 1924 and 1945, she worked primarily as a nurse and medical educator in various Baptist hospitals. She applied to become a full-time evangelist after the formation of the Baptist General Conference's Foreign Mission Board in 1945. This led her to the city of Huili in Southern Sichuan at the end of 1947, where she worked until 1950, when foreign missionaries were driven out of China by the newly established communist regime. [19]
In 1938, Alfred James Broomhall, an English Baptist missionary, entered China through the China Inland Mission. In 1946, he entered the territory of the Independent Nuosu in Southern Sichuan, with a team to establish a sustained Christian witness among them. He was only able to live among the Nuosu people from 1947 to 1951, and spent his last few months under house arrest before being expelled from China by communist regime; but his team was able to plant seeds that were going to bear fruit in coming decades. [20]
After the communist takeover of China in 1949, Protestant Churches in China were also forced to sever their ties with respective overseas Churches, which has thus led to the merging of all the denominations into communist-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Church. [21]
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) and Hua Mei International (a non-profit Chinese Christian organization) provided critical relief supplies such as food, blankets and other necessities after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Two CBF field personnel Bill and Michelle Cayard also helped three pastors at a Protestant church in Bazhong with its growing congregation, which was ill-equipped to meet the needs of an increasing number of converts. [22]
James Endicott was a Canadian church leader, missionary and administrator.
International Ministries is an international Baptist Christian missionary society. It is a constituent board affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. The headquarters is in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, United States.
American Methodist Episcopal Mission was the missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal Church that was involved in sending workers to countries such as China during the late Qing dynasty.
The West China Union University, also called West China University or Huaxi University, was a private university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It was the product of the collective efforts of four Protestant, denominational, missionary boards — American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, American Methodist Episcopal Mission, Friends' Foreign Mission Association and Canadian Methodist Mission — and eventually became a division of the West China Educational Union, which was created in 1906. The Church Missionary Society became a partner in the university in 1918.
Christianity is a minority religion in the Chinese province of Sichuan. The Eastern Lipo, Kadu people and A-Hmao are ethnic groups present in the province.
Samuel Stearns Day (1808–1871), also known by name Samuel S. Day, was the first Canadian-born American Baptist missionary to Telugu speaking provinces – Visakhapatnam, nearby to British Baptist missionary presence in Orissa ; and Nellore, part of then-Madras presidency, later part of Andhra, and currently part of Andhra Pradesh.
David Crockett Graham was a polymath American Baptist minister and missionary, educator, author, archaeologist, anthropologist, naturalist and field collector in the Province of Sichuan during the Chinese Republican Era, from 1911 to 1948. From 1921 to 1942, Graham collected and sent to the Smithsonian Institution nearly 400,000 zoological specimens, including more than 230 new species and 9 new genera, of which 29 were named after him. From 1932 to 1942 he was curator of the Museum of Art, Archaeology and Ethnology at the West China Union University, which still stands as part of Sichuan University, in Chengdu. There, he taught comparative religions at the Theological College, and archaeology and anthropology at the University. He wrote extensively and spent his retirement years, from 1950 to 1961, in Englewood, Colorado compiling his writings and research into three books that were published by the Smithsonian Institution. A fourth manuscript lay in the Whitman College and Northwest Archives until it was discovered by Hartmut Walravens, who edited it and published it in 2018. McKhann refers to Graham as "One of a handful of Western missionaries whose scientific work was respected by other scientists—and of even fewer scientists whose religious work was respected by other missionaries."
Thomas Torrance (1871–1959), born in Shotts, Scotland, was a Scottish Protestant missionary to China. He was first sent there by the China Inland Mission (CIM), and later by The American Bible Society. He married Annie Elizabeth Sharp (1883–1980) of the CIM in 1911. He was the father of the 20th century theologian, Thomas F. Torrance.
Omar Leslie Kilborn, was a Canadian medical missionary who greatly advanced Western medical techniques in West China. He was one of the founders of the West China Union University in Chengdu, Sichuan, China and was a member of the Canadian Methodist Church. He was an educator, a leading professor of science and medicine, and the author of multiple medical and linguistic texts.
St John's Church, today known as Shangxiang Christian Church, is a Protestant church situated on Shangxiang Street in the city of Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Founded in 1909, it was originally an Anglican church in the Diocese of Western China.
Anglicanism in Sichuan refers to the history and implantation of Anglicanism in the Chinese province of Sichuan. Anglicanism, along with Methodism, were the two largest Protestant denominations in that province.
The Protestant mission began in the Chinese province of Sichuan in 1877, when premises were rented by the China Inland Mission in Chungking. However, it grew rather slowly, it was not until the late 1980s that Protestantism experienced rapid growth. The two largest denominations in the province before 1949 were Anglicanism and Methodism.
The presence of the Catholic Church in the Chinese province of Sichuan dates back to 1640, when two missionaries, Lodovico Buglio and Gabriel de Magalhães, through Jesuit China missions, entered the province and spent much of the 1640s doing evangelism.
The Canadian Methodist Mission (CMM), also known as Missionary Society of the Methodist Church in Canada, was a Canadian Methodist Christian missionary society mostly working in the province of Szechwan, which was also referred to as "West China."
Methodism in Sichuan refers to the history and implantation of Methodism in the Chinese province of Sichuan. Methodism, along with Anglicanism, were the two largest Protestant denominations in that province.
Quakerism in Sichuan refers to the history and implantation of Quakerism in the Chinese province of Sichuan.
The Sï-Shen-Tsï Methodist Church (also spelled Sz Shen Tsz; traditional Chinese: 四聖祠禮拜堂; simplified Chinese: 四圣祠礼拜堂; pinyin: Sìshèngcí Lǐbàitáng; Wade–Giles: Ssu4-Shêng4-Tzʻu2 Li3-pai4-tʻang2; lit. 'Sï-Shen-Tsï Chapel'), also known as The First [Methodist] Church [of Chengtu], Gospel Church (Chinese: 福音堂; pinyin: Fúyīn Táng; Wade–Giles: Fu2-yin1 Tʻang2) or Enguang Protestant Church (Chinese: 恩光堂; pinyin: Ēnguāng Táng; Wade–Giles: Ên-kuang Tʻang; lit. 'Gracious Light Church'), is a Protestant church situated on Sishengci North Street in the city of Chengtu, Sichuan Province (formerly romanized as Sz-Chuan or Szechwan, also referred to as "West China").
The West China Missionary News (WCMN) was a monthly news magazine published in Chengtu from 1899 to 1945 by the West China Missions Advisory Board, and printed by Canadian Methodist Mission Press. It was aimed at Protestant missionaries working in the Sichuan Province, and was the first and longest-running English-language newspaper in that province.
Adventism in Sichuan refers to the history and implantation of Adventism in the Chinese province of Sichuan.
Joseph Beech, or Joe Beech as he was more commonly known, was an American Methodist missionary and educator, member of Psi Upsilon and Phi Beta Kappa, and founding president of the West China Union University. He was a recipient of the Order of Brilliant Jade.
