The Cambridge Seven were six students from Cambridge University and one from the Royal Military Academy, who in 1885, decided to become missionaries to China through the China Inland Mission. The seven were: [1] [2]
The Cambridge Seven were six students from Cambridge University and one from the Royal Military Academy, who in 1885, decided to become missionaries to China through the China Inland Mission. The seven were: [1] [2]
During the Victorian era (1837–1901) a growing number of students at the University of Cambridge became interested in serving overseas as missionaries, clergyman, educators, physicians, and linguists. In 1881 the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide (then named the Henry Martyn Hall) was formed to help members of the university learn about overseas missionary service. [3] When the British missionary Hudson Taylor came to Cambridge in 1885, seven students of the university volunteered to serve with the China Inland Mission. Before leaving the seven held a farewell tour to spread the message across the country – it was during this tour that someone dubbed them "The Cambridge Seven."
For the next month, the seven toured the University campuses of England and Scotland, holding meetings for the students. Queen Victoria was pleased to receive their booklet containing The Cambridge Seven's testimonies. The record of their departure is recorded in "The Evangelisation of the World: A Missionary Band". It became a national bestseller. Their influence extended to America where it led to the formation of Robert Wilder's Student Volunteer Movement.
All seven had become born-again Christians and were moved by their beliefs to go to China in 1885 to spread these beliefs and to help the local population; most remained in or connected to missionary work for the rest of their lives. They were greatly influenced by Taylor's book China's Spiritual Need and Claims . After their acceptance into the China Inland Mission, the seven toured England and Scotland, preaching and appealing to their listeners to follow their example and follow Christ. Charles Studd's brother Kynaston helped the seven in their preparations for departure. [4]
The conversion and example of the seven was one of the grand gestures of 19th-century missions, making them religious celebrities; as a result, their story was published as "The Evangelisation of the World" and was distributed to every YMCA and YWCA throughout the British Empire and the United States.
Though their time together was brief, they helped catapult the China Inland Mission from obscurity to "almost embarrassing prominence", and their work helped to inspire many recruits for the CIM and other mission societies. In 1885, when the Seven first arrived in China, the CIM had 163 missionaries; this had doubled by 1890 and reached some 800 by 1900, which represented one-third of the entire Protestant missionary force.
The Cambridge Seven arrived in Shanghai on 18 March 1885 and engaged in a variety of ministries throughout China: [5]
James Hudson Taylor was a British Baptist Christian missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission. Taylor spent 54 years in China. The society that he began was responsible for bringing over 800 missionaries to the country who started 125 schools and directly resulted in 20,000 Christian conversions, as well as the establishment of more than 300 stations of work with more than 499 local helpers in all 18 provinces.
Charles Thomas Studd, often known as C. T. Studd, was a British missionary, a contributor to The Fundamentals, and a cricketer.
Priscilla "Scilla" Studd was a British Christian missionary and wife of Charles Studd.
Dixon Edward Hoste was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China and the longest lived of the Cambridge Seven. He became the successor to James Hudson Taylor as General Director of the China Inland Mission,.
OMF International is an international and interdenominational Evangelical Christian missionary society with an international centre in Singapore. It was founded in Britain by Hudson Taylor on 25 June 1865.
WEC International is an interdenominational mission agency of evangelical tradition which focuses on evangelism, discipleship and church planting, through music and the arts, serving addicts and vulnerable children, through Christian education, missionary and church leadership training, medical and development work, Bible translation, literacy and media production, in order to help local Christians share the gospel cross-culturally. WEC emphasises the importance of shared life in a local church as a vital expression of Christian life. WEC prioritises the planting of churches among indigenous people groups and unreached people groups, who have little or no access to the Christian gospel.
Benjamin Broomhall was a British advocate of foreign missions, administrator of the China Inland Mission (CIM), and author. Broomhall served as the General Secretary of the China Inland Mission,. A boyhood friend of James Hudson Taylor, he became husband to Hudson Taylor’s sister Amelia. As General Secretary of the CIM, he was involved in fund-raising and recruiting missionaries to send to China and acted as editor of the mission magazine, "China's Millions".
Marshall B. Broomhall, was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China with the China Inland Mission. He also authored many books on the subject of Chinese missionary work. He was the most famous son of the anti-opium trade activist and General Secretary of the CIM Benjamin Broomhall and Amelia Hudson Taylor. Thus he was also the nephew of the founder of the mission, James Hudson Taylor.
Sir Montagu Harry Proctor-Beauchamp, 7th Baronet was a British Anglican Christian missionary.
Hannah Royle Taylor, known as Annie Royle Taylor, was an English explorer and Evangelical missionary to Tibet. She was the first Western woman known to have visited Tibet. She attempted to reach the "forbidden" city of Lhasa in 1892–1893.
Arthur Twistleton Polhill, born Arthur Twistleton Polhill-Turner, was an English Anglican missionary. He was one of the Cambridge Seven, seven young men from England that travelled to China in order to continue Hudson Taylor's missionary work there.
William Wharton Cassels was an Anglican missionary bishop.
Frank Houghton (1894–1972) was an Anglican missionary bishop and author.
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.
Cecil Henry Polhill, formerly Cecil Henry Polhill-Turner was a British Anglican missionary and Pentecostal leader.
The Diocese of Western China, also known as Diocese of Szechwan or Hua Hsi Diocese (華西教區), was an Anglican diocese in late-Qing-dynasty and Republican China, established in 1895, under the supervision of the Church of England. It had belonged to the Church in China since its outset, and had been part of the Chinese Anglican Church since 1912. In 1936, it was divided into the Diocese of East Szechwan (聖公會東川教區) and Diocese of West Szechwan (聖公會西川教區).
St John's Cathedral (traditional Chinese: 聖約翰座堂; simplified Chinese: 圣约翰座堂; pinyin: Shèngyuēhàn zuòtáng; Wade–Giles: Shêng4-yüeh1-han4 tso4-tʽang2), today known as Gospel Church (Chinese: 福音堂; pinyin: Fúyīn táng; Wade–Giles: Fu2-yin1 tʽang2), is a Protestant church situated on Yangtianjing Street in the county-level city of Langzhong, Nanchong, Sichuan Province. Founded in 1908, the church had been the Anglican cathedral of the Szechwan Diocese (and later of East Szechwan) of the Church in China, and the largest Anglican church in Southwest China. Originally designated as a pro-cathedral.
Gospel Church (Chinese: 福音堂; pinyin: Fúyīn táng; Wade–Giles: Fu2-yin1 tʽang2), today known as Kangding Christian Church (Chinese: 康定基督教堂; pinyin: Kāngdìng Jīdū jiàotáng; Wade–Giles: Kʽang1-ting4 Chi1-tu1 chiao4-tʽang2), is a Protestant church situated on Guangming Road, Kangding, a county-level city in Garzê Tibetan Prefecture, Sichuan Province. First built in 1905, on Yanhe West Road, by China Inland Mission missionaries; the church was relocated to its present location in 1958.
The history of Anglicanism in Sichuan began in 1887 when Anglican missionaries working with the China Inland Mission began to arrive from the United Kingdom. These were later joined by missionaries from the Church Missionary Society and Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society. Or according to Annals of Religion in Mianyang, in 1885, a small mission church was already founded in Mianyang by Alfred Arthur Phillips and Gertrude Emma Wells of the Church Missionary Society. Missionaries built churches, founded schools, and distributed Chinese translations of Anglican religious texts. These efforts were relatively successful and Anglicanism grew to become one of the two largest denominations of Protestant Christianity in the province, alongside Methodism.
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.
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