There’s several lessons we can learn from this man of God:

1. Although he was raised Methodist, he worked with Baptists and Open Brethren. What he called the “Gospel” was a shared vision of salvation held by both Wesleyans and Calvinists–both camps spoke to him. And so he developed a non-denominational evangelical vision for the China Inland Mission.

2. The top English missionary organizations to China all rejected him, because he wasn’t educated enough in theology and medicine; and his ideas were too “zealous” and unconventional. For example, he was the type of guy who decided to dress like the Chinese people in order to fit in with them; and so become less of a stumbling block to sharing the Gospel message. So he got rid of his Western clothing styles, because the Chinese found them distracting. The missionary organizations didn’t like him and so they rejected him entirely. They also had no interest in doing any missionary work in the interior part of China; only on the outskirts by the beaches. He felt like God had called him to the unreached people of inner China; and so what did he do about it? He just went in there without a denominational covering, without the typical affirmation sought from a board of elders at some local Southern Baptist church. He became an independent missionary when he saw that no church leaders would affirm him, support him, and ordain him with a ministerial license and church paycheck. He just went in there by himself. And then over time, God sent him ministry friends, donors, and connections.

3. Missionaries need shots or immunizations, especially against cholera and dysentery. These took the lives of his first wife and their children. Today, missionary immunizations are much more comprehensive, and almost always involve COVID-19 shots. Its foolish, very dangerous, and even life threatening to go on any foreign mission trip, whether short-term or long-term, without the right shots.

4. Last but not least, he showed that charismatic experience of the Holy Spirit is possible in our times, even if you’re not a Pentecostal or NAR person. A stripped down, undistracted life characterized by simple thought patterns, quiet devotional times, deep meditative study of the King James Bible and prayer, can lead to hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit enter your mind to give you direction, peace, and encouragement. –J.B.