Hudson Taylor

Dr. Hudson Taylor (1832–1905), after studying medicine and theology, responded to his call to be a missionary by going to China in 1853. As a pioneer missionary, he conformed as much as possible to Chinese culture. He returned to England in 1860 and spent the next five years translating the New Testament into the Ningpo dialect. He founded the China Inland Mission (today, the Overseas Missionary Fellowship) in 1865, an interdenominational mission to the interior of China, and returned to China in 1866. His wife and two of their children died of cholera while in China. Before his death in 1905, he and 849 other missionaries from England had established 205 mission stations. One hundred and twenty-five thousand Chinese Christians were brought to the Lord during Hudson’s lifetime.