A Passion for China

Protestant Western mission to China since Robert Morrison arrived in Macao in 1807 until Mao Zedong’s Communist revolution 1949 has been controversial, not least in China. When the missionaries after 1949 were expelled from China, the official Chinese history did not leave them much honour. They were viewed as lackeys of Western imperialism propagating a religion that was “feudal superstition” and which would eventually disappear in a Communist society. Yet, today the view of the missionaries is changing in Chinese historiography. This book is an attempt to present some aspects of the many-faceted Norwegian Protestant mission to China during the 60 years from about 1890 to 1949. Among the themes that are dealt with in the ten chapters are the background of missionaries and their motivation for mission to China, the personal relationship between the missionaries and the Chinese, missionary contributions to contextual Chinese preaching, liturgy and hymns, missionaries as instruments of revival, and social justice and women’s rights. The book is also a tribute to all the men and women who gave their lives to the mission to China and to the millions of Christians of China who have persevered during hard times until today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Regnum Studies in Mission
• Release date: Jun 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781911372400

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A PASSION FOR CHINA: INTRODUCTION

Tormod Engelsviken

Purpose

The question of Western mission to China since Robert Morrison arrived in Macao in 1807 until Mao Zedong’s Communist revolution 1949 has been a controversial one, not least in China. The two opium wars in the middle of the 19th century, the unequal treaties, Western imperialistic policies, and missionaries following in the wake of the Western gunboats up the rivers of China led to strong Chinese enmity and suspicion towards foreigners, including missionaries. The Boxer Rebellion in 1900 marked a violent climax in this hostility but was followed by periods in the first half of the 20th century when Christianity and Western mission met heavy resistance among the majority of the Chinese population. In spite of this, thousands of Christian missionaries from many countries and denominations continued to arrive and set up their mission work in China, building the church, educating the young and serving the sick and needy, all in close cooperation with a relatively small Chinese church. When the missionaries after 1949 were expelled from China, the official Chinese history did not leave the missionaries much honour. They were viewed as lackeys of Western imperialism propagating a religion that was ‛feudal superstition’ and which would eventually disappear in a Communist society.

The time has come for a re-evaluation of the role of Christian mission to China in the period before 1949. A Chinese friend of mine, a highly respected professor in Beijing, once remarked with regard to the work of foreign missionaries prior to 1949 that 70% of what they did was good and 30% was bad, using the same percentages that are often used to evaluate Mao Zedong’s career! This evaluation is in open contrast to the traditional official position. Is this representative of a re-evaluation of the role of foreign missionaries that is taking place in Chinese academic circles, and if so, what would be the historical facts that might substantiate such a re-evaluation?

Prior to 1949 China was the largest mission field in the world with the highest number of foreign missionaries of any country. However, the growth of the Chinese church, both in its Protestant and Roman Catholic form, had been relatively slow and there were less than three million Christians in China at the Communist takeover in 1949. One may ask what the impact of foreign mission had been on China prior to 1949, and in what way what happened before 1949 has influenced what has taken place afterwards. This book is not written to fully answer these huge questions. It will, however, attempt to contribute to a better knowledge and understanding of some important aspects of mission to China from the end of the 19th century until 1949, with a special emphasis on mission from Norway.

Many Norwegian mission societies and churches were at work in China during the 60 years period from around 1890 until 1949 with a great variety of ministries. The largest of the mission organizations have had the official history of their work in China written down, often in connection with anniversaries. However, there were also churches and organizations doing mission work in China during the period whose work has received scant scholarly attention. This book is an attempt to remedy some of that. It has been designed to introduce various perspectives both in terms of denominational affiliation and mission theology and practice. It may also serve the wider purpose of being a fact-based account of mission endeavours that challenges preconceived ideas, stereotypes or even prejudices of Western missionaries as agents of Western imperialism or only interested in the ‛saving of souls’ while neglecting the social, cultural and religious challenges that the Chinese context offered.

The first Norwegian mission to China was inspired by James Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission (CIM), and the first Norwegian missionaries for some years served with or cooperated closely with CIM. However, they soon became independent of other missions and churches although many maintained close ties with immigrant groups of Norwegian descent in America. As a small country on the northern fringe of Europe, Norway had no colonies and therefore also no imperialist or colonialist agenda in China. It was, however, religiously, culturally, and politically closely tied to the North-West-European traditions. Norwegians have since the Viking Age one thousand years ago been outward-looking and internationally orientated, open for political, economic, cultural and religious influence from other countries in the region and beyond.

This book is thematically bound together by the common focus on Norwegian Protestant mission to China during a particular 60 years period. Mission here is understood in the more traditional sense at the time, namely as Christian churches and organizations in ‛Christian’ nations sending missionaries, men and women, to non-Christian peoples in other countries who had not yet heard or responded to the gospel. One of the main purposes of the mission was the conversion of the Chinese people to the Christian faith and building a Chinese church. However, what the missionaries actually did and what kind of institutions they built varied to a large extent. It is the hope that this volume will show some of the diversity of the mission work and the width of the engagement of the missionaries with the Chinese context.

Another aspect of the Norwegian mission to China which is not a major focus in this book but which shines through here and there and is commented upon in some chapters, is the influence of the China mission on the church and people in Norway. The China missionaries were warmly received and highly respected when they returned to Norway on furlough or after having completed their ministry in China. Through their preaching and writing as well as through personal contacts they created in certain Christian circles in Norway an enormous concern for China that inspired both new mission and a general interest in and knowledge of the large country. The spiritual results of the China mission were also strongly felt in Norway, and one may also speak of a ‛mission in reverse’ during this period.

Most of the chapters in this volume are written by Norwegian scholars well established in their fields as missiologists or historians. The intention has been that the contents of the various chapters should be thoroughly researched and documented.

Contents

The following is a short introduction to the ten chapters of the book outlining their main contents:

In the first chapter Frode Steen gives a short but comprehensive overview over almost all Norwegian mission work in China during the period, presenting the different churches and agencies ordered according to the year in which they began their ministry in China. This chapter provides a necessary general background for the more detailed histories of particular missionaries and agencies that follow.

In the second chapter Ingrid Eskilt analyses the theology and spirituality that characterized the alliance-minded non-Lutheran free church movement in Norway with particular focus on the influence of the important Swedish-American evangelist and mission leader Fredrik Franson and James Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission for the first missionaries to China from the Mission Covenant Church of Norway.

In the third chapter Nora Margaret Bråtveit Gimse deals in a very personal way with the mission work of the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway with an emphasis on the various relationships that characterized the mission. Gimse is herself a third generation missionary to China with intimate knowledge of the country and its culture. Her moving article demonstrates not least the intimate relationship of love and trust that developed between the missionaries, their families and the Chinese Christians.

In the fourth chapter Erik Kjebekk presents the mission work of one of the largest mission organizations in Norway, Norwegian Lutheran Mission, which was founded in 1891 with the express purpose of mission to China. He writes about one of its most outstanding missionaries, Knut I. Samset, among whose many accomplishments was the production of a Chinese hymn book in modern Chinese for the common Christian people. The hymn book was greatly appreciated by the Chinese Christians, not least since it also contained a considerable number of Chinese hymns and spiritual songs in addition to those translated from European languages. The author also describes how Samset was captured by the Red Army and died in captivity in 1937 thus becoming one of the martyrs for the gospel in China.

In the fifth chapter Ole Bjørn Rongen presents one of the most remarkable intellectuals among the Norwegian missionaries to China, the sinologist Sverre Holth who served in China from 1925 until 1952 and was the last Norwegian missionary to leave China. He originally represented the small interdenominational Norwegian Mission to China (DNK) but joined the Anglican Church and the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in 1941. Holth lived through the dramatic political and military events of the 1930s and 1940s and was able to acquire a thorough knowledge of ancient Chinese writings. He eventually became a professor in Singapore and Oslo, contributing significantly to the understanding of Chinese culture.

In the sixth chapter the historian of religion Lisbeth Mikaelsson explores the achievement of one of the best known and most influential of all Norwegian missionaries to China, the charismatic revivalist and feminist fighter Marie Monsen. Paradoxically, she was during all the years of her ministry in China from 1901 till 1932 serving the Norwegian Lutheran Mission, the most conservative of the Lutheran China missions, especially with regard to women’s role in church and mission. Monsen was one of the leaders of the Shantung (Shandong) revival in the 1930s which affected not only the Lutheran church but also several other churches and left a lasting impact on Chinese Christianity. Mikaelsson documents Monsen’s spiritual journey and ministry as well as her social consciousness and feminist perspectives. She was also the Norwegian China missionary who through her own books and what others have written about her left the strongest lasting imprint on Christians in Norway and around the world. In some ways she prepared the way for the international and interdenominational charismatic renewal that burst upon the Christian scene in the 1960s.

In the seventh chapter Gustav Steensland focuses on one of the classical tasks of Christian mission, namely the preaching of the Gospel. He presents the Norwegian missionary Lars Bjørsvik who served in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan from 1935 till 1968. He represented the Norwegian Mission Society, the oldest and largest of the Lutheran mission organizations within the Church of Norway. In his sermons which were printed in several volumes and editions and widely distributed Bjørsvik emphasized an exposition of the biblical text in a simple language with a central focus, and with application of the message on the situation of the audience. In keeping with a Lutheran understanding he looked upon preaching of the Word as a means of grace.

In the eighth chapter Thor Strandenæs also deals with the mission of the Norwegian Mission Society in a case study of how missional diaconia was carried out through institutional work. He shows how the caritative ministry of the missionaries was an expression of Christian love and transcultural values such as respect for human dignity and human rights. He describes how the mission fought social customs such as foot binding for women, and established institutions for caring for the sick, the blind and the orphans. Strandenæs sets the socio-diaconal work of the mission in a larger social, economic and political context. This chapter documents how the mission from the very beginning was holistic, being concerned with the whole person.

In the ninth chapter Arne Redse analyses the historical development of the Lutheran Chinese liturgy from the 1890s onwards. He shows that there were different views among the Lutheran missions and churches on several questions, and analyses the principles and guidelines that characterized the different versions of the liturgy for the Sunday worship in the Lutheran church in China. This chapter demonstrates the challenges that arise when ancient liturgical traditions and Western liturgies meet with Chinese language and culture.

The tenth and last chapter is perhaps the most original and personal of all the chapters in the book, where Notto R. Thelle presents a ‛Buzz Aldrin perspective’ on the person and ministry of his own father Notto N. Thelle. From 1922 until 1952 he was the closest co-worker of the famous missionary Karl Ludvig Reichelt who began the work of the Christian Mission to Buddhists in Nanjing in 1922. Based on diaries and personal communication the author paints a moving picture of a missionary who until Reichelt’s death in 1952 was number two in cooperation with a more famous pioneer missionary who was regarded as number one. Thelle gives a unique insight into the person, life and ministry of his father and shows both the agony and the joy of being a missionary in China during this period. At the same time Thelle presents what he calls their ‛liberating vision’ which broke with some of the traditional mission strategies and opened up for a less antagonistic and more positive view of other religions, and dialogue with people of other faiths, in this case Chinese Buddhists.

Conclusion

The original intention with this book was to portray some of the work of the various Norwegian churches and mission organizations that were engaged in mission to China in the period from around 1890 until 1949. The authors were given free hands to select topics and perspectives for their chapters.The topics that were chosen and the stories that were told turned out to represent a huge variety that in a unique way characterizes these mission efforts. In missiology after the Second World War concepts such as ‛holistic’ and ‛comprehensive’ are used to describe mission. I believe that the chapters in this book substantiate the thesis that the Norwegian mission to China was ‛comprehensive’, in the sense that it included (with the Greek terms in italics): kerygma, preaching of the Gospel (Steensland, Mikaelsson), martyria, witness, even until death (Kjebekk), koinonia, fellowship and relationship (Gimse, Thelle), diakonia, diaconal service (Strandenæs), leitourgia, liturgy, prayer, hymns (Redse, Kjebekk), dialogos, dialogue (Thelle), and semeia, signs and spiritual gifts (Mikaelsson). In addition we may include cultural and religious studies (Rongen, Thelle), and a spirituality that was characterized by faith, a sense of calling and a passion for China (Eskilt, and all others).

NORWEGIAN MISSION AGENCIES IN CHINA BEFORE 1949: AN OVERVIEW

Frode Steen

There were at least ten Norwegian churches and mission agencies in China during the sixty years between 1889 and 1949. In this introductory chapter they will be presented in chronological order, beginning with the year in which they started work in China. Initially, however, I shall briefly describe the situation in Norway that contributed to the rising interest in mission to China.

The interest for Protestant mission to China increased significantly in Norway during the 1880s, as reports from England through the China Inland Mission (CIM) periodical China’s Millions about the work in China started capturing the attention of mission-minded Christians.

Norway, which in 1891 had a total population of ca. 2 million,¹ had a Lutheran state church (today officially called Church of Norway) comprising the large majority of the population. Early Lutheran mission organizations within the state church such as the Norwegian Missionary Society (founded in 1842) and the Mission to the Santals (founded in India in 1867) had begun caring for the needs of unevangelized peoples in Africa and India, but so far not in China.

Economically by no means a wealthy country, Norway nevertheless always had a population used to travelling overseas. The mild waters of the Gulf Stream had blessed its extremely long coast line with amazingly mild winters despite the high northern latitude. Thus, since the time of the Vikings, Norwegians developed seafaring skills enabling them to settle in places like Iceland and the isles of the North Atlantic Ocean. Young men were attracted to pursuing careers as fishermen and sailors.

Since the middle of the 19th century a strong wave of emigrants had started crossing the Atlantic Ocean bound for America in search of a better life. By 1890 more than 10% of the Norwegian population had moved to America, while many others were to follow.

This mass emigration touched almost every family living in Norway and opened their eyes to the outside world more than ever before.

During the 19th century Norway, as the other Scandinavian countries, experienced deep-going religious revivals that changed the traditional religious landscape and furthered the formation of independent organizations for home and foreign mission. The religious monopoly of the Lutheran state church was broken around the middle of the century and led to the establishment of several free churches. Both in the free churches and the Lutheran voluntary organizations mission was high on the agenda. When mission interest towards the end of the century turned towards China, it happened with great force and created a broad base for mission to China in the Norwegian people. This passion for mission to China led to the following mission initiatives.

The First Norwegian Missionaries to China

The first candidates leaving for China as Protestant missionaries from Norway did not have the option of going as representatives of a Norwegian mission agency, since there was no mission society that had their focus on China at the time.

Two young women from the southern town of Kristiansand, Anna Sofie Jakobsen (1860–1911) and Sofie Reuter (1860–1891), felt moved by God to go to China in 1884.² They left for England in the fall of that year in order to spend a year in a China Inland Mission (CIM) institution before leaving for China the next year in the service of CIM. Before they went to China they had been influenced by the small Lutheran Free Church in Norway and met powerful preachers from different backgrounds such as Lars Skrefsrud, missionary to India and the founder of the Norwegian Santal Mission, and Fredrik Franson.³ They knew the work of CIM through its periodical China’s Millions.

Another candidate from Norway going to China for CIM was Sivert Gjerde in 1890. As Norwegian mission efforts in China were not yet organized, an option was also to go as independent missionaries, such as Ole Næstegaard Sr., who left for China in 1888.

As an increasing part of the Christian community in Norway became aware of the need for mission in China, and the leader of the CIM, Hudson Taylor, signalled that he would welcome the forming of local organizations in different Western countries⁴ instead of having everybody join the CIM, the need for a Norwegian China mission agency increased. Another factor was that the first missionaries sent letters and reports from China which were published in Norwegian newspapers and mission periodicals, describing China’s needs in such a way that many more wanted to join this new mission work.

Den Norske Kinamisjon

⁵

Before leaving for China in 1888, Ole Næstegaard Sr. had an agreement with several groups of local Christians who had promised to support his work in China. One such group in the Norwegian capital of Kristiania (now Oslo), called the Kristiania Committee, was great admirers of Hudson Taylor and the CIM, and asked him to visit Oslo in 1889. When he arrived and spoke about China, they were so impressed with him that they decided to establish Den Norske Kinamisjon (The Norwegian China Mission). It would be a Norwegian branch of CIM, so to speak, closely connected with its mother organization, and confessionally an interdenominational society.When Næstegaard Sr. who was in China at this time, heard the news, he was not too happy to be considered part of the CIM, which meant that he had to apply to the CIM office in China for support since the Kristiania Committee sent their money to CIM. He therefore refused to register as a CIM missionary. But new candidates soon showed up and went to China for the Norwegian China Mission, working with the CIM.

Their main fields of work were the northern parts of the provinces Shanxi and Shaanxi.⁶ By the outbreak of World War II, there were about 1500 Chinese Christians in different congregations organized under Chinese leadership, and 31 Norwegian missionaries serving on the field.⁷

Det Norske Lutherske Kinamissionsforbund

⁸

The Norwegian China Mission did not satisfy everybody’s wish for a Norwegian China mission agency, the reason being that both CIM and the Norwegian China Mission were interdenominational, whereas a large majority of Norwegian Christians belonged to a Lutheran church, either the majority Lutheran state church or the small Evangelical Lutheran Free Church. Even though they highly respected CIM and Hudson Taylor, many church members would feel more at ease joining a Lutheran organization for China mission.

An important point in the discussion was the question whether one of the existing mission organizations, especially The Norwegian Missionary Society (NMS), would consider expanding its work into China. Voices within the NMS were split between yes and no, but its strong leader, Lars Dahle (1843-1925), held the opinion that NMS was too occupied in Madagascar to divert money and resources to a new field. So the answer of NMS and Dahle to this challenge was no. The interest and burden for China were, however, so great among persons and groups of Lutheran confession that they decided to go ahead with their own plans for a new mission organization.

Det Norske Lutherske Kinamissionsforbund (now: Norwegian Lutheran Mission, NLM) was founded during its first general assembly in Bergen on the West Coast of Norway in May 1891. Around 40 representatives from different groups in various locations along the western coast, from Kristiansund in the north to Mandal in the south met to decide the constitution of this new organization, to elect members to its board, and to start the preparation for sending eight missionary candidates to China.⁹

Interestingly, when these eight candidates left Norway in the fall of 1891, their ship took them all first to the United States of America, where five of them stayed on to get further education. Their stay in America was apparently due to the fact that so many Norwegians had emigrated, and that some of these emigrants had recently (1890) formed a Lutheran sending agency for missionaries to China. There was a great interest for China among the Norwegian immigrants in America, and almost every Norwegian had a relative or a friend in America at the time. For some of the missionaries, Christians of Norwegian origin in America could be considered part of their support base.

In China the NLM missionaries eventually chose their mission field in the border area between the provinces of Hubei and Henan. Their centre was located in the town of Laohekou along the river Han, and NLM found itself among Scandinavian missions as neighbours on all sides, guided by a master plan worked out by the veteran missionary Griffith John from the London Missionary Society living in Wuhan. In Laohekou, a hospital and a pastoral training school, as well as other institutions were built. From Laohekou NLM gradually fanned out northward into Henan and westward as far as the border of Shaanxi.

Due to the unrest in 1927, NLM decided to look for an additional field in a Chinese speaking area, and started a new work in Manchuria in 1932. Qiqihar and Nehe in the present Heilongjiang province, and Zalantun in present Inner Mongolia had mission work established before the difficult war times that hindered further evangelistic work.

Both the field in central China and in Manchuria experienced revival and growth in the 1930ies. By 1940, baptized Christians in Central China numbered about 3.600,¹⁰ and in Manchuria about 800.¹¹ At the end of the mission period, a total of 242 missionaries had for a shorter or longer time been involved in NLM’s work in China, including its health care services and educational work.

Det Norske Misjonsforbund

¹²

This Norwegian free church traces its roots back to pastor Gustav Adolf Lammers (1802-1878) who left the Lutheran state church and established a free church in the town of Skien in 1856. His disagreement with the state church was of such a nature, however, that he himself later returned to it, while his break-off congregation remained a free church. People from this background formed the Mission Covenant Church of Norway (MCCN) in 1884. They had a strong desire to be active in mission work. When they did not have the capacity to start their own work, they chose to support others, like CIM in China.

A gifted travelling preacher, Fredrik Franson (1852-1908) from Sweden, living in America, visited MCCN several times, and helped it find suitable mission engagements. In 1899 he visited a MCCN conference in Skien, and there the church, influenced by Franson, decided to start its own work in China. However, he MCCN would cooperate with CIM, which Franson greatly respected, and The Scandinavian Alliance Mission,¹³ started in America by Franson in 1890, recruiting Scandinavian immigrants in America for the China mission work.

The first two missionaries, Christensen and Vatsaas, left Norway by the end of February 1900, and joined Scandinavian Alliance missionaries in Xian, Shaanxi, just before the Boxer Rebellion broke out.

Later, their work expanded in southern Shaanxi, and even crossed the border into Henan. One of their later missionaries, Annie Skau Berntsen (1911-1992), has received much positive publicity in the secular media in Norway, drawing attention to the work she was engaged in both in Shaanxi, and later in Hong Kong. According to the MCCN’s Centennial book, a total of 27 Norwegian missionaries served in China.¹⁴

Den Norske Misjonsallianse

¹⁵

The Norwegian Mission Alliance (NMA) started as a one-man enterprise in Norway in 1901. Ludvig Eriksen (1866-1924) had gone to China ten years earlier as a missionary for the Norwegian China Mission. He had started work in North China in the former province of Chihli (in Norway spelled Tsjili), roughly corresponding to the present Hebei. He stayed in this province, but switched to another mission agency: the Scandinavian Alliance Mission. By the end of the century he had moved his work to Beijing.

In 1900 Eriksen went back to Norway where he intended to stay for one year and then return to China. However, due to the Boxer Rebellion (1900) he had to change his plans. His work in Beijing was badly hurt by the rebellion, and consequently he gave up going back to China. Instead he built a ‛mission home’ in Stabekk outside of Oslo, where he held meetings. From there he started sending money to support his former co-workers in China. Since the Chihli province was very much on his mind, his mission was often referred to as Tsjilimisjonen (the Chihli Mission).When the name of the province was changed to Chahar, Eriksen changed the name of the mission, firstly to The Norwegian Alliance Mission, and then to The Norwegian Mission Alliance.

In 1910 the first group of missionaries was sent to North China. Their field was in the present North-West Hebei, bordering Inner Mongolia, with Zhangjiakou