英文摘要

Key Words：Christianity，Protestantism，China Inland Mission，James Hudson Taylor，mission studies，Modern China，anti-Christian riots，missiology

The Acts in Faith：The Study of China Inland Mission and Its Missionary Endeavor in China（1865-1926） （Xin-xin xing-zhuan：Zhong-guo nei-di-hui zai-hua chai-chuan tan-xi〈1865-1926〉） is a revised and elaborated edition from the author’s former M.A.thesis completed in 1984.To the author，who later became a professional historian in mission history and mission studies，the original research on the formation and development of the China Inland Mission （Zhong-guo nei-di-hui zhi yan-jiu） successfully serves as a window to explore the academic latitude of the history of Christian missions in China，of which the spiritual strength those male and female missionaries had equipped，the institutional power and efficiency those Protestant missions，either denominational，or undenominational，and or interdenominational，had demonstrated，and the evangelical spirit those Chinese pastors，preachers，evangelists and church helpers had embraced and radiated.As the author was totally immersed herself in reading those precious missionary resources，all the church history，mission studies，and missionaries’ devotional stories related to Christian missions and their evangelical endeavor in China come to be so fresh，amazing，fascinating and inspirational.

For publishing this book，the author has been diligently engaged in a very solid research on the Occasional Papers and the China’s Millions，the two most essential missionary magazines published by the China Inland Mission to detail its evangelical endeavor and church work in the interior of China.To make the study of the C.I.M.missionary enterprise more meaningful，the author also heavily relied upon the information given by the interdenominational missionary magazine Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal （usually abbreviated as Chinese Recorder），the archives of the late Qing court in managing the anti-Christian riots from 1860 to 1912 （Jiao-wu jiao-an-dang），and the Chinese Christian Year Book from 1914 to 1936 （Zong-hua ji-du-jiao-hui nian-jian）.More than that，a number of biographies and the stories of the China Inland Mission and its missionaries are very helpful in presenting the C.I.M.，its missionary ideology，and its missionary sphere of influence together.Most of these mission work-related biographies and stories were written by James Hudson Taylor （1832-1905），the founder of the China Inland Mission，his son Dr.F.Howard Taylor （1862-1946），his daughter-in-law Mrs.F.H.Taylor （？-1949，who sometimes used her maiden name Ms.Mary Geraldine Guinness in her works），and other important family members and descendents，particularly Messrs.Marshall Broomhall （1866-1937） and Alfred James Broomhall （1911-1994）.The reports of the C.I.M.of 1915，1921 and 1930，and the directories of the C.I.M.of 1910，1920 and 1930 are very important and helpful in research to understand how many missionaries had been working for the mission in those adventurous years.Most of these precious archives and documents related to the C.I.M.study are conserved in China Evangelical Seminary Library and the Library of Modern History Institute at Academia Sinica，both at Taipei，Taiwan.Because “faith is the substance of things hoped for，the evidence of things not seen，” the missionaries came to visit each city，town，and prefecture on mainland China by their own faith in Christ.What the missionaries had experienced was like those early Christians spreading the Gospel in the age of “The Acts” of the Bible.In other words，the study of the C.I.M.and its missionaries in China at the turn of twentieth century can be considered as a book of The Acts in Faith.

More importantly，the study of the China Inland Mission and its evangelical endeavor at the turn of twentieth century still deserves our special attention today if we really want to understand the nature of missionary strategy in the context of so-called “Treaty Century （1842-1943）” in Modern China.The case study will provide some insightful information，if we，as Chinese Christians and non-Christians，continue to inquire the meaning of indigenization of Christianity with its advantages and disadvantages in China and Taiwan at the present time and in the future.As a matter of fact，the book—The Acts in Faith：The Study of China Inland Mission and Its Missionary Endeavor in China（1865-1926）can be seen as a case-in-point that highlights how the so-called evangelistic missionary strategy based on fundamentalism in missiology could be put into personal practice and mission’s operation from the second half of nineteenth century to the early twentieth century.Of course，J.Hudson Taylor’s missionary axiom—“Had I a thousand pounds China should have it.Had I a thousand lives China should claim every one.”—had been deeply rooted in the evangelical spirit of his age.The book vividly illustrates J.Hudson Taylor，his pious character，how he became a prominent and influential missionary leader in the Protestant missionary circle in China during the late nineteenth century，how he formulated his vision of spreading the Gospel into every possible place in the interior of China，and why he succeeded in making the C.I.M.as an ineradicable part of the vocabulary of Protestant missions in world history.After more than half a century’s endeavor，the mission，its missionaries and Chinese workers were fully confident in setting its missionary stations and out-stations in sixteen provinces.They even tried to do itineration in Manchuria and Tibet.

The Acts in Faith is composed of six chapters and eleven appendixes.The author attempts to expound the missionary strength of J.Hudson Taylor as an individual，the C.I.M.fellow missionaries and Chinese evangelists as a team，and the whole evangelical/religious missionary enterprise as an efficient institution.In addition to J.Hudson Taylor’s family background （1832-1849） and his early preparation to be a missionary in England （1850-1854），the case study put more emphasis upon the mission’s preparation period from 1854 to 1865 when J.Hudson Taylor had his first in-the-field evangelical learning and experience mainly in Eastern China.Near the end of such a preparation，he went back to England with his own missionary vision，and decided to terminate his working relationship with the Chinese Evangelization Society. From 1865 to 1866，he tirelessly advocated the necessity of establishing a new missionary organization aiming at converting the Chinese in the interior.As a result，the C.I.M.had been established with its home office in London to manage mission’s financial affairs as well as to recruit new missionaries in England and Europe.To ensure the mission in good operation，he entitled himself as director general in the China mission field to shoulder all the responsibilities over mission affairs.After recruiting the first group of C.I.M.missionaries，J.Hudson Taylor with his fellow workers，18 adults and 4 children and 22 people in total，took the ship “Lammermuir” in 1866 to China and formally began a new page of their missionary adventure in faith.

After the preparation period，the C.I.M.had undergone its early establishment period （1866-1874），its later enlargement period （1875-1890），and its final transformation period （1891-1926），to formulate the so-called C.I.M.missionary strategy.The case study ends in 1926 when Dixon E.Hoste （1861-1946），who succeeded J.Hudson Taylor in 1903 as the general director to oversee the C.I.M.work，represented the C.I.M.and sent an official letter to terminate the mission’s cooperation，connection and relationship with the National Christian Council （zhong-hua quan-guo ji-du-jiao xie-jin-hui），an inter-denominational organization in the pursuit of making the concerted efforts from all Protestant missions when Christianity enjoyed its zenith of converting hundreds and thousands of Chinese people and of expanding its missionary enterprises all over China at the one hand，and had been threatened for its very existence from the shocks and challenges given by the second wave of nation-wide anti-Christian and anti-foreign nationalism movement during the 1920s on the other.

Nevertheless，after more than half a century of persistent evangelical endeavor，the China Inland Mission zealously and faithfully maintained its pure，evangelical，gospel-oriented missionary approach，which put more emphasis upon the biblical teaching，Christian character education and the medical clinical work，to establish at least one church if possible in every mission station and out-station in the interior.Near the end of 1926，perhaps it is due to the missionaries，male and female，mainly under J.Hudson Taylor’s supervision，and their faithfulness in implementing the mission’s evangelical strategy，the mission succeeded in spreading the Gospel to sixteen provinces.The C.I.M.missionaries enthusiastically made Zhejiang，Jiangsu，Anhui，Jiangxi，Shanxi，Yunnan，Shaanxi，Gansu，Guizhou，Guangxi，Sichuan，Hunan，Henan，Shandong，Zhi-li （present Hebei） and Xinjiang，all in their evangelical sphere of influence.After the C.I.M.trained its missionaries to make their best adjustments in their designated stations and out-stations，the missionaries also made great efforts in accommodating themselves to the local customs and Chinese culture by wearing typical Chinese dresses in their itineration routes and speaking the local dialects and the Mandarin official language while doing biblical teaching and other church-related work.All the C.I.M.missionary enterprise had been financed in donations through prayers.

From their deep faith in Christ，it is of no doubt that the C.I.M.led by J.Hudson Taylor first and Dixon E.Hoste later would be so firmly insisted in holding the mission’s own perception to spread the Gospel and laid a solid groundwork for Christianity in China，especially when all Protestant missions encountered a great anti-Christian movement led by the Chinese young students during the 1920s.As the book has shown，the C.I.M.，with its own interpretation of how to make the indigenous Chinese church in the interior，decided to take its own way to direct all the churches under its auspice to reach the goal of establishing “national church” on the Chinese soil in “three-self” principle—self-governing，self- propagating，and self-supporting. However，based on its own missionary experiences and financial condition，the mission unquestionably intended to practice self-supporting first and reaching the other two goals— self-governing and self-propagating later.In fact，as China had endured one turmoil after another from the 1920s to the early 1950s，so did the C.I.M.grasp no opportunity to accomplish its ultimate “three-self” goal of making the indigenous “Chinese Church”.The Chinese Communist Party took over the mainland China from the civil war of 1945-1949，and the Communist government claimed its sovereignty over China by forcing all Christian missions out of China in the early 1950s.In the face of such an unprecedented challenge，the C.I.M.itself once again reorganized to be the Overseas Missionary Fellowship in the hope of continuing J.Hudson Taylor and his fellow missionaries’ vision of spreading the Christian faith among the Chinese and non-Chinese in Asia and other parts of the world.In sum，the evangelical endeavor of the C.I.M.from 1865 to 1926 provides for all readers who are interested in cultural dialogue through mission studies a magic mirror to the process of transmission of faith from the first missionary stage to the second convert stage in World Christianity.