For more than 140 years OMF International fieldworkers have worked in East Asia. Photo courtesy OMF.

OMF celebrates 150 years of God’s faithfulness

The organization looks forward to seeing God raise up a new generation of missionary workers in its midst.

By Wayne Matthews and ChristianWeek | March 25, 2015

This story originally appeared as a larger feature in the print edition of ChristianWeek. View it here.

OMF celebrates 150 years of God’s faithfulness this year. Seeking to glorify neither OMF nor its founder, Hudson Taylor, the mission’s goal is to put the focus on God’s faithfulness. The organization looks forward to seeing God raise up a new generation of missionary workers in its midst.

It is a special time to remember what God has accomplished through His servants in reaching East Asian people, a time to rejoice in seeing God raise up men and women through whom He has touched millions of lives for eternity, and a time to renew commitment to Him and His mission in East Asia.

Thank you for partnering with us over the years. We look forward to working with you to see what God will do in the future.

Remember

Originally known as China Inland Mission, OMF International is blessed with a rich and inspiring history. For more than 140 years OMF International fieldworkers have worked in East Asia.

A well-known missionary in China, OMF (formerly China Inland Mission) founder Hudson Taylor served there for 51 years, establishing 20 mission stations. He was also instrumental in bringing 849 missionaries to the field (968 by 1911), training some 700 Chinese workers, raising $4 million by faith, and developing a Chinese church of 125,000 people. It has been said at least 35,000 people were Taylor’s own converts and that he baptized an estimated 50,000. Taylor’s gift for inspiring people to give themselves and their possessions to Christ was amazing.

James Hudson Taylor was born on May 21, 1832 into a family that often prayed that other countries would come to hear the Word of God.

Yet, at the age of 17, Taylor chose not to follow the God his family knew, turned off by the inconsistencies of Christians who claimed to believe in the Bible yet were content to live as they pleased.

However, Taylor’s sister prayed for him daily. In 1849 Taylor read a tract that would change his heart. The power of prayer became a core value for Taylor, knowing that “the promises were very real, and that prayer was in sober matter-of-fact transacting business with God, whether on one’s own behalf or on behalf of those whom on sought his blessing.”

In 1865, Taylor founded China Inland Mission (CIM), and prayed for workers, knowing millions of people needed to hear the message of Jesus Christ.

In the following years Taylor overcame poor health and financial troubles to complete his medical studies, only to become a missionary to China with the Chinese Evangelization Society (CES). He immediately set out to learn the language after arriving in 1853, but was shocked to see many missionaries at the time had adopted an affluent lifestyle, and few ever travelled further inland to the rural and poorer areas. Taylor instead chose to wear the clothes of Chinese commoners. While at first he was ridiculed, soon people no longer saw him and the message he preached as foreign.

In 1857, Taylor resigned from the CES to reach the Chinese in rural and inland areas, and was convinced a new mission was needed. While shouldering such a burden deeply troubled him in the beginning, it wasn’t until realizing the responsibility had always been God’s and not his, that he took up the challenge.

In 1865, Taylor founded China Inland Mission (CIM), and prayed for workers, knowing millions of people needed to hear the message of Jesus Christ.

In 1866 the first 18 missionaries joined Taylor in China, and another 18 in 1870. In 1886 he issued another call for 100 workers to join them, and 102 joined by the end of 1887. In 1888 the first North American party was sent.

The legacy of Hudson Taylor continues; he was known as a man of prayer right until the end. Taylor would say he as “only a servant of a faithful God.” Taylor died in 1905 and was buried in Changsha, Hunan. CIM became known as Overseas Missionary Fellowship, and eventually OMF International, established and supported through Taylor’s example of service and prayer.