The China Missions Quote Project
Igniting A Passion For The Cause
The China Missions Quote Project is an ongoing collection of inspiring, encouraging and challenging quotes from missionaries who have served in the country of China.
| ROBERT MORRISON | |
| Robert Morrison (January 5, 1782 – August 1, 1834) was a missionary to China who is best known for being the first to translate the Bible into the Chinese language. |  |
When asked shortly after his arrival in China if he expected to have any spiritual impact on the Chinese, he answered,
“No sir, but I expect God will!”
― Robert Morrison, Missionary to China, First to translate the Bible into Chinese
Writing to a friend and urging him to join him as a missionary in China,
“I wish I could persuade you to accompany me. Take into account the 350 million souls in China who have not the means of knowing Jesus Christ as Saviour.”
― Robert Morrison, Missionary to China, First to translate the Bible into Chinese
Written in his diary after the baptism of Cai Gao, the first Chinese Christian,
“At a spring of water, issuing from the foot of a lofty hill, by the sea-side, away from human observation, I baptised him in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… May he be the first fruits of a great harvest.”
― Robert Morrison, Missionary to China, First to translate the Bible into Chinese
“There is now in Canton a state of society, in respect of Chinese, totally different from what I found in 1807. Chinese scholars, missionary students, English presses and Chinese Scriptures, with public worship of God, have all grown up since that period. I have served my generation, and must the Lord know when I fall asleep.”
― Robert Morrison, Missionary to China, First to translate the Bible into Chinese
| J. HUDSON TAYLOR | |
| James Hudson Taylor (May 21, 1832 – June 3, 1905) was a missionary to China and is best known for starting the China Inland Mission. |  |
“China is not to be won for Christ by quiet, ease-loving men and women … The stamp of men and women we need is such as will put Jesus, China, [and] souls first and foremost in everything and at every time—even life itself must be secondary.”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“God isn’t looking for people of great faith but for individuals ready to follow Him”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“We did not come to China because missionary work here was either safe or easy, but because He has called us. We did not enter upon our present positions under a guarantee of human protection, but relying on the promise of His presence. The accidents of ease or difficulty, of apparent safety or danger, of man’s approval or disapproval, in no wise affect our duty. Should circumstances arise involving us in what may seem special danger, we shall have grace, I trust, to manifest the depth and reality of our confidence in Him, and by faithfulness to our charge to prove that we are followers of the Good Shepherd who did not flee from death itself…”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home.”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“For what service I was accepted I knew not, but a deep consciousness that I was no longer my own took possession of me, which has never since been effaced.”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“There is a living God. He has spoken His word. He means just what He says, and will do all that He has promised.”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“I feel that I cannot go on living unless I do something for China.”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“I would never have thought of going out to China had I not believed that the Chinese were lost and needed Christ.”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“If I had a thousand pounds China should have it.
If I had a thousand lives, China should have them.
No! Not China, but Christ.
Can we do too much for Him?
Can we do enough for such a precious Saviour?”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him.”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed!”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“We do well to recognize that we are not here as representatives of Western Powers, and that our duties do not correspond to theirs.”
— Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“It is not by trying to be faithful, but in looking to the Faithful One, that we win the victory.”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“Would that God would make hell so real to us that we cannot rest…”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“I am taking my children with me, and I notice it is not difficult to remember that they need breakfast in the morning, dinner at midday, and supper at night. Indeed, I could not forget them if I tried. And I find it impossible to think that our heavenly Father is less tender and mindful of His children than I, a poor earthly father, am of mine. No, He will not forget us!”
― Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“Christ is either Lord of all or He isn’t Lord at all.”
— Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“Now when you are so possessed with the Living God that you are in your secret heart pleased and delighted over the peculiar, personal, private guardianship of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven.”
— Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“Oh! For eloquence to plead the cause of China; for a pencil dipped in fire to paint the condition of this people!”
— Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“Shall not the eternal interests of one-third of our race stir up the deepest sympathies of our nature, the most strenuous efforts of our blood-bought powers? Shall not the low wail of helpless, hopeless misery, arising from half the heathen world, pierce our sluggish ear, and rouse us—body, soul, and spirit—to one mighty, continued, unconquerable effort for China’s salvation?
— Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“We wish to see Christian Chinese men and women, true Christians, but withal true Chinese in every sense of the word. We wish to see churches of Christian Chinese presided over by Chinese pastors and officers, worshipping in edifices of a thoroughly Chinese style of architecture.”
— Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“It is no vain thing to wait upon God.”
— Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“You can work without praying, but it is a bad plan; but you cannot pray in earnest without working. Do not be so busy with work for Christ that you have no strength left for praying. True prayer requires strength.”
— Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
“A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in a little thing is a great thing.”
— Hudson Taylor, Missionary to China, Founder of the China Inland Mission
| GRIFFITH JOHN | |
| Griffith John (December 14, 1831 — July 25, 1912) was a missionary to China and is best known for fluent and fiery sermons given in the Chinese language has been referred to as “The Spurgeon of China”. |  |
“Who would feel it a burdensome task to learn a language which is intended by the providence of God to be a channel through which divine truth like a life-giving stream is to flow into four hundred million thirsty but immortal souls?”
— Griffith John, Missionary to China
“I wish to conquer the language to the extent it is capable of being conquered by a foreigner. Nothing short of this will satisfy me. You may say this is ambition. Confessedly it is. But is there anything sinful in such an ambition? I wish and long to be an efficient missionary of the Cross in this land.”
— Griffith John, Missionary to China
“It is the desire of my heart to labor in the regions beyond.”
— Griffith John, Missionary to China
“To carry on our work efficiently in China we need two things. We need a good staff of native agents and a large reinforcement from home. It is a growing conviction among the missionaries here, that if China is to be evangelised and converted, it must be through the instrumentality of native evangelists.”
— Griffith John, Missionary to China
“The teas, the silks, and the cotton of China will doubtless wean many a merchant from the joys of home and the charms of his native land. Her towering mountains, wide spread plains, placid lakes, magnificent rivers and lovely landscapes, will attract and allure the lover of science and nature. But, oh, will not her four hundred millions of immortal souls, who perish for the lack of knowledge which every student in our colleges possesses, for that bread of life which they have so freely partaken of, induce many a God-fearing and God-loving young man to say, ‘Here am I, send me’?”
— Griffith John, Missionary to China
“What I should like to have is an institution for the education of Christian men who have given some proof of piety and zeal, and to have them under my influence for one or two years, during which period they should go through a course of education similar in character to that of our colleges at home, minus classics. Being prepared for the work, I would fix them down here and there through the country and exercise a kind of general superintendence over them. I should like to work for China, and not to confine my labors to some one particular district, and I don’t know of a better way than the above.”
— Griffith John, Missionary to China
| LOTTIE MOON | |
| Charlotte Digges “Lottie” Moon (December 12, 1840 – December 24, 1912) was a missionary to China and is best known for laying a foundation of missionary support in Baptist churches in America through avenues such as the Women’s Missionary Union. |  |
“I would I had a thousand lives
that I might give them to … China!”
― Lottie Moon, Missionary to China
“Surely there can be no greater joy than that of saving souls.”
― Lottie Moon, Missionary to China
| JONATHAN GOFORTH | |
| Jonathan Goforth (February 10, 1859 – October 8, 1936) was a missionary to China and is best known as the foremost missionary revivalist in early 20th-century China. |  |
“All the resources of the Godhead are at our disposal!”
― Jonathan Goforth, Missionary to China
“If revival is being withheld from us it is because some idol remains still enthroned; because we still insist in placing our reliance in human schemes; because we still refuse to face the unchangeable truth that It is not by might, but by My Spirit.”
― Jonathan Goforth, Missionary to China
“In all things seek to know God’s Will and when known obey at any cost.”
― Jonathan Goforth, Missionary to China
“Seek each day to do or say something to further Christianity among the heathen.”
― Jonathan Goforth, Missionary to China
“Go all out for God and God will go all out for you!”
― Jonathan Goforth, Missionary to China
| C. T. STUDD | |
| Charles Thomas Studd (December 2, 1860 – July 16, 1931) was a missionary to China, India, and Africa and is best known for being one of the Cambridge Seven. |  |
“Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell;
I want to run a rescue shop, within a yard of hell.”
― C. T. Studd, Missionary to China, India, and Africa
“I pray that when I die, all of hell will rejoice that I am no longer in the fight.”
― C. T. Studd, Missionary to China, India, and Africa
“Quantity is nothing; quality is what matters. ‘FORWARD EVER; BACKWARD, NEVER!’”
― C. T. Studd, Missionary to China, India, and Africa
“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”
― C. T. Studd, Missionary to China, India, and Africa
“Had I cared for the comments of people, I should never have been a missionary.”
― C. T. Studd, Missionary to China, India, and Africa
| JAMES O. FRASER | |
| James Outram Fraser (1886-1948) was a missionary to China and is best known for his work among the Lisu people in Yunnan Province and the country of Burma. |  |
“Paul may plant and Apollos water, but it is God who gives the increase, and this increase can be brought down from heaven by believing prayer, whether offered in China or in England. We are, as it were, God’s agents―used by Him to do His work, not ours. We do our part, and then can only look to Him, with others, for His blessing.”
― James O. Fraser, Missionary to China
“It does seem a terrible thing that so few are offering for the mission field. … I can’t help feeling that there is something wrong somewhere. Surely God must be wanting His people to go forward. Does not the Master’s last command still hold good? … As one thinks of even our corner of the world here in Yunnan, there seems a strange discrepancy between its huge districts, large towns, unreached tribespeople waiting for the workers who do not come, and the big missionary meetings at home, the collecting and subscribing, the missionary literature published, etc., etc. And the need is the same, if not greater, in other parts of the world. Hundreds of millions of people who have never yet had the gospel definitely brought before them―a mere handful of missionaries sent out from the home countries to evangelize them.”
― James O. Fraser, Missionary to China
“I believe it will only be known on the last day how much has been accomplished in overseas missions by the prayers of earnest believers at home.”
― James O. Fraser, Missionary to China
| WILLIAM BORDEN | |
| William Whiting Borden (November 1, 1887 – April 9, 1913) was a missionary to China and is best known for dying in Egypt while learning the Arabic language for the purpose of ministering among Muslims in West China. |  |
“No reserves. No retreats. No regrets.”
― William Borden, Millionaire turned Missionary to China
As he reflected on the numbers of Christian workers in the US as compared to those among the unreached peoples in China, he stated:
“If ten men are carrying a log—nine of them on the little end and one at the heavy end—and you want to help, which end will you lift on?”
― William Borden, Millionaire turned Missionary to China
| GLADYS AYLWARD | |
| Gladys May Aylward (February 24, 1902 – January 3, 1970) was a missionary to China and is best known for stepping out in faith and spending all her money on a one-way train ticket to China. |  |
“I wasn’t God’s first choice for what I’ve done for China. I don’t know who it was. It must have been a well-educated man. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn’t willing and God looked down and saw Gladys Aylward. And God said, ‘Well, she’s willing.’ “
― Gladys Aylward, Missionary to China
| BETTY STAM | |
| Elisabeth Alden “Betty” Stam (February 22, 1906 – December 8, 1934) was a missionary to China and is best known for her and her husband’s martyrdom in China. |  |
“Lord, I give up
All my own plans and purposes,
All my own desires and hopes
And accept Thy will for my life.
I give myself, my life, my all,
Utterly to Thee
To be Thine forever.
Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit.
Use me as Thou wilt,
Send me where Thou wilt,
Work out Thy whole will in my life
At any cost,
Now and forever.”
― Betty Stam, Missionary to China, Martyred in China, 1934
| BILL WALLACE | |
| William Lindsay Wallace (January 17, 1908 – February 10, 1951) was a medical missionary to China and is best known for his medical missions in China. |  |
“I want to express to you my sincere and heartfelt appreciation in making it possible for me to go to China as your missionary, your ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ…Why should I go when there are hardships and inconveniences? The only answer I have is that it is God’s plan that I go.”
― Bill Wallace, Medical Missionary to China
Returning to China after a furlough during World War II, he said,
“I’m not going back because I’m heroic. Actually, I’m a coward. But I want to go back because it’s where I’m supposed to be.”
― Bill Wallace, Medical Missionary to China
“What should I do with my life? No, what would God have me to do with my life?”
― Bill Wallace, Medical Missionary to China
| TANNA COLLINS | |
| Tanna Collins (March 13, 1965 – July 31, 1992) was a missionary to China and Nepal and is best known for dying along with her entire family in a plane crash in the Himalayan mountains. |  |
From a page in her Bible that was found at the scene of the airline crash in Tibet in which her and her entire family perished:
“Lord, here in your precious Word I give myself, my husband, my children, and all that I have or ever shall posses, all to you. I will follow your will, even to China. Lord, open doors, and I will go and tell the Chinese of your great love. In time of need, supply for us; in time of sorrow, give us peace; in times of joy, send someone to share. Help me to never murmur nor complain. I love you Lord Jesus.”
― Tanna Collins, Missionary to China and Nepal
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