Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church

Stephen Livingstone Baldwin (1835—1902)

China was designated as a mission field by the General Missionary Committee in May, 1846. The first missionaries sent out were Judson Dwight Collins and Moses C. White, who sailed from Boston April 15, 1847, and reached Foochow September 6. They were followed by Rev. Henry Hickok and Rev. Robert S. Maclay, who arrived April 15, 1848. In 1851 Rev. I. W. Wiley, afterward Bishop, with his wife, the Rev. James Colder and wife and Miss M. Seely were added to the mission. Dr. Erastus Wentworth and Rev. Otis Gibson and their wives arrived in 1855, and Dr. S. L. Baldwin and wife, with the Misses Beulah and Sarah H. Woolston and Miss Phebe E. Potter, in 1859, since which time numbers of missionaries have been added, a few have died, and some have from time to time retired from the work. Much attention has been given to the evangelistic work, and no mission in China has been more successful in winning converts and organizing them into churches than the mission at Foochow. The first converts were received in 1857. In 1862 the number of members was 87.

The mission sent out in 1867 the first missionaries to Central China, Rev. V. C. Hart and Rev. E. S. Todd, who began work at Kiukiang, which work has now grown into the large and successful Central China Mission. In 1869 it also sent Rev. L. N. Wheeler and Rev. H. H. Lowry to Peking, who laid the foundations of the work of the North China Mission.

The Foochow Conference was organized by Bishop Wiley December 6, 1867, by which time the number of members and probationers had reached 2,011. The native preachers who were appointed presiding elders on the organization of this Conference, namely, Hu Po Mi, Hu Yong Mi, Sia Sek Ong, Yek Ing Kwang, and Li Yu Mi, had been raised up in the mission; all having been converted as adults except Yek Ing Kwang, who was converted while a student in the boys’ boarding school. The mission has continued to grow and prosper up to this date.

In 1896 the work in the Hing Hua prefecture and surrounding regions had grown to such an extent that a Mission Conference was organized and is making very rapid progress towards self-support. The North China Mission was organized as a Conference in 1894.

The West China Mission in Sz-Chuen province was ordered by the General Missionary Committee in November, 1880, and Dr. L. N. Wheeler, formerly of the Foochow and North China Missions, with his family, and Rev. Spencer Lewis and wife, sailed from San Francisco September 6, 1881, and arrived at Chung King December 3. The mission, although broken up by riot in 1885 and suffering much tribulation at various times since that date, has been successful and is now well established.

The Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society has done most valuable work in China, and its pioneers, the Misses Woolston, Dr. Sigourney Trask, Miss Clara Cushman, Miss Gertrude Howe, Miss Lucy H. Hoag, M.D., and their successors, are held in grateful remembrance. The following table, compiled from the latest reports at hand, will show the present statistics of the missions in China in some important particulars:

	Members.	Probationers.	Totals.	Benevolent Contuibutions.	Self-support.
Foochow	4,349	4,301	8,650	$777	$3,488
Hinghua	2,338	2,949	5,287	1,885	4,156
Central China	1,531	2,478	4,009	141	5,453
North China	3,738	2,904	6,642	529	3,563
West China	219	118	337	31	172
Total	12,175	12,750	24,925	$3,363	$17,832

The mission to Japan was inaugurated in 1872; Dr. R. S. Maclay, who had been superintendent of the Foochow Mission for a quarter of a century, being appointed to open the work there. He arrived with his family in Yokohama June II, 1873. Rev. J. C. Davison, Rev. Julius Soper and Rev. M. C. Harris were appointed at the outset. The Rev. I. H. Correll, who was originally appointed to Foochow but detained at Yokohama on account of the serious illness of his wife during the voyage, was also transferred to the Japan mission. The formal organization of the mission took place August 8, 1873, in Yokohama, under the presidency of Bishop Harris. It was decided to occupy at once stations in different portions of the empire, Hakodate being chosen for the North, Yokohama and Tokyo for the Center, and Nagasaki for the South. Other missionaries have been added, the evangelistic and educational work has been carried on with much energy, and although the work has been subject to many vicissitudes it has made noticeable progress. The Japan Conference was organized by Bishop Wiley at Yokohama August 15, 1884, the number of members at that time being 907 and probationers 241. In 1898 the South Japan Conference was organized, at which time there were in the whole empire over 5,000 communicants connected with the Church. The Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society has nobly sustained its work in the empire since its first missionary, Miss Dora E. Schoonmaker, was sent out, in 1874. The names of such ladies as Miss Elizabeth Russell, Miss M. A. Spencer, Miss Minnie S. Hampton, and many others, are well known in the Christian world and are a sufficient guarantee for faithful and successful work.

Korea, so long known as “the hermit nation,” had been open to foreign commerce and settlement but a short time when this Society entered upon work in that land. Dr. R. S. Maclay had pioneered the work by visiting the country and making a report on it to the Board at home. Dr. W. B. Scranton and Rev. H. G. Appenzeller were appointed to open the mission and the work was begun, in 1885, at Seoul, the capital. In after years stations were opened at Chemulpo, Pyeng Yang and Wonsan, and the work has been increasing in interest and importance. Mrs. M. F. Scranton, the mother of Dr. W. B. Scranton, was the pioneer of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society, and has been aided by a noble band of sisters who have since gone to the field. More than two thousand communicants are now connected with the mission and the opportunities for successful work seem to be among the best in the whole foreign field.

(Taken from S. L. Baldwin’s Foreign Missions of the Protestant Churches, published in 1900.)