This is the second part of a three-part series on 10 impactful missionaries every Christian should know. See part 1 here.
5. John G. Paton (1824-1907)
John Gibson Paton was a Scottish missionary to the New Hebrides Islands of the South Pacific. He is best known for bringing the gospel to the savage cannibals of New Hebrides and providing them with education.
Paton was born near Dumfries, Scotland, in 1824 to James and Janet Paton. As the firstborn of 12 children, Paton grew up poor. When he was only 12, he learned his father’s manufacturing trade and worked fourteen hours daily. He only had two hours of free time devoted to studying and eating.
Paton’s parents’ perseverance in prayer and complete devotion to Christ profoundly influenced him. Their example led him to confess Christ very young and accept God’s calling as a missionary in his youth. He said, “I had given my soul to God, and was resolved to aim at being a missionary of the cross, or a minister of the gospel.”
Confident of God’s calling for his life, Paton prepared himself for the mission field and moved to Glasgow to learn theology and medical studies. He also worked as a tract distributor, teacher, and city missionary at the lower end of Glasgow. Paton worked as a city missionary for ten years and had a fruitful ministry. But he was burdened by the wail of perishing heathen in the South Seas constantly ringing in his ears. Therefore, when his church called for volunteers for the New Hebrides, Paton believed it was God’s will and answered the call.
Paton was ordained by the Reformed Presbyterian Church on March 23, 1858. He married Marry Ann Robson on April 2, and two weeks later, on April 16, 1858, the newlyweds sailed for the South Pacific.
The Patons arrived on the Island of Tanna on November 5, 1858. Their new neighbors were primitives, wild cannibals who worshipped false gods, had no sense of right and wrong, constantly fought one another, and ate the bodies of their dead. But Paton was determined to lead them to Christ.
Like many missionaries before him, heartbreaking losses marred Paton’s ministry. Three months after their arrival, Mary gave birth to their son, but she died from pneumonia after three weeks. Then two weeks later, their newborn died.
Despite the pain, solitude and the people’s animosity, Paton continued preaching the gospel to the people of Tanna for four years. During that time, he was attacked multiple times and nearly died. And as the attacks on his life increased, it forced Paton to leave Tanna. He returned to Scotland, where he continued to raise support and interest in missionary work in the South Sea Islands.
In 1864, while he was still in Scotland, Paton married Margaret Whitecross. Together, they had ten children, three of whom died in infancy. Two years after their wedding, Paton and Magaret returned to the South Sea Islands and settled on Aniwa, a small island near Tanna.
Though the people of Aniwa had the same superstitions and cannibalistic nature as the Tannese, they were more receptive to Paton’s ministry. Consequently, Paton built orphanages, held worship services, trained teachers, learned the Aniwan language, and translated the New Testament. And by God’s grace, after fifteen years of ministry, Paton saw the entire island of Aniwa come to Christ!
He said, “I claimed Aniwa for Jesus, and by the grace of God, Aniwa now worships at the Savior’s feet.”
Paton eventually left the island of Aniwa and traveled through the South Seas to bring the gospel to other unreached islands. By 1899, Paton published the New Testament in the Aniwan language and established missionaries on twenty-five of thirty islands on the New Hebrides. He died on January 28, 1907, in Melbourne, Australia, at age 83.
Paton was a man of courage who risked his life for the sake of Christ. His life shows us the necessity and privilege of laying down one’s life as a sacrificial offering for Christ.
Learn more about John G. Paton with these books:
- John G. Paton: The Autobiography of the Pioneer Missionary to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu)
- John G. Paton: Missionary to the Cannibals of the South Seas by Paul Schlehlein
- John G. Paton South Sea Island Rescue (Trailblazers) by Kay Walsh
6. Hudson Taylor (1832 – 1905)
James Hudson Taylor was the first Christian missionary to China, where he spent 51 years preaching the gospel. During his mission years, Hudson led thousands of Chinese to Christ, translated the Bible into local dialects, and founded the China Inland Mission (now OMG International).
Taylor was born in 1832 in Yorkshire, England, to Methodist parents James and Amelia Taylor. Despite growing up in a devout family, Taylor was not of the faith. Tried hard as he could, he could not make himself a Christian. So his mother and sister prayed daily for his salvation. The Lord heard their prayers.
One day, while reading an evangelistic tract, God changed Taylor’s heart, and he experienced spiritual birth. Around that time, Taylor also felt God’s calling to the mission field in China. So he spent the next few years preparing for it by learning medicine, mandarin, and Scripture.
In September 1853, four years after his conversion, Taylor sailed for China with the Chinese Evangelization society. Upon his arrival, Taylor noticed many of the other missionaries adopted worldly lifestyles and rarely went to poor and rural areas. Taylor, however, had a burning desire to see the gospel reach deep within mainland China. Therefore, just a few months after he arrived, Taylor traveled to the interior of China to share the gospel. And within his first two years, he made ten inland trips.
Taylor also realized that the Chinese only saw him as a foreigner, so he made the controversial decision to dress like the locals. He even grew a pigtail as the Chinese men did.
In 1857, Taylor became an independent missionary after the Chinese Evangelization could not support him. He met Maria Dyer, a fellow missionary, around that time. They married in 1858 and had eight children, three of whom died in childbirth.
In 1860, Taylor returned to England due to health problems and continued missionary work there. He translated the Bible into a Chinese dialect, studied as a midwife, and wrote a book, “China: Its Spiritual Need and Claims.”
Hudson wanted more evangelistic efforts for the unreached inland China and believed it required a particular mission or organization. So in June 1865, Taylor founded the China Inland Mission with William Thomas Berger. Within a year, the organization had twenty-two missionaries, and in May 1866, they all sailed for China.
Like their founder, the CIM missionaries also adopted the locals’ culture and wore their clothes to the dismay of those around them. The missionaries of the CIM also had no salaries; they just trusted God to provide for them. Taylor spent the following years working relentlessly for CIM. He made several trips in and out of China for CIM and recruited over a hundred more missionaries.
Like many missionaries before him, Taylor also faced personal tragedies. In 1870, his son Samuel died; seven months later, his two-week infant died, then just a few weeks later, his wife Maria died of cholera. These tragedies, particularly his wife’s, deeply affected Taylor physically and emotionally. So much so that he had to return to England for his health.
In 1871, while he was still in England, he married Jane Elizabeth Faulding. And they were together for thirty-three years. Afterward,Taylor made his eleventh and final trip to China in 1905, and died there. He was buried in Chen-Chiang next to his first wife, Maria.
Taylor’s life is a testament to the power of prayer in a believer’s life and a model of complete trust in God. Again and again, he prayed and believed God, and God remained faithful. His life has encouraged countless missionaries like Amy Carmichael and Jim Elliot to trust God. By Taylor’s death, the China Inland Mission society boasted 825 missionaries spread out across all 18 provinces of China. And today, the CIM now OMF is still going strong.
Learn more about Hudson Taylor with these books:
- Hudson Taylor: Gospel Pioneer to China by Christie Vance
- Hudson Taylor: An Adventure Begins (Trailblazers) by Catherine McKenzie
- Hudson Taylor by J. Hudson Taylor
7. Mary Slessor (1848-1915)
Mary Mitchell Slessor was a Scottish Presbyterian missionary to the Efik people in Nigeria. She spent 40 years in Nigeria teaching the Bible to the Efik people, promoting women’s rights, protecting children, and fighting against the infanticide of twins common among the Ibibio people. She is known today as one of Africa’s most influential missionaries.
Mary was born on December 2, 1848, in Aberdeen, Scotland. Her father was a raging alcoholic who lost his job as a shoemaker due to his addiction. Consequently, he moved his family to Dundee and found work in Dundee’s Jute mills. When Mary was 11, she also worked at the mill as a half-timer; she spent half of her day working at the mill and the other half attending school. She worked at the mill full-time when she finished her education at 14.
Mary’s mother received the Missionary Record, a monthly magazine published by the United Presbyterian Church that featured stories of missionaries worldwide. Mary used to read the magazine and was captivated by missionaries’ stories, particularly Livingstone’s adventures in Africa. It sparked in her the desire to become a missionary.
Hence, when Mary heard of Livingstone’s Death in 1873, she resolved to follow in his footsteps and continue his work in Africa. Three years later, when Mary was about 28, she applied to be a missionary with the Foreign Mission Board of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. She trained for missionary work in Edinburg for a few months, then sailed for Calabar, Nigeria, on August 5, 1876.
Upon her arrival in Calabar, Mary quickly witnessed the horrific practices of the people. They killed one another relentlessly, practiced infanticide on twins due to superstitious beliefs, performed human sacrifices to wooden idols, and abused women, slaves, and children. Like Livingstone before her, she abhorred the evil practices rampant on the continent and worked tirelessly to abolish them.
Mary initially lived in a missionary compound in Duke Town, where she spent three years learning the language and culture of the Efik people. But she had a burning desire to travel deeper into Calabar and share Christ with unreached people. So, against counsel, Mary traveled alone inland. But shortly after the beginning of her journey, Mary contracted malaria and had to return to Scotland for treatment. She left for Scotland in 1879 and returned to Calabar 16 months later in a missionary compound in Old Town.
Upon her return to Africa, Mary went to places where no missionaries had gone before. She adopted the culture of the locals, lived with them as one of them, and eventually gained their trust and respect. Besides sharing the gospel, Mary also rescued twin babies from being murdered by tribal leaders and ministered to mothers of twins who were often left to die.
During her time in Nigeria, Mary traveled further and further into the interior of Old Town. She went from village to village, sharing the gospel and rescuing twin babies from murder. She even went to live with the Okoyong tribe, infamous for their violence, drugs, and slavery. Mary lived with that tribe for fifteen years and adopted all the practices she could without breaking the law of God. As a result, she helped resolve the violence within the tribe, encouraged trade, and won souls for Christ.
Mary was 55 years old when she left the Okyong tribe. She spent another ten years going to other unreached tribes and spreading the good news of Christ. When Mary was 67, she became fatally ill from a severe fever. She never fully recovered from malaria she contracted in her early years and suffered from intermittent fevers throughout her life.
She died on January 13, 1915, near the Use village, surrounded by the many children she rescued. The people who named her “Everybody’s mother,” deeply mourned her death.
Mary Slessor left a long-lasting legacy in Nigeria through her love and sacrifice. God used her to transform the beliefs of a nation, rescue hundreds of children from infanticides, and, more importantly, turn many to Christ.
Learn more about Mary Slessor with these books:
- Mary Slessor: Servant to the Slave (Trailblazers by Catherine Mackenzie
- Mary Slessor of Calabar: Pioneer Missionary
