Page 138 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 138
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
rejection in Toronto. At last they were satisfied that Barbara was not going to be a means of his
pulling out in a year or two when the going got rough, and that the ties between them had been
severed once and for all.
It had been a gruelling evening, but he went back to the BTI Hostel an accepted candidate for the
CIM.
CANDIDATES’ COURSE
The next step was three months in London doing the ‘Candidates’ Course’ under Mr. Hogben
(Hoggie). Mr. Hogben had been a school master and was a little bit inclined to treat these young men
and women, many of whom were university graduates, as school children and not adults. For all that,
he was a good teacher, and, to the end of his life, Percy continued to use the form of sermon outlines
given to them in Homiletic classes by Mr.
Candidates for China, 1931, part of “The Hogben.
Two Hundred” enjoying “Comradeship They were now preparing to leave for China in
For China” at Swanwich
October 1931, and were being sent out to speak
at meetings and to give their testimonies in
churches and prayer meetings all over London.
They went together to the Keswick Convention in
July, but it was not the Convention meetings
which remained in Percy’s mind as a lasting
memory, but an encounter some of them had with
Bishop Taylor Smith who at that time was
Chaplain to the King.
On the train back to London, when the Bishop
discovered that a group of young men who had
been accepted by the CIM to go to China in the autumn were on the same train, he left his comfortable
first class carriage and joined them in their third class carriage. They had seen and heard him at
Keswick and some of them had been stopped by him if he met them early in the day. “What’s your
best thought for the day?” he would ask, expecting them to share with him something from their Bible
reading that morning. He was always ready to share his own ‘best thought’ with them in return. Now
as the train sped on its way to London, he shared with them some thoughts from Psalm 27: ‘The Lord
is my Light and my Salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Strength of my life, of whom shall I
be afraid?’ Percy never forgot the message he left with them that day.
RETURN TO CHINA
The new workers of 1931 from England were divided into two parties, the single ladies leaving with
their escort in one ship for Shanghai via Suez and Colombo, while the men’s party with any married
couples sailed a few days later under the charge of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis. It was a hilarious trip which
they all seem to have enjoyed, even more so when their ship reached Colombo and found the girls’
ship still in port. You can be sure they all made the most of the opportunities to do things together,
and for the engaged couples who had expected to be separated till after their time at language school
was over, it was an added bonus which they felt God had arranged specially for them.
138
Amy Moore
rejection in Toronto. At last they were satisfied that Barbara was not going to be a means of his
pulling out in a year or two when the going got rough, and that the ties between them had been
severed once and for all.
It had been a gruelling evening, but he went back to the BTI Hostel an accepted candidate for the
CIM.
CANDIDATES’ COURSE
The next step was three months in London doing the ‘Candidates’ Course’ under Mr. Hogben
(Hoggie). Mr. Hogben had been a school master and was a little bit inclined to treat these young men
and women, many of whom were university graduates, as school children and not adults. For all that,
he was a good teacher, and, to the end of his life, Percy continued to use the form of sermon outlines
given to them in Homiletic classes by Mr.
Candidates for China, 1931, part of “The Hogben.
Two Hundred” enjoying “Comradeship They were now preparing to leave for China in
For China” at Swanwich
October 1931, and were being sent out to speak
at meetings and to give their testimonies in
churches and prayer meetings all over London.
They went together to the Keswick Convention in
July, but it was not the Convention meetings
which remained in Percy’s mind as a lasting
memory, but an encounter some of them had with
Bishop Taylor Smith who at that time was
Chaplain to the King.
On the train back to London, when the Bishop
discovered that a group of young men who had
been accepted by the CIM to go to China in the autumn were on the same train, he left his comfortable
first class carriage and joined them in their third class carriage. They had seen and heard him at
Keswick and some of them had been stopped by him if he met them early in the day. “What’s your
best thought for the day?” he would ask, expecting them to share with him something from their Bible
reading that morning. He was always ready to share his own ‘best thought’ with them in return. Now
as the train sped on its way to London, he shared with them some thoughts from Psalm 27: ‘The Lord
is my Light and my Salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Strength of my life, of whom shall I
be afraid?’ Percy never forgot the message he left with them that day.
RETURN TO CHINA
The new workers of 1931 from England were divided into two parties, the single ladies leaving with
their escort in one ship for Shanghai via Suez and Colombo, while the men’s party with any married
couples sailed a few days later under the charge of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis. It was a hilarious trip which
they all seem to have enjoyed, even more so when their ship reached Colombo and found the girls’
ship still in port. You can be sure they all made the most of the opportunities to do things together,
and for the engaged couples who had expected to be separated till after their time at language school
was over, it was an added bonus which they felt God had arranged specially for them.
138
