Words From the Author
For a long time, the need for a church history for the Chinese was felt. It was to record the power of the Holy Spirit and the dedication of the pioneers. Until recently, we had only a few personal life sketches in a chapter in the Story of the Advent Message (復臨運動的故事), Chinese edition, published in 1931.
In 1977 the China Evangelism Committee (中華聖工) was organized. Soon after the organization an editor for such a history was appointed. He had collected much historical data, and a special fund was appropriated by the General Conference for the purpose. But months and years passed, only a few articles appeared on the Last Day Shepherd’s Call.
Over twenty years slipped by, and a good many elderly leaders one by one passed away. Since we had no systematic records and no files, what was memorized in the minds of the existing pioneer workers was the main source of historical records we had. In view of this circumstance your sincerely volunteered and in 1993 received the approval of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists, which was directly in charge of the work in China through the East Asia Committee (東亞委員會), to compile and edit a history of Chinese Seventh-day Adventists.At that time your sincerely was the vice chair and Dr. Eugene Hsu (徐精一) was the secretary of the East Asia Committee.
Though the idea and concept was approved, we had no budget and no staff. Anyhow we started with a committee of elderly volunteers scattered in various localities, among them one had passed away and one was in ill health. The work of collecting historical data was largely on the shoulders of David Shen (沈斌仁) and your sincerely, while Florence Nagel-Longway (那花蓮) helped provide many biographies of overseas missionaries. Later, Wong Yew Seng (黃有誠), who was on the staff of the Chinese Union Mission with headquarters in Hong Kong, joined in to help editing and proofreading.
When approached to write an article for the project, many coworkers remarked, “This project should have been done twenty years ago.” We agreed 100%, but who was to do it? Those who were capable were already loaded with many jobs. Those who were not able or who were unwilling refused to accept any responsibility. So in the end the job fell on one who carried four titles or jobs and was prepared to be criticized for mistakes, omissions, and inaccuracies. It seemed inevitable that he was the one who has worked as an administrator in the China Division, then the South China Union and General Conference and the East Asia Committee. Fortunately this is a collective memoir with many writers who must take the responsibility of what he or she wrote.
The purposes of compiling and publishing this two volume-set of history are at least as follows:
To witness God’s leading,
To record the sacrificial hard work, spirit of dedication, overcoming of difficulties and the courage to move forward,
To learn from such a history,
To serve as a mirror for future church leaders.
The book is divided into the following four main sections:
Chronological denominational history,
Regional mission developmental history,
The work of different departments and institutions,
Individual biographies.
As regarding the last section, there are over 200 articles. Regrettably, quite a few persons who were competent to write did not do so due to various reasons. Many articles we received were written in English, and they had to be translated into Chinese. If this Chinese edition is well received, the Chinese Union Mission may later add more materials and publish an English edition.
During the process of producing this work, we have been deeply moved by the spirit of the pioneers. Though this two-volume set offers only an incomplete account of the activities of some of the Seventh-day Adventist missionaries and national workers since 1888, we sincerely hope you will be inspired by their tireless efforts in bringing Christ to China. May you with an attitude of searching for Hidden Treasure, read this book of history, which is full of blood, tear, joy and praise.
Samuel C.S. Young Ph.D. (楊健生)
Chief Editor