Remember Your Leaders

“Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” Hebrews 13:7

James Hudson Taylor lll, great-grandson of the founder of the China Inland Mission, died on the 20th of March 2009, in Hong Kong. Jim Taylor was born in 1929 in China’s ancient city of Kaifeng, on the Yellow River where his parents served as missionaries (photo above). As a 12-year-old boy, he was interned in Weihsien Concentration Camp for three years, during the Sino-Japanese War. Eric Liddell, the Olympian gold medalist, was also in this camp and taught the boys games. Camp life was very tough but Jim saw how faith stood under trial, for in Weihsien his grandfather and Eric Liddell, along with the Chefoo school staff, modelled the life of faith. He wrote, ‘I saw in Grandpa how the patterns of life had been set. Every day began with praise.’ The camp was liberated in August 1945, and Jim reunited with his parents after five years of separation.

After university, Jim Taylor served in Taiwan with his wife Leone for 25 years. They then moved to Singapore to become General Director of OMF. Under James Taylor’s leadership, OMF was encouraged to continue in their concerns for China & the Chinese people. In 1991 Jim & Leone relocated to Hong Kong & formed Medical Services International (MSI), to serve in Sichuan province. In 2007, in a ceremony attended by 300 people, a county of the Sichuan province conferred on him honorary citizenship as a sign of affection and respect. He was a warm man, and a master storyteller; his love for history enriched his sharp grasp of mission trends. We are grateful for Dr Taylor’s talent and energy, his love of Jesus and quiet humility.

Joshua just took his first public exam – an IGCSE Mandarin oral exam a week ago. He went off to a rugby camp for the weekend and had a great time – returning exhausted and even browner than usual. His school also has a successful girls touch rugby team and they went too. No wonder he had such fun. At the formal rugby dinner on Saturday night, Josh was asked to say grace. We asked why the coach asked him. We prised it out of him that he leads the team in prayer before each game and so has the reputation of being the “Holy Joe” - which he doesn't seem to mind. He's so big that the others probably think twice before teasing him.

We were saddened to hear about the death of Morgan Tsvangirai's wife in Zimbabwe. We continually wonder how much more the country can take. Aimee lay on our bed and sobbed when we told her - then went off to get a pen and paper and wrote to Barack Obama asking him to help bring justice and freedom back to Zimbabwe. More importantly, we continue to pray for these things to the Lord of all the earth.

The Phase Two of renovation work at 2 Cluny Road continues – demolition is almost complete and new structures are beginning to spring up. In addition, the electronic candidate processing system will go live on the 23rd of March.

Next weekend, on 29th of March, we travel to Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand for a week to run a TCK Forum, a gathering of those involved in delivering care to OMF’s children – while our own children stay behind with a courageous child-sitter, Bev! Please pray for preparation time in our currently hectic days and that those that meet with us would be encouraged in the work. Over Easter we plan to have a few days break in Indonesia after a very demanding first three months of 2009. From the 15th to the 19th April, we are looking forward to welcoming Philip & Coral, Anna’s parents, passing through on their way to Australia. Thank you for your prayers.

Steve, Anna, Joshua & Aimée

The Other “3:16” Verse

“Rage is all the rage these days!” Whether it is road rage, air rage, domestic rage or office rage, people seem to be angry much of the time. Even virtual rage exists which sometimes turns into awful reality. Not long ago, an online gamer Qui Chengwei, from Shanghai, tracked down and killed Zhu Caoyuan after a virtual sword Qui used inside a popular game was stolen and sold to another player for nearly £500. Rage on an individual scale is replicated in communities and nations - Gaza, Georgia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe to name just a few.

Where is all this rage coming from? Many know John 3:16. James 3:16 is less-known but also worth memorizing. “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” The source of all human conflict is the frustrated pride and ambition of the human heart, often disguised as false wisdom. Recognizing and responding to selfish ambition takes true wisdom which James describes as moral innocence (not moral naïvety), gentleness, openness to reason, impartiality and a love of peace. The work of Christians is often a work of confrontation – challenging our own selfish ambition as well as that of others.


Demolition work in the old office and dining room is in full swing – 30 skip-loads of rubble have been removed from the site so far, about 60% of the total. Sledgehammers and pneumatic drills can be heard all day every day on every part of the site. In the midst of this controlled chaos, we are well into the first Orientation Course of the year with 28 adults and 7 children who are staying in the nearby YMCA, being bussed up to IHQ for prayers each day and then back again for lectures. Lilian is eight, from a farm in Australia and has 4 energetic brothers. She was chatting with Anna who asked this sweet-faced, young girl how she coped with her brothers. “Ah, no worries,” came the answer, “when they give me trouble I just kick their butts!”

Joshua is preparing for his IGCSE Mandarin oral exam in March. He will have to give a speech, hold a conversation and take part in a role play. Sin Ee, a friend from church is giving him some extra practice. Last Saturday, Josh was working with two friends on a project and as he was leaving to go to youth group at church, he plucked up the courage and asked them both to go with him. To his delight, Reggie agreed to go – Josh texted his Dad afterwards, “it was awesome!”.

Aimée seems to have coped well with the transition to the Anglo-Chinese School. Her maths is holding up well despite her pre-transfer fears (Singaporean school maths is about two years ahead of the rest of the world and was a special area of concern). She has joined the girl’s touch rugby squad and came home ecstatic and filthy after a practice in the pouring rain saying, “It was SO MUCH FUN!”

We are looking for a new Co-ordinator for Third Culture Kid Care and Education in OMF. A couple is seriously considering the role – please pray that they know whether this is the next step the Lord has for them or not. We also need dozens of teachers to help support parents in challenging circumstances across East Asia. So acute is this shortage that we are working with other mission agencies in communicating the need – including advertising in the Times Educational Supplement. The International Personnel System is becoming increasingly established but there is still hard work going on to get the electronic candidate process (“e-Recruiting”) module finished – pray for the team working hard to get this to completion.

Much love

Steve, Anna, Joshua & Aimée