The Swedish Mission
Autobiography of YinYing
The time in Ruihua Middle School
When I was in Middle School, we all had to live and study at the schooldormitory. We could go home to visit our families only on week days. In thedormitory there were four students to a room. Two shared one bed and the fourof us shared one table. In the evening each of us brought our little vegetableoil lamp and placed them on the table, two (??) oneach side so that we could see to study. In those days the petroleum oil wascontrolled by the Japanese. It was a precious item for the war and there was noway that civilians could use it. So we used vegetable oil instead. During theevening study time we had to study in our rooms and later when the bell rang weall went to the chapel for evening prayers. The chapel was dark, so everystudent brought their own little peanut oil lamp. We all knelt down to pray.After the prayer one person led us in singing: ñHumbly before Jesus, humblybefore Jesus, let us be humble all the way.î After prayer we went to ourdormitory to go to bed. This evening prayer really had an impact on my life. Icannot forget it. Even now I still can see the scene vividly: everyone holdinga little lamp, like a flock of fire beetle or as a group of little angelsgathered together. There is no way that I can forget these beautiful and holymoments of my early youth.
Ruihua Middle School had a staff of teachers who mostly came from theChristian University of Qilu (a very famous university in Shandong). So ouracademic standing was always above that of other schools in the area! One of myteachers, Mr. Fong Kong Zhen[1],who taught history and geography, was more talented than the average teacher. Iremembered that whenever he came to our class, he always brought a stick underhis arm that was a foot long. He used this to point at the black board whenteaching. He also brought a few pieces of chalk in his hand. Mr FongÍsfamiliarity with history and his skilful teaching led us into the history ofancient to current events. I admired him for his excellent memory of historicalfacts in detail. We were all captivated by his teaching. One thing that struckme was how he ever could memorize all those historical dates and eventscorrectly! What a teacher he was! He did not only teach history, but alsogeography classes. He taught well beyond the printed materials in the book. Healso drew maps on the black board. So I could remember keenly what he taught usin class. If I only could grasp 20% or 30% of his lecture, I would gain moreknowledge than by studying the whole book on my own! Mr. Fong was not only a talented teacher, but a good writer. Hewrote scripts for drama. Once for a Christmas show he wrote a skit calledñIntroductionî. I was one of the actors. Mr Fong was very tall, so we calledhim ñTall Guyî. He was about 180 cm (six[2]foot and 8 inches tall). Unfortunately he suffered from tuberculosis, his bodywas weak and he died at the age of a little over thirty. It was such a waste oftalents.
Later on I learned that our teachersÍ salaries were very low. So Mr.Fang (Fong?) must have suffered from a lack ofnutrition, which may have contributed to his early death. In those days theJapanese controlled the three Northern Provinces of China. The schools had ashortage of funds. The Ruihua School was a Church School, and offered freeeducation to the community. Even later, when a symbolic student fee was introduced, there was never enough to coverthe expenses! Particularly during the Second World War when communicationbetween Europe and Asia was cut off, there was no way for the Swedish Missionto transfer money to support the mission in China. Even the missionaries had torely on selling off some of their belongings to cover their daily needs. Thiswas true also of Rev. Egron Rinell. In a situation like this of course thesalary for the teachers was lower than we can imagine!
As students we were better off than our teachers, because our familiesbrought food to us. The teachers had two meals a day with BINXI[3] (steamed bread made of a kind of grainand beans) and some preserved vegetables. We had heard that if the teacherswanted wheat bred, they had to purchase a few pounds of wheat grain and grindthe flower by hand on stone mortars.[4]This illustrates just a little bit of the hardships of those days! I admiredour teachers, who regardless of suffering starvation, faithfully taught us anddidnÍt quit their jobs! Our principal, Mr Wang, and his family most likelydidnÍt have enough food for regular meals every day. Their family ate uncookedyams for a living. When his family complained, Mr. Wang got down on his kneesand prayed. Students heard about this and, knowing that Mr. Wang would refuseto accept any charity from others, the students made packages of steamed breadand threw it in Mr. WangÍs yard. Those packages helped the family to survive. Once Mr. Wang witnessed and said that one day afterhis prayer, there came food from heaven. That day the whole family had survivedfrom such a package!
Mr. Wang and the other teachers were models of teaching faith in action.Every time I think about them I cry! This kind of education into faith byaction was not taught in the text books, but by their faith in their dailyliving. No wonder the students from the school never will forget what theylearned. With grateful hearts they learned a life-long lesson how to trust inGod. What a model beyond the history of education in our country Æ China.
Our spiritual well being was central for the education at the RuihuaSchool. We had Bible-studies within our curriculum. In music class, taught byMr Wang himself, we also sang hymns. Every day we had morning prayers andworship. At evening time we had evening prayers. Sunday worship and SundaySchool was obligatory for everyone. The most important event in each semesterwas the one week revival meetings (FENXIEN JUIHUE)[5].All classes were discontinued so that we could go to meetings all day long. Thewhole school was totally involved in Revival Week! Almost all the famouspreachers of that era came to our school to lead the revival meetings, such asJohn Sung, Wang Mingdao, Li Jisheng, Xie Baoluo, Dong Ji Tien etc. [6] I especially remember a blind man, Mr.Xie Baoluo. His sermons touched many of us. During the week of revival meetingsour principal Mr. Wang visited us frequently at the student dorm. He knelt downto pray with students, to encourage them to confess their sins and accept JesusChrist as their Lord and Saviour. At the evening meetings a lot of people weremoved by the Spirit and cried, confessing their sins. The whole school wasfilled with the movement of the Holy Spirit - everyone was touched by theSpirit. I remember our Chinese teacher Mr. Zhen Yu Dien who, in the midst ofthe revival meeting, cried so that mucus from his nose dripped down to hischest, almost one foot long. I can hardly forget that picture of him.
In later years, when I visited the Swedish missionary Rev. Egron Rinell,he added some interesting memories from these revival meetings. He said thatone of the speakers had visited him in his home and while they were talking,the coffee table crushed into pieces. That table had been firm and strongenough for many years and why this happened no one could ever explain! Anothertime when the preacher was preaching a fly suddenly flew into his throat sothat he had to end his sermonƒ Pastor Egron Rinell said to me that when theHoly Spirit is working with people the devil is working too. These two eventsreally impressed Pastor Rinell.
The Profile of Rev. Egron Rinell (The Big Pastor Rinell)
When I was a student at Ruihua Middle School, Mr. Wang Hua Ting was the principal and Pastor Egron Rinell was the Chair of theBoard of Trustees. He was from the Swedish Baptist Mission. The reason why Icalled him ñBig Pastorî was because of his biological order among the siblingsin his family. His brother was called ñSecond Pastorî, the Rev. Oscar Rinell.Big Pastor Rinell lived close to the school and the church. We called theirhome ñThe Rinell Gardenî[7].The garden was big and included not only the house but also a huge lawn andflower platforms and a pavilion. It was very famous in Jiaozhou at the time. Wegot a chance to get in to the garden since the summer camp was always heldthere. We sat on the huge lawn with its beautiful green colour, something thatwe could seldom see in our country! At the South side of the garden there was ahouse that was Second Pastor RinellÍs home. There was also a Swedish Schoolthere for the children of the Missionaries. There was another house at NanGuan, Golenzi Qiau Street[8].This was far from our school, so I have never been there. I only saw the bigblack gate beyond the curved bridge. This was the home of the missionaries WeiJiaoshi and An Jiaoshi and others.[9]
Missionaries of the Swedish Baptist Mission lived in comfortable homes.In those days nobody said a word about the gap in the standard of livingbetween rich and poor. We just assumed that missionaries should live in thisstyle. I think it was possible because the foreign currency was strong whenexchanged into Chinese currency. This helped them to be able to afford to liveas upper class people. I clearly remember when I visited Rev. Egron Rinell, theBig Pastor, many years later in Sweden, how his son in law, Dr. Hermansson, toldme that when he visited Taiwan several decadeslater that the American currency exchanged into New Taiwan currency madeeverything seem cheap to him. Of course this must be the case! In those daysthat was true of Taiwan. It seems to me that during the time in Jiaozhou allthe missionaries lived in the best houses. They had motor vehicles for theirtransportation while others mostly used bicycles! They had hired servants, aluxury far beyond the normal standard of living. For those who worked inThailand and the Philippines, where there was serious poverty beyond what wastrue of other places in Asia, the cost of living was very low, and servantscould be hired for even less money. Most likely the missionaries in that areahad several servants such as a cook, a laundry lady, a baby-sitter or nanny,and a driver. They lived like the noble class compared with the pioneermissionaries to China. There is no comparison, the difference was like thedistance between heaven and earth!
In the 1920Ís missionaries exchanged foreign currency to the localcurrency and benefited from the difference between them. We cannot imagine whathappened in history! But after all these years, the question has bothered mefor a long time. Why is there a big gap between the salaries of Western andChinese clergy? Is it because the Western Clergy is more valuable than theChinese Clergy? Or is it just a difference between people? Even today I have mydoubts, because this has not been resolved! I wonder why we have to set up twodifferent standards for GodÍs servants. We should be equal regardless ofnationalities! I cannot understand this!
Big Pastor Rinell was everyoneÍs favourite. His handsome appearance andwhen he dressed up in a Chinese long robe he looked as a high class gentleman.He spoke fluent Jiaozhou dialect and attracted people with his humour andlively preaching. Once he covered a lit candle with adrinking glass. When the oxygen was used up the light of the candle wentout, first slowly, then completely. He said that itÍs just like a person whowants to shine, but without the Holy Spirit to supply the light of God, thehuman light soon will be gone. This candle demonstration of the light of Godreally impressed me a lot!
Big Pastor Rinell Also taught us English. His Oxford English made ourconversational English courses very lively and interesting. Big Pastor Rinellwas educated at the British ñChefoo Schoolî[10]run by the China Inland Mission in Yantai. His penmanship was extremelybeautiful. Every week he wrote a sentence on the blackboard on the wall of theClass Room, and asked every student to copy his writing. That was my favouritepart of learning English in the class!
Whenever we had classes with pastor Rinell, the Big Pastor, he alwaysliked to sing a song: ñI am H-A-P-P-Y, I know I am, IÍm sure I am, I amH-A-P-P-Y.î His cheerful voice led us in the singing of this light melody. Weall responded and enjoyed singing back and forthwith him. Then heÍd change the mode to sadness and sing: ñI am S-O-R-R-Y..î Hecould express himself in different ways and used the same song and the samemelody to mix happiness and sadness of life. This was exactly what I recallfrom the weave?? of my childhood years.
Big Pastor Rinell told me that, since he grew up in Northern China, heliked to eat Jiaozi (boiled dumplings). When he was little he had an eatingcompetition. Once he had eaten a few dozen Jiaozi he ran a circle of the CityWall to help the digestion. Then he ate some more. Jiaozhou had a double CityWall. The inner wall was built around the county government administrationcenter. The outer wall was called Weizi. It was a wall wide enough to ride achariot on[11]. I donÍtknow how long it took to run a circle of the whole wall. I just assume thatthis young missionary had passion and love for the town where he had grown up ÆJiaozhou.
The Proclamation of the Gospel in China by the Ruihua Baptist Church.
(An Overall Picture of the Swedish Baptist Mission in Shandong)
- The forced departure of the last missionary from Jiaozhou.
In the Spring of 1981 I visited Uppsala, Sweden for the first time. Ivisited my English teacher from my younger years at Ruihua Middle School, Rev.Egron Rinell Æ Big Pastor Rinell. We hadnÍt seen each other for decades. Helooked very old and had lost his young and handsome appearance. He sighed overhow fast life passes by and brought out an albumof memories. It showed his classmates from Bethel Seminary, all of which hadpassed away. At the age of almost 90[12],he was the only one left. Mrs. Gerda Rinell had ParkinsonÍs Disease and livedin a nursing home. She could only come home for a while on week-ends. They weremarried at Jianzhu Baptist church. For those days that was a huge event for thecommunity of that church. Mrs. Gerda Rinell was the soprano of the church. Sheusually sang solos during the Sunday worshipservices. Her beautiful voice rang to the ceiling of the church. Its ringingwas unforgettable and we all admired her. Time had gone by, they were aged. Next time I visited Sweden both of them hadpassed away.
The Swedish Mission served in Jiaozhou for half a century. Because ofpolitical changes the Mission had to leave in 1951.[13]They left the country and the ministry in a hurry, leaving the Chinesebelievers behind. This was the end point of the Swedish Baptist Mission era inJiaozhou.
In the year 1948 the Communist Army came to Jiaozhou for the second time[14].Most of the Swedish Missionaries had left, but Big Pastor Rinell and his wifewere still there. He was firm and tall as usual. To Big Pastor Rinell this washis home, he was born in China, he had grown up in Jiaozhou, he married thereand had his children there. So why should he leave his home and not continue topreach the Gospel and win people for Christ in his home town? He insisted notto obey the armyÍs command when they ordered him to leave. They told him:ñEgron Rinell, you live here and the house now belongs to China. You eatChinese food and drink Chinese water, you even breathe Chinese air Æ all thesebelong to China! Nobody welcomes you any more. Get out of here and go back toyour own country immediately!î This was a kind of ñkicking out orderî! Withsadness Big Pastor Rinell packed up his things and left the place he loved withendless remorse!
When Big Pastor Rinell left Jiaozhou his first stop was Qingdao. TheRuihua Middle School was closed and not permitted to reopen. Pastor Rinellinvited Mr. Wang, the principal, to visit Sweden.[15]He stayed for one year and visited many places. In 1949 he caught the lastplane from Hong Kong back to China. Pastor Rinell went to Japan for a few yearsto work among Japanese students and retired from this mission field in 1963. He went back to his homeland for retirement, buthis heart was still in Jiaozhou. We shared a lot of memories together,particularly related to Mr. Wang, whom we had not heard anything from. WhenChina opened its doors later on, I sent a letter from Hong Kong to Qingdao, andthrough several diverse contacts Mr Wang wasfound. I reported this to Big Pastor Rinell immediately. Mr. Wang was stillliving! Some time later the Second Pastor Rinell went with a team to visitQingdao and Jiaozhou. They met Mr. Wang and other friends. Big Pastor RinellÍsdaughter Alice wrote a letter and told me about their journey and how they met.I felt relieved that Big Pastor Rinell received this message before his death.He is now resting in peace in the LordÍs bosom!
Of Big Pastor RinellÍs children only Alice stayed close to take care ofhim.[16]AliceÍs husband Dr. Hermansson had died in a heart attack. Now Alice lives inthe small apartment which her parents left behind. It contains many preciouspictures from Jiaozhou. The photo materials I have used in this book mostlycame from these resources. Most of them were taken by Big Pastor Rinell, whohad a camera even if it was second hand. But he was the only one who gave usprecious records of Jiaozhou.[17]
Alice is not only fluent in English bur also in the Chinese Jiaozhoudialect. But she can only read and write a little in Chinese. In the past missionarieswho came to China learnt the Chinese language at ñGuan Hua Xuexiaoî[18],the official school of mandarins. A specialist would teach them not only tospeak Chinese, but also to read and write. Alice told me that Mrs HellenRinell, Second Pastor RinellÍs wife, had read the whole Chinese Bible, both theOld and New Testaments, for learning purposes.[19]What an amazing journey for a foreigner into the Chinese language!
Alice is still in good health, but her fatherÍs generation is gone.Their fidelity to the mission and their vision for the mission is still alivewithin the hearts of those whom they have touched in China!
- The earliest Three Pioneer Missionaries to Jiaozhou.
While I was in Sweden Big Pastor Rinell gave me a book written tocelebrate of (delete ñofî) the first fifty yearsof the Swedish Baptist Mission in China. The editors were Rev. J. A. Rinell,Rev. J. E. Lindberg and Mr. Hu Shu Xian. It covers the period from 1891 to 1941and gives a comprehensive account for the Swedish Baptist Mission in China.
In the introduction it is stated that the Swedish BaptistÍs involvementin overseas mission started in 1877. At this time there was a desire toproclaiming the Gospel in China. Some churches had sent missionaries in to worktogether with the English missionary Hudson Taylor. When he came to Sweden topreach he also visited the Bethel Seminary.[20]When the students heard TaylorÍs report from the China mission, their interestto respond to this mission field increased. In the group of seminarians thatlistened to him there were three who applied to go to China: Carl Vingren, J.E. Lindberg and J. A. Rinell.
- Pastor Carl Vingren
Rev. Carl Vingren reached Shanghai in March 1891[21],the first thing he did was to shave part of his hair and wear a wig of horsetail under his hat, all dressed up as a Chinese. Then he went to An Qienschool, where missionaries learnt the Chinese language. Later on he travelledto many places to look for a suitable field for the mission. In Shandong hevisited Yantai, Dengzhou, Laiyang and eventually came to Jiaozhou, the smallXiao Qiou Tiu[22] . He rentedeight rooms for the mission and started evangelic work among the local people.Unfortunately he had difficulties to adjust to the environment and became ill.He was sent back to Sweden. Later he served several churches in America as apastor. But he never forgot China.[23]
- Pastor J. E. Lindberg
Pastor Lindberg first came to Jiaozhou together with Pastor Carl Vingrenin 1892. They rented a house for the mission andsettled down there in 1893. In 1903 Mrs. Lindberg started a primaryschool for girls at Meu Ho Qiou [24]inJiaozhou. Later on the Lindbergs moved to Zhucheng, where they bought propertyand built the foundation for mission work there. Pastor Lindberg was not onlyresponsible for the Church, he was also principal of the school. He was apassionate writer and published books on ñThe origin and resources ofancestor-worship in Chinaî, ñThe Baptist Missionaries in Chinaî and othersubjects. Pastor LindbergÍs ministry focused on the social conditions, heserved the community by running schools and hospitals. He was an advocate forministry among drug addicts and for the release of bound feet among women inChina etc. He was a pioneer for openness toward Chinese tradition and culture.[25]He worked all over Jiaodong in Rizhao, Jiuxien etc. These were all pioneercities for the Swedish Mission work.
- Pastor J. A. Rinell
We called Pastor J. A. Rinell ñOld Pastorî. He died when I was in RuihuaElementary School so I donÍt have many memories of him. But I remember his wifeMrs. Hedvig Rinell. She lived at Da Jing street and every Sunday she rode on acart to the Church. It was a beautiful mule cart with red shafts and bluecovering. It looked very elegant. No one else had that kind of a vehicle inthose days. Even if I didnÍt meet him, I heard stories about Old Pastor Rinell,since he was one of the three famous pioneer missionaries to Jiaozhou. Rev. JA. Rinell and his wife were the founders of Ruihua Elementary School and RuihuaMiddle School. People in Jiaozhou were thankful for his contribution and whenhe died they built a monument at the right side outside the Church. When thestone was uncovered there was a ceremony led by Rev. Han Fengming and all themerchants and officials of the city were there. The monument was black withwords in red characters. Rev. Han and the Chair of the merchantÍs associationstarted the celebration by uncovering the stone. This was the year after 1941.I was sorry to learn that the monument as well as the big church building weredestroyed during the Cultural Revolution.[26]When I asked about the condition of the church after China introduced a moreopen policy, my teacher Mr. Feng Zanting wrote to me and said: ñNot a singlestone will be left in its place!î (Mathew 24:2).
Who could ever have thought that the beautiful church would be damagedand destroyed over night. Old Pastor Rinell spent all his life in Jiaozhou. Helaid the foundation for the Baptist Mission there and his two sons, Big PastorRinell and Second Pastor Rinell, followed in his footsteps serving the mission.Old Pastor Rinell died from illness in the year 1941 in Qingdao. He was buriedat the Qingdao International Public Cemetery. Unfortunately this cemeterydisappeared owing to reconstruction of the area.[27]
Pastor J.A. Rinell, Old Pastor Rinell, came to China in 1894. When hearrived in Jiaozhou he started to learn the Chinese language and at the sametime he engaged in the evangelistic outreach. Shortly after his arrival theSino-Japanese War began (Jia Wu War) and the city turned against foreigners.Old Pastor Rinell and his wife fled to Yantai for a short period of time. Evenif there were difficulties, Old Pastor Rinell never ceased to proclaim theGospel of our Lord. Four years later, in 1898, four people were baptized andbecame Christians. At this time Old Pastor Rinell found that it was time toorganize a church in Jiaozhou. While he was busy with church work, the countygovernment asked Old Pastor Rinell to help them set up the Post Office. So hecontributed to the convenience of communication for the people in the country! After a short time the civil war of Quan FeiZhi Zhan (ñthe Boxer rebellionî) started, so in 1900 Old Pastor Rinell had toflee again, this time to Qingdao! On coming back to Jiaozhou he went toWangtai, Longjiacun and Kaomi to build up churches. By 1940 the Ruihua BaptistMission had 12 district congregations with 5,000 members. Old Pastor Rinellmade Jiaozhou the head station with an outreach in four directions. He alwaysencouraged the believers to gather their treasures in heaven. His faith wasvisible in action with an emphasis on education and guidance of the members intheir offering. So that even later on, when the mission budget was cut down,the church could stand strong in self support of its ministry. That is what hedid for the church. Old Pastor also contributed to literature. Among otherbooks he wrote: ñThe Civil War on Juan Fei Zhi Zhanî (published 1906), ñTheRuihua BaptistsÍ 15 years historyî (Published 1907), ñDifficulties in overseasevangelismî (Published in 1910), and ñThe Mission Challenge and weî (Publishedin 1932).
Old PastorÍs wife, Mrs. Hedvig Rinell graduated from TeacherÍs College.She played an important role in Chirstian education. She assisted Old PastorRinell in building up Ruihua GirlÍs School, Ruihua Middle School and also theWomenÍs Bible School.[28]The couple also used their spare time for charity, especially within farming,irrigation, famine relief, war time crisis and in care of dysfunctionalfamilies. People trusted him for fund raising when disasters struck. You neverheard Old Pastor complain for his heavy duties. He tried his best to fulfil hisresponsibilities with a cheerful heart. He served Jiaozhou 47 years, and returnedto his own country only three times for short furloughs. The couple had fivechildren. Two sons entered Bethel Seminary in Sweden and came back to doevangelistic work in Jiaozhou upon graduation. What a contribution to Jiaozhou.No wonder that people, after his death, wanted to set up a monument to rememberhis achievement for the people in Jiaozhou.
- The Achievement of the Ruihua Baptist Mission in China
According to the book on the first 50 years of the Swedish mission, thesituation in Shandong was very different compared to what met Robert Morrison.When he arrived in China in 1807, he hoped that after one hundred years therewould be one thousand believers in China. But it took him ten years before hebaptized the first Chinese believer. Soon after that Morrison died. Fifty threeyears later, in 1860, there were about 1000 Chinese believers. The SwedishBaptist Mission Church in JiaoZhou and Dong Shu (??)County had baptized 6 628 in 1941 and in the whole nation there were over500 000 believers. Of course there is no comparison!
Rev. Carl Vingren, the first generation missionary of the SwedishBaptists, visited many places in China. In the end he chose to start work inShandong. One of the reasons for his choice was that Shandong was the HolyProvince of China, the home of Sages like Confucius and Mencius. It would bepossible that Mission work in Shandong would influence people nationwide. Sofrom that kind of thinking the new format of education was promoted all overthe Eastern part of Jiaozhou (the traditional Confucianprivate tutoring school had already been suspended by the government). OldPastor Rinell really changed the educational culture in Shandong, particularlythrough the Elementary School and the Middle School in Jiaozhou, as the pearls inthe crown - besides other ministries he did for the Swedish Baptist Mission inChina.
According to the 50 year book, the Swedish Mission started theirministry in Jiaozhou in 1893. At that time the population of Jiaozhou was50 000 and there were 1 282 villages in the countryside with apopulation of 365 576. From the year 1893 to 1940, totally 47 years, themission had proclaimed the Gospel in seven counties each(??) with 400 000 inhabitants. More people had heard the Good Newsof our Lord.
- Education
The Swedish Baptist Mission set up schools starting in the Eastern partof Jiaozhou as vehicles of evangelism. They founded schools all over, alsopioneering schools for Chinese girls. They showed openness to give equalopportunities to both girls and boys. The main founder of the educational workwas Mrs. Hedvig Rinell, Old PastorÍs wife. She not only operated the famousRuihua Schools, both the Primary and the Secondary Schools, to begin with shealso was the principal of Ruihua GirlÍs School. The Ruihua church neededtrained Chinese evangelists, so the Ruihua Bible Institute was started. Itoffered a three year Bible course to strengthen and equip laity for theministry. Later on that proved to be a key to success for expansion of thelocal ministry. Old Pastor was the principal of the Ruihua Bible Institute[29].All the schools that Swedish Mission started were famous. They were beneficialto all the Shandong children and young people of that time.
- Social Activities and Charity
At the time when the Swedish Baptist Mission came to China, the economyin China was in many ways far behind that of the European countries. Along withproclaiming the Gospel there was a Mission outreach of many kinds of activitiesfor the local people, such as campaigns to stop opium smoking, building up postoffice services with the local government, disaster fund raising, promotion ofwomenÍs rights. At this time there were serious issues caused by poverty, suchas throwing out new born female infants along the road side to die, andsupporting women and men who had no value or position in society[30],releasing the bandages of women subject to foot binding (according to custommen regarded small feet most attractive, but it was an unethical and harmfulprocedure for women). The Church also opened an orphanage to receive manyabandoned babies. The Swedish Mission cared about the needs of the people inthose days, so that the harvest of the mission grew rapidly as a natural resultof the Gospel of Christ! All the above were important achievements of theMission.
- The Policy of Openness of the Swedish Baptist Mission
When I read the book on the first fifty years of the Shandong RuihuaMission, I was touched by their vision for the mission some 60 years ago. Theirinsight was far beyond many others. I was amazed to find that in the 1940Ís,the Swedish Baptists Mission had set up goals to let the Chinese Church beIndigenous with Self support, Self nurture, Self control of theiradministration, and Self proclamation of the Gospel. What an insight andopenness for the ministry in China. This policy is like Sun Light from aboveover the land of Missions in China even today! According to historical recordsfrom the 60Ís or even from the 70Ís many Western Missions have not yet decidedon the policy for their mission in China. How can an unclear target leadmissions to success? At the same time with the awakening of the Asian ChineseChurches, the local leaders fought for theirright and power causing tension between Western Mission and Chinese Congregations.Instead of working together as a team for the Gospel, they worked against each otherÍs desire for control. What ashame!
Since 1949 the political situation has changed in Mainland China. Manyof the Missions from China were relocated either to Hong Kong or Taiwan tocontinue their work. Unfortunately the relocation did not change the policy ofWestern Missions within the Chinese Church community. The bosses of the MissionChurches were the Westerners. The policy was set up by them and from them andthe Chinese clergy or other workers just submitted to their decisions withoutparticipating or trying to change their policy. Of course a lot of policieswere wrong for the mission of today, but since the Chinese workers and clergyonly played the role of listeners, there was no way to change the incorrectways. This is very sad! In Hong Kong, particularly as a British colony, theWesterners from the Missions became the Kings and Queens with absolute power indecision making. Whatever the missionaries or the Mission Board said became theWILL OF GOD! Nobody could ever say ñnoî to them! From the conclusion of theRuihua Baptist Mission 50-year book, the Swedes in Shandong approved the policyto let the church of China grow by being indigenized.[31]Is this ChristÍs policy for todayÍs church mission too!
ChinaÍs greatest need is Christ! The first priority is not a culturallyadapted Christ, or an artistic Christ, not even a theologically correct Christ,but the Christ of the Gospel, the Good News of Christ. There are the Beatitudesof the Nazarene, the dynamic of the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ. It issaid that the Chinese mission (or Church??) needsto be Chinese and speak in Chineseƒ Let the Ecumenical Christians allow theNaturalized Chinese to join the team. For the Christian faith to be rooted inChina we first of all must let it become a Chinese Church and let it grow in aChinese style. The dynamic of Christian faith is based on believers whoearnestly practice faith in action. The only way for the Christian faith togrow in China is that the life of Christ be implanted in the innermost souls ofthe people. Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ will come again. Thatis the strength of Christ within them. Surely, the Church in China will becomethe indigenous Church of Christ. The Church must reach the goals of Selfconduct evangelism, continually proclaiming the Gospel of our Lord. All of theabove implies that we should keep our present and future target FOR THE Church.The Mission in China must be based on a Christ-centred indigenized Church whichproclaims the Gospel to the Chinese, so that the Kingdom if God will come truein China soon!
According to the four policies above, the Church should first start withthe mission worker as a solo worker on the mission field, letting the realactive Christians (born again people who with their life are dedicated to faithin action) join the work of the congregation. Secondly the laity should becomefuture evangelists to win new disciples for Christ. Then they should go on to anew area so that the local co-workers could have a chance to realize that acongregation exists which can take charge of the ministry for continued Churchgrowth. The third step is to turn over the power to Chinese Leaders so thatthey can be in complete charge of the ministry. The Mission Board should bythen only supply financial support and have the role of consultants infacilitating the ministry that they once started. This would agree with thewords of John the Baptist: ñHe (the local church) must increase, but I (theMission Board) must decreaseî John 4:30).
After all, the fourth step is to let the local church be completelyautonomous. At that point the Mission Board will have the role to communicateand have mutual relationships with the church and pray for the ministry.
Now back on track. When the Ruihua Baptist Mission finished the firststep in Jiaozhou, it proceeded to the second step and was ready for the thirdstep: to accomplish an independent (?) SwedishBaptist Mission in China. This ministry was ended before it was completed. Wedo not know at this time what GodÍs plan was, it was not a plan which we ashuman beings had comprehended! What is GodÍs real plan for China? Why did notthe good plan of the Swedish Baptist Mission get a chance to develop? Even ifsome missionaries on the field would accept a plan like this, what would havehappened if the administrative staff of their Mission Boards didnÍt act on it?In South East Asia after 1949, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, whatever wassupported by the Western Missions was accepted. The Chinese played a verystupid and incompetent role, as though caught on a muddy road in theirfrustration as they wished to serve the Lord. This continued until the 1980Ísdue to the lack of funding from the overseas Mission Boards. The Westerners ofthe Mission Boards were unwilling to entrust power to the Chinese staff. It wasindeed a very sad situation.
In accordance with the Ruihua Baptist Self Evangelism policy, the Missionbuilt a Bible Institute in Jiaozhou where they trained a lot of volunteers forthe ministry. This facilitated the growth of the ministry. Sadly there was notenough higher education or plans for leaders as pastors and clergy to take partin continued education in those days. The only well educated leader was Mr WangHuating, the genius from Qilo University. This was a serious draw back afterthe change 1949. In communist China, the Swedish Mission had no one from Chinawho was trained for the ministry. What a waste![32]
First draft 03-23-2007 by Mary Chang
Second draft Alice 28-03-2007
This is not yet read by Margareta Jonell!
[1] In your manuscript it says FangKoug Zhen. Could it be Fong Kong Zhen??? Or perhaps Fong Gong Zhen?
[2] In the text it says îone foot...î but that must be wrong.
[3] Is this Bingzi or what does itstand for?
[4] It says ñrolling rollsî. IÍm not sure what this means. Did theyhave mortars forthis, perhaps made of stone?
[5] Should it be Fenxen Jiuhui instead?IÍm not sure!
[6] The transcriptions are not inaccordance with the manuscript. I donÍt know which is more correct. I guess youhave to decide if you want to use the Wade-Giles or the Pinyin spelling. Ithink ñI Gi Shenî probably is Li Jisheng?
[7] We always called it îHua yuanî Æbut perhaps you had a different name for it!
[8] The manuscript uses îGulenesiciouîÆ better check this!
[9] Probably during your time in schoolthis was used by Wei Jiaoshi (Ester Wallin) and An Jiaoshi (Anna Andersson, wholater married Martin Jansson)
[10] The name of the school was: ChefooSchool. It was run by the China Inland Mission.
[11] As I remember it it was the InnerWall that was wide. The Outer Wall was perhaps wide enough for a bicycle.
[12] He must have been 87 or 88. He diedone week after his 90th birthday in 1984.
[13] The manuscript says 1948. That isthe year our family left China, but Oscar Rinell was there until 1951. However,he left Jiaozhou by 1949, and lived the remaining time in Qingdao.
[14] The first time they came wasalready one week after peace had been proclaimed in 1945. Then they came atleast 6 more times, until Jiaozhou became their territory permanently.
[15] The invitation was actually fromthe Baptist Union of Sweden. They celebrated their 100 anniversary in 1948, sohe was the representative for China at this big Conference. Then he stayed onfor a year doing deputation work in Sweden.
[16] The other two children of EgronRinell, John and Margareta, lived in the USA.
[17] Oscar Rinell also did a lot ofphotography. He had the only camera in the Mission for 16 mm movie pictures. Sothere are some documents by him from about the turn of the 1940Ís.
[18] I have used another transcriptionhere than the one used in the manuscript.
[19] IÍm sorry! She didnÍt copy theScriptures. But she read the whole Bible!
[20] Taylor came to Sweden in 1888. Thatis when he spoke at Bethel Seminary.
[21] Vingren arrived in Shanghai in1891, but he was accepted by the Mission Board in 1890.
[22] I donÍt know what îXiao Qiou Tiuî is. Is it the Jiaozhouharbour?
[23] Vingren visited Jiaozhou the firsttime October 25, 1892. He returned there on January 25, 1893 and rented a threeroom house (a former brothel). In March 1893 Vingren and Lindberg moved toJiaozhou. Later on they rented an adjacent house, where they had a street-chapeland a small church.
[24] Was not this school in Nan Guan ÆGulenzi qiao?
[25] I donÍt know if I got you right?IÍm not sure what the Chinese text is.
[26] Mr Feng Zanting told me they haddestroyed the Church during the cultural revolution, but it was torn downlater, perhaps in the late 1970Ís.
[27] The site of the cemetery is now apublic park in commemoration of cultural celebrities from the Qingdao area.
[28] It would be fair to say that OldRinell assisted her in building up the schools! He was mostly out on the field,away from home, visiting villages and small towns in the area. But she was theSchool person!
[29] IÍm not sure what period you aretalking about. There were evangelist schools and schools for Bible womenalready in early days. Mostly the women had their classes in Jiaozhou and themen in Kaomi. The Kaomi training was led by Leander, but several otherscontributed. The Bible women were taught by Hedvig Rinell Æ with the help ofseveral others, both missionaries and Chinese teachers. But in 1939 the newBible School building was erected. The progam there was at first two years, butin became a three year program. During this time the Bible School was locatedin Jiaozhou and my father, not my grandfather, was the principal.
[30] Here IÍm not sure I can understand...What is ñcurcurbitsî??
[31] IÍm not sure îChristianizedî is theright term to use here!?
[32] There were a few who studied atHuangxien and Shanghai. One I know about was Li Kegong from Kaomi. He completedhis studies in Shanghai just at the time of the communist turnover. However, hewas not permitted to preach, so retired into his farm until the early 1980Ís.Then the Churches reopened and he was asked by the local government to takecare of the congregation. He did that for many years, but is now about 98 yearsold Æ and retired. I have met him several times and he was a strong preacher, agood calligrapher Æ but in recent years almost deaf! Æ There were about sixordained pastors on the field, one of which (Gong Moshe in Wangtai) wasassassinated already 1946.