A passion for a greater vision : the role of Leslie T. Lyall in the history of the China Inland Mission/Overseas Missionary Fellowship

Abstract

The phenomenal growth of the Chinese Church today despite many decades of persecution is a subject that merits in-depth study and analyses. This growth was not accidental but the fruit of the hard labor and effective strategies of the missionaries in the 19th and 20th centuries. The China Inland Mission (CIM) was the largest mission organization in China at the time and is the subject of this study. As CIM headquarters were based in Shanghai, fewer records have survived compared with other missionary societies whose offices were located within the United Kingdom (UK) or the United States of America (USA). Fortunately, a number of CIM missionaries left written records of some detail in their stories and reports. Among these writers, Leslie Lyall was one of the most outstanding. He wrote extensively on the history of the CIM and the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) especially in the period from 1930-1980. Lyall was also an active participant in the building of the Chinese Church. Researchers often treated the vision of the CIM as if it were static in nature, but the truth is, both the vision and the strategy of the CIM evolved materially from the early days of Hudson Taylor. These changes were instrumental to the growth and eventual survival of the Chinese Church. From Lyall’s reports, we can trace at least four significant changes in strategy from 1920 to 1990. When Taylor was at the helm, the focus of the CIM was purely evangelism. D.E. Hoste, Taylor’s successor, took the organization in a different direction. He determined instead to prioritize the building up of an indigenous Chinese Church. In order to achieve this goal, he did two things. First, he implemented a policy of establishing self-supporting, self-propagating and self-governing local churches. Second, he recruited 200 new missionaries who were more educated and better equipped to train local leaders than those who had gone before. Lyall, a Cambridge graduate, was one of these 200 new recruits. Along with the building of the indigenous Chinese Church, the CIM began to alter her role from that of leader to partner. There were three means of collaboration through the strategies of mentorship, partnership and trusteeship. The third change came about with the extension of CIM’s ministry to the intellectuals. During the war against Japan, the CIM saw the needs of the Chinese university students who struggled in the undeveloped regions of western China to which they had been relocated. The CIM extended her ministry to this group of intellectuals. Christianity spread rapidly among these students and professors within a short time. Lyall was one of the main players in this movement. Finally, Lyall was also a key architect in the transition from the CIM of old China to the OMF of new China. After 1951, the CIM expanded her vision to East Asia. However, she never lost her original mission of reaching out to the millions of Chinese behind the Bamboo Curtain.

不少歷史學者對中國教會在這三十多年來的驚人增長極感興趣。雖然在過去三十多年來, 中國教會經歷不少風浪，卻能在短短三十年，由80萬增長至5000-6000萬信徒。這增長與早期傳教士的傳教策略有著極密切的關係。在眾多差會中，中國內地會是至大的差會，而賴恩融（1905-1996）是內地會的歷史寫手。從他的著作中，我們可以追尋到內地會四個非常重要策略上的改變，而這些改變足以影響整個中國教會的發展。 首先, 中國內地會創始人戴德生死後, 何斯德繼任為中國內地會總幹事, 致力推行中國教會為自養自傳自立的教會。昔日戴德生時代, 內地會主要是傳福音，務使全中國都得聞福音，而非建立教會。而何斯德則以建立一個本色化的中國教會為首要任務。 其次,為要推行教會的本色化，內地會積極改變其角色，由主導者轉化為夥伴者的角色。因此, 培訓和招攬本地人材便成為內地會在30及40年代的重要策略。從賴恩融的記載中，我們至少看到三種不同的方法；包括親手培訓可造之才，如楊紹唐；其次是招攬本土領袖，成為內地會夥伴，推展福音事工，如賴恩融與王明道在北京合作推展學生福音事工；又如總幹事華福蘭主教邀請陳崇桂開辦神學院。最後是信托方式，就是把內地會的教會交付給本土教會牧養，倪柝聲的小群教會便是其中一例。 第三, 在中日戰爭期間，內地會總幹事華福蘭主教有見在後方學生工作的挑戰,遂一改內地會的宣教策略,不再只在草根階層工作,而是開始在大學生及知識份子工作。想不到在短短六年內，中國基督徒學生團契竟然成為全世界最多會員的大學生團契。 最後, 解放後,內地會被逼離開中國。內地會並不因此解散。相反的,他們更積極地擴展他們的異像，把事工推展到亞洲各地、尤其是東亞一帶。而另一方面, 內地會也沒放棄中國。1980後，中國稍為開放，內地會開始展開各樣事工，包括教育、醫療、及福音工作。也成為今天其中最成功的宣教機構。 賴恩融作為中國內地會的一位資深傳教士，不但為我們提供寶貴的歷史資料，而且更是在這些改變中扮演一個非常重要的角色。此研究正要探討這課題。