Ren Chengyuan

Ren was born in Jiangsu Province on February 18, 1852, when his father was already fifty-two. His mother died when he was only three, but a woman he calls “the mother of the house” “cherished [him] as though he had been her own child,” and a Mr. and Mrs. Chen, who had no son but only two daughters, “loved [him] as through [he] were her own son” (Ren, A Tamarisk Garden Blessed with Rain, 4; unless otherwise noted, all quotations are from the autobiography).

When he was six, his father engaged a tutor to oversee his education, for “what he coveted for me was a lofty standard in virtue and mores,” the substance and goal of all Chinese education in those days, based on the Confucian classics. He writes, “Subsequently, I discerned God’s mercy toward me, in giving me this knowledge of Nankingese,” a distinct dialect of Chinese spoken, then and now, in Nanjing (Ren 4).

Ren was born amid a time of great upheaval caused by the Taiping Rebellion. God protected him during those calamities, miraculously delivering him from captivity and death several times. During those years, he began to wonder whether these hardships had befallen him because of some wrong he had committed. Finally, he saw that he had been guilty of willful stubbornness towards his father, and resolved that in the future, whatever happened, he would do anything and suffer anything but would always respect his father and care for him. More troubles ensued, but he did not waver from his vow, frequently sacrificing himself for his father’s welfare.

A day came when the Taiping rebels seized his father and took Ren away to serve with them, forcing him to bid a sorrowful “Goodbye” to his aged parent.  For the next few years, he suffered capture several more times. He always sought to escape, and sometimes succeeded, only to be taken prisoner again. Time after time, he was saved from death by the intervention of a stranger on the road or a kind person in a town. Several older women took him into their care on different occasions, loving him as his deceased mother would have if she had been alive. His narrative is replete with stories of remarkable rescues from disease and death, and reads like a novel. After his baptism, as he looked back, he said, “Perils had given way to safety. And such experiences were beyond number … Now I saw that they were due to the marvellous and unmerited mercy of God. And only an infinitesimal portion of God’s grace can be recorded” (Ren 45).

Finally, in 1868, the wife of one of his clansmen, who had become a servant at the Christian Chapel in Suzhou (then spelled Soochow) invited him to go and see the chapel with her. This mission station had been opened by a CIM worker named Henry Cordon, who had only arrived with his wife the year before. Ren recalls, “Mr. Henry Cordon was sitting in the hall, or chapel, and at once rose and invited me to take a seat. I accordingly did so. As Mr. Cordon was studying Nankingese, with which I was conversant, we fell into a conversation, and he caused me to read several verses from one of the gospels in Nankingese to test my pronunciation” (Ren 32). Thus began a life-changing relationship that would influence thousands of people over the years that followed.

After discussing the matter with his wife, Cordon said, “I desire to have you as my friend, and I invited you to assist me to learn Nankingese, and to writing letters for me” (Ren 33). Ren accepted this proposal, and was given a satin hat as a token of their friendship. When he returned to his lodgings and told his hosts and benefactors what he had done, both they and their neighbors urged him not to work with the foreigner. “In the first place, this religion does not allow ancestral worship. And in the second placed, they scoop out the eyes, the heart, and the liver of their pupils. They are a menace to life” (Ren 33). Ren didn’t know what to do, so he went to the temple of the Goddess of Mercy, where he cast lots. The lot and accompanying verse indicated he should accept the invitation, so he sent over his baggage and began work at the chapel the next day.

Despite continued opposition from friends and family, he remained at the Christian chapel where, gradually, he came under the influence of the gospel and the kind treatment of the Cordons toward him. 

Then he accepted an invitation from a Chinese pastor with the American Presbyterian North (i.e., Northern Presbyterian Mission) to join a book club that was reading A Guide to Heaven. As they studied each doctrine, he compared it with the New Testament that had been given to him but which he had neglected up until then. “When we read abut the doctrine of faith, it gripped my heart,” he writes, “and when we came to read about prayer, I was more deeply moved still. Returning to my private room, several times I desired to kneel in prayer, but my stubborn disposition had not yielded, and I was not willing to so much as bend my knees” (Ren 36). We should note that in later years Ren was known to be very strong-willed and hard to be persuaded to change a position or decision once he had made up his mind.

As time went on, he writes, “I began to pray regularly, and to study my Bible with zeal. And now Mr. Cordon engaged me for a year to attend to his business, and gave me three dollars a month for food. Henceforth, without distinguishing between the smooth and the rough, I did my task with all my heart and strength. And for this reason, Mr. Cordon took care of me in a most generous fashion. There was in the city a Mr. Schmidt, who was connected with the American Presbyterian Mission North, with whom I used to converse and have confidential talks, and found a congenial friend. Mr. Schmidt was a German, and [had] acted as Mandarin interpreter for General Gordon, who had been deputed by the British government to assist in the overthrow of the Taiping rebels… During the winter Mr. Cordon examined me as to my faith, and promised to baptise me in the spring of the following year” (Ren 38).

Because he succumbed to a temptation to gamble, he felt he wasn’t ready for baptism, and Mr. Cordon agreed. In those days, missionaries generally waited until they saw a consistent character change before administering baptism.

Ren was tempted several times to compromise his commitment to Christ by taking on a profitable job and then by marrying the daughter of a well-to-do family, but he withstood. Then he had an opportunity to study English. He made such good progress that he was offered a well-paying job in another city, but, once again, he resisted. After that, “I resolved to give more labour in the understanding of the Holy Scriptures, that my heart might be fully enlightened by the living and spiritual Bread of heaven. Thus being strengthened in the faith, I should be strong enough to preach, and after baptism could return in home, engage in agriculture and education, establish a holy brotherhood [that is, a church] coveting neither fame nor riches. Being thus resolved, I devoted the mornings to study and the afternoons to Mr. Cordon’s affairs” (Ren 43).

Finally, on December 15, 1869, at the age of seventeen, Ren was baptized by Mr. Cordon, with several Chinese and representatives from the London Missionary Society, the American Presbyterian Missions, and the Methodist Episcopal Mission in attendance.

Looking back over his life up to that point, Ren comments:

I rejoiced with unspeakable joy that I had been made a recipient of God’s grace. In tracing the stream of my life from its beginning, I recognized the early and fond delight of my parents in me, and their excessive kindness in spoiling me. But then I saw that this had been corrected and counteracted by the discipline I had received at the hands of the Taiping rebels; by the uprooting and dismemberment that I then received; by the battle I had had against wind and rain until I almost despaired of life. Happily, the grace of God is unfathomable. The fact that I had learned Nankingese from my youth had made me useful, and I thus escaped maltreatment.

But though the probabilities of death were as a hundred to one for life, perils had given place to safety. And such experiences were without number. When I had been as driftwood upon the waters I had met Mr. Yuan; and on the road I had been helped by an unknown stranger. Such remarkable events as these men attribute to the virtues of their ancestors. And I believed this too. But now I saw that they were due to the marvellous and unmerited mercy of God. And only an infinitesimal portion of God’s grace can be recorded (Ren 44-45).

In 1870, Ren met Jennie Faulding, who would later marry Hudson Taylor after his first wife Maria had died. She learned about his interest in the work in Hangzhou and invited him to join her there. He was “so impressed with her prayerful spirit and accounts of the spiritual life and influence of the New Lane church in Hangzhou, that he ‘longed to be in that atmosphere’” (A. J. Broomhall 5.233). 

Ren agreed to come for two years. When Pastor Cordon heard this news, he was unhappy that Ren had not consulted with him before making such an important decision, but Ren told him that he wanted to escape the temptations of his youth in Suzhou. Cordon then reluctantly agreed to let him go, promising to provide him with living expenses during the coming two years, with the understanding that Ren would return to serve with him in Suzhou after that time.

A month later, Ren came down with a serious case of measles. In God’s providence, Hudson Taylor was in Suzhou at the time and, being a doctor, was able to diagnose Ren’s condition and prescribe medicines, which he prepared that night. Cordon stayed up all night, watching Ren’s condition and giving the medicines every hour. Thankfully, the crisis had passed by the next morning.

Ren went to Hangzhou at the appointed time. To his surprise, when Jennie Faulding heard of his agreement with Cordon, she told him that it might not be God’s will, because we don’t know what will happen in two years’ time. She told him to write a letter to Cordon explaining why the agreement must be cancelled.

In Hangzhou, the CIM ran a training school for Christian workers. Jennie taught New Testament, CIM worker John McCarthy taught Old Testament, and a Chinese called Teacher Wang Laijun, who had been assiduously discipled by Hudson Taylor, gave instruction in W.A.P.’s popular Christian Evidences and General Theology. Ren and Wang formed a deep spiritual bond almost immediately. Wang also asked Ren to serve as a teacher in the school while he was a student.

Later, Ren organized a group of about twenty classmates to study the Scriptures every evening. He expanded their reading to include the Chinese Classics and ancient Chinese literature. In his zeal to learn, he neglected his health, and soon began to suffer the effects of chronic loss of sleep. A missionary doctor ordered him to go to bed earlier and to exercise for an hour every day.

In 1872, McCarthy asked him to open up a new station in Huirzhou (then spelled Hweichow), not far from Hangzhou, and provided him with an assistant, M. Tai, along with funds for Tai and himself. Ren regretfully accepted the monetary support, for his dream was to support himself in ministry. He had to leave that place, however, because of violent actions by students who had gathered for the civil examinations. He was later assigned to Anchi, where he opened a school for boys. He also visited the students’ parents, several of whom became Christians and received baptism from the CIM worker in Hangzhou.

Over the next few years, the CIM leaders in Hangzhou and surrounding regions gave him more and more responsibilities, both for opening new works and for transacting affairs, especially renting premises for lodging and worship, for the mission. He seems to have been a man of astute business acumen, skilled in negotiating in a way that foreigners never could be, and utterly trustworthy with finances. He was asked to share the gospel with unbelievers and to help new converts to grow in their faith. Dr. Arthur William Douthwaite engaged him to translate a book about notable Christians of the West into Chinese and to see to its publication and sale.

Meanwhile, he had become increasingly trusted by, and close to, Pastor Wang Laijun. Around 1876, he married Wang’s daughter.

1877-1899 Pastor of the Hangzhou Church

In 1877, Hudson Taylor proposed that, since Pastor Wang was often absent, Ren should be made assistant pastor, with responsibility for the church in Hangzhou most of the time. To the believers, Taylor explained, “We foreigners, coming to the Flowery Kingdom, have no desire to be lords in the Chinese Church, but rather to be helpers. What the Church needs is men of knowledge, understanding and courage” (Ren 86). Wang had previously told Ren that the burden of full pastoral responsibility had become too much for him to bear.

Hudson Taylor further told Ren that it would be better for the church to be, “independent, self-supporting, and self-governing!” (Ren 86). This pleased Ren very much, since his dream had always been to “set up a small model establishment in [his] own native place” (Ren 86). In true humility and Chinese style, he objected that he was not up to such a responsibility, but Taylor assured him that God would assist him and use him. Taylor also insisted that the believers in the churches that Ren would serve should support him from their offerings.

During the church service that followed, he announced that the CIM would no long supply the pastor’s stipend, but would expect the local church members to fulfill that responsibility. When all raised their hands in agreement, “Mr. Hudson Taylor and Pastor Wang fulfilled the rite of laying-on-of hands, and thus the [CIM] Church in Hangzhou was established on a self-supporting basis” (Ren 88). At the time, the church had three outstations, with about 24 members total.

Wang’s ordination, and the transfer of financial responsibility to the local Christians, marked a milestone in Chinese church history, a foretaste of the “Three-Self” movement that would become standard in the twentieth century.

Ren still had to try different methods to secure adequate finances for his basic expenses, however. On several occasions, he had to pawn his clothing to get enough money to buy food. Eventually, he was given a paying job as principal and teacher in the new CIM school for young men training for the ministry (the former school had been moved to Hangzhou).

Though primarily responsible for the church in Hangzhou, he also visited the outstations and built them up into stable fellowships. He ministered in other surrounding villages, gradually starting new congregations. He often faced danger. One time he almost drowned, but the Lord saved him. His frequent travels and poor living conditions affected his health, and he had leave Hangzhou for a while to spend time in more salubrious areas. While on medical leave, he was able to visit and learn more about the local Buddhist temples. Finally, he consulted with Hudson Taylor, who was a medical doctor. Finding nothing serious wrong with his health, Taylor advised Ren to return to Hangzhou and take full charge of the work there, because in the future no CIM missionary would be assigned to that church.

He opened a preaching hall on a side street in a town six miles away, working mostly by himself to lift heavy planks into place for a front wall. Excessive labor and exhausting walking to and from each day brought on a serious kidney disease, so he went to the Church Missionary Society hospital for help. Dr. Duncan Main diagnosed his condition and ordered surgery. Before the operation, Ren reviewed his life, lamented his lack of productivity, and asked anew for forgiveness and grace from God. His heart found peace, but his body was in great danger. When the time for the operation came, Main asked all who were associated with the hospital to pray, joining the CIM workers who had learned of Ren’s critical condition. The operation was a success. Main’s loving follow-up care led to healing, but he warned Ren that he must no longer walk very much, lest his other kidney fail him also.

Over the next few years, as Ren pastored the church in Hangzhou, he also traveled often to neighboring villages to start or care for outstations. His duties multiplied such that in 1882 he had to relinquish the school. His narrative speaks of long, tiring, and dangerous journeys; nearly dying from illness and almost rendered blind by glaucoma; close calls with death at the hands of bandits and enemies of the gospel; difficult pastoral decisions; involvement as a mediator in church and civil disputes. Falsely accused of a crime, he was arrested, handcuffed, and taken into custody, but he was later vindicated and released, and his accusers were punished. Meeting that man on the road bound in chains, Ren forgave him and secured his release.

Through it all, Ren displayed remarkable courage and calmness, practical wisdom and guidance from God, and boldness in the face of danger and difficulty. When confronted with rowdy mobs or menacing foes, he simply refused to back down, and often disarmed them by his gentle but firm demeanor and unperturbed spirit.

Increasingly, his influence spread, as he opened new outstations of the Hangzhou church and helped Christians in other places to plant churches. Skilled in business affairs, he frequently engaged in the logistical details of renting and buying fields and houses and in overseeing the construction of churches and schools. Naturally, these logistical matters took a great deal of time and energy, and involved him in difficult and delicate business and legal transactions.

His leadership qualities and effectiveness as a minister of the Gospel to his people, as well as his ability to work with the CIM, projected him into a position something like that of a bishop, or overseer, with authority over several congregations in several different regions. The CIM also seems to have given him limited authority in working with missionaries whom they assigned to “his” churches. In time, he became a respected leader within the CIM’s Chinese ministry.

As a pastor, he interviewed all candidates for baptism, seeking to ascertain which ones had been truly converted and which ones had given merely intellectual assent to the gospel, perhaps even for some gain. As a “bishop,” he supervised the selection, training, and sending of men to be evangelists and pastors of congregations under his care.

When converts were threatened with violence, or had been mistreated, he did not hesitate to inform the magistrates and to seek protection for his people. Invoking the laws that had been passed pursuant to the treaties signed between China and European countries that guaranteed freedom of religion to Christians, he notified officials of intimidation, threats or attacks upon Christians and potential landlords, thus making it necessary for them to intervene on behalf of the believers.

Relationships with Missionaries

CIM missionaries played a vital role in Ren’s Christian life and ministry, as did missionaries from other societies, like the American Presbyterians, both North and South, the Baptists, and the Anglican Church Missionary Society.

We have seen that the church at Hangzhou was founded by a CIM missionary, who later handed it over to Pastor Wang Laijun, whose deputy Ren became. Ren said he “belonged” to the CIM, meaning that he was one of their Chinese coworkers, working hand-in-hand with the missionaries who were sent to learn from him and labor with him. From the beginning, Hudson Taylor followed a policy of assigning new missionaries to experienced Chinese “helpers,” who accompanied them on evangelistic journeys and helped them to disciple converts, and were, effectively, teachers and trainers of these inexperienced foreigners. In other words, the Chinese “helpers” played a vital role both in ministry to their countrymen and in equipping new missionaries for effective service.

Taylor’s own experience probably led him to this strategy, for he had been mentored by experienced missionaries in his early years as well, learning from them as he accompanied them on preaching tours outside the treaty ports.

Ren always acknowledged the moral and spiritual authority of Hudson Taylor and his subordinates, and paid them the highest respect, obeying them when he was thus obligated, and honoring them at all times.

On the other hand, he possessed a very strong personality and a sense of rectitude and mission, and would not easily accede to requests from even CIM leaders without expressing his own opinion. Sometimes he refused to do what they asked, though always with courtesy.

The opening of a new work in Huzhou (Huchow) serves as a prime example of this complicated relationship. When he received a request from a member of an American Baptist Mission to help a Mr. M. to help start a church there, he at first refused. After repeated requests from CIM leaders, he reluctantly accepted the assignment, but insisted on expressing his grave reservations and laying down the conditions for his participation in an effort he considered to be highly risky. To CIM Superintendent John Stevenson he said:

To open Huchow to the preaching of the Gospel is one of my cherished desires. Unfortunately, the British Minister in Peking is opposed to the China Inland Mission attempting this, and for the same reason it is not easy for the [Anglican] Church Missionary Society to move in the matter. But that an American society should now desire to open up work in that neglected corner of God’s vineyard is most excellent. I much desire to assist; but foreigners are by disposition hasty; they want everything finished as soon as begun, and have not patience to glow slowly. Consequently, they frequently have beginnings but no completion. I do not know that if this matter were placed in my hands it would be easy; it would certainly demand much patience and endurance…

There is another weakness common to foreigners. Slanderous reports easily reach them, and when they are half-way through, they repent of their original intention. If it is desired that I shoulder this heavy responsibility, I must be given full authority to act as I think best, and even then I cannot be sure I shall succeed (Ren 114-115).

Stevenson and other CIM leaders assured Ren that he would be given full authority and that Mr. M. would follow his lead, so, with great reservations, he agreed to proceed.

Sure enough, his fears proved to be warranted. Mr. M., indeed, refused to abide by Ren’s command to remain outside Huchow until the ground had been properly prepared. He went into the town and entered the house that had been rented, causing outrage among the gentry and leading to a violent uproar that endangered the lives of the landlord and his wife. Ren had to expend huge amounts of time and energy to keep the damage from spreading further. At one point, he and Mr. M. were barricaded in the house. On another occasion, a man was sent to kill him with a knife during a worship service, but Ren told him to sit down in the church and wait until he had finished his pastoral prayer. The Christians nearly fainted from anxiety as his prayer went on and on, for they had seen a knife up the visitor’s sleeve. When Ren concluded his prayer, however, he found that the would-be assassin had left the church. Thus, God protected him again.

In 1889, the American Southern Presbyterian mission ran into trouble with a Scholar Pan, who was persecuting their converts in a nearby district because they, like other Christians, would not take part in a religious festival or pay their assessed amount of its expenses. Pan proceeded to rob them and otherwise oppress them. Ren was called up to help. Through a mixture of prayer with the Christians and repeated, very skillful appeals to authorities at various levels, he was able to have Pan’s nefarious activities stopped and the scholar himself publicly humbled.

Later, when they had occasion to meet Pan on the road, Ren counseled the Christians to treat him honorably, humbling themselves before him and expressing regret for all the trouble they had caused without, of course apologizing for their refusal to engage in pagan ceremonies. Their humility and courtesy moved Pan to tears. Later, during the Boxer Rebellion, he protected the Christians from death at the hands of the insurgents.

In the spring of 1890, Ren was afflicted by a very serious illness. Stevenson decided that he must be taken to Shanghai for expert treatment. The Anglican Bishop Moule accompanied Ren in his own boat. Despite his objections at receiving expensive medical care, he was treated in an Anglican hospital by a foreign doctor, and nursed night and day by Stevenson and Dr. Herbert Taylor of the CIM, a Miss Ming, and a Mr. Armstrong. Dr. Little, a distinguished physician, successfully operated on his lung, saving his life, but he had to rest for several months.

During the Boxer uprising itself, despite repeated urging by both CIM leaders and consular officials, he refused to flee to Shanghai for safety, though he did allow his family to be taken there. Remaining in or around Hangzhou, he kept a close watch on all that happened and thus was able to make accurate reports to the relevant mission, Chinese government, and consular officials afterwards.

His prominent role in these affairs highlights the esteem in which everyone held him, as well as his position of authority over churches associated with the CIM. 

From this and many other incidents, we see Ren’s deep involvement with several foreign missionary societies, their respect for them, and the mutual love between him and the missionaries.

Of course, as a Chinese member of the CIM, he had an especially close relationship with that mission. In 1907, when the first conference of all the missions working in the province of Zhejiang was held in the headquarters building of the CIM in Shanghai, Ren was chosen to represent the CIM and to serve as vice-chairman of the conference. 

He fell seriously ill several times. On those occasions, the Executive Council of the CIM sent him warm expressions of concern and prayer, as they did also when his second son died. More than once, they also sent a Mission doctor to treat him. 

He served as the secretary for the CIM conference at least some of the time. In 1916, the CIM celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the Lammermuir party in Hangzhou. As that happened to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of his pastorate there, he held a commemorative meeting, which was attended by both Chinese and foreign CIM representatives from Shanghai and other places in the province, as well as leaders of the outstations which he supervised.

We should remember that he had personally planted some independent, self-supporting congregations, and that the CIM did not interfere with his leadership of them. On the other hand, Hudson Taylor visited him several times over the course of many years to give instructions about the care and growth of CIM churches, both Chinese and foreign, under Ren’s care. Gradually, Taylor had the CIM withdraw its financial support from these congregations, except to pay the rent and purchase costs of places of worship and residences that had been acquired with CIM approval. Taylor urged Ren to follow the self-supporting principles of Dr. Nevius, but at first Ren said he didn’t have the faith to do so; later, he reported that all the stations and their workers were fully independent.

Relationships with Roman Catholics

During the nineteenth century, relations between Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries, and between their respective converts, ranged from cordial to hostile. Romans Catholics had been working in China since the sixteenth century and, despite long years or persecution that forced missionaries to go into hiding, had had a presence in many parts of China long before the Protestants arrived.

Robert Morrison openly acknowledged his dependence upon a translation of the New Testament that had been made by a Roman Catholic missionary. On their travels to remote places, Protestant missionaries were sometimes very kindly  helped, and even hosted, by Roman Catholic brothers.

Sadly, much of the time the Roman Catholics, resenting the progress of Protestant missionaries and their willingness to receive Chinese who had been Roman Catholics, did what they could to hinder the newcomers from spreading their message and planting new churches. Protestants often complained that Roman Catholics used material incentives to attract Chinese away from their churches and into – or back to – allegiance to Rome.

To complicate matters further, starting in the 1840s, the government of France assumed a “religious protectorate” over the Roman Catholics in China. Ren Chengyuan ran into trouble with Roman Catholics in 1906 when he told some of them he had read in the papers that the French government had ended this protectorate. Rumors flew that he had declared that the Pope had been “destroyed,” and a huge row ensued when the local priest passed this “news” on to his superior, and “received instructions to have [Ren’s] eyes plucked out and [his] four limbs broken” (Ren 197).

For some time thereafter, repeated attempts were made to lure Ren into a trap so he could be dealt with, and at one point a mob of more than one hundred armed men gathered, prepared to kill him. Only skilful actions by Ren and his friends, and then an appeal to consular authorities, saved his life and forced the Roman Catholics to leave him alone.

Evaluation

Pastor Ren Chengyuan died of pneumonia in February 1929 at the age of seventy-seven.

Four hundred people attended his funeral, both Chinese and foreigners, who included representatives of the Church Missionary Society, the American Presbyterian Mission, the American Baptist Missionary Union, and the China Inland Misison.

Ren was described as a Christian Nehemiah – a man who was skilled at dealing with the business of the Church, while maintaining a sterling reputation as a consecrated man of God. A.J. Broomhall wrote that Ren was “one of the most gifted and devoted Chinese pastors in China” (A.J. Broomhall 5. 233).

As he closed his autobiography in 1921, Ren said, “I have, throughout out my life, delighted in the Psalms, and whenever I have been in distress I have delighted to pray aloud by day and by night. The Psalm which I never forget is Psalm 90. To begin with I use verse 12, ‘So teach us to number our days,’ and then verse 7, ‘Let the beauty of our God be upon us,’ as Golden Texts. I am an old man now, and all that I have done has been while suffering much with chronic troubles. I feel that much that I have done may not be of permanent duration. Will all who read this, and all who remember and love me, pray for me?”

Critics have pointed out the inherent dangers of invoking the provisions of the hated “unequal treaties” to protect Christians, of course. Such foreign intervention, though legal, aroused immense ire among the gentry and public officials who had to restrain local civil leaders from persecuting the church. On the one hand, such protection allowed the believers to rent, buy, and use property for places of worship and education. On the other, it forever linked Chinese Christians with foreign powers, an association that has been wielded against Christianity by the Chinese government up to this day.

We can only say that Ren did what he thought was right at the time, and his skilful negotiations led to the growth of an indigenous Christian movement that has lasted for more than a century.

Less controversial was Ren’s involvement with government officials after the depredations of the Boxers in 1900. Though the treaties between China and foreign powers called for reparations to be paid to missionary societies as well as Chinese Christians, the CIM renounced any compensation for the deaths of missionaries or losses of mission property. On the other hand, the CIM treated claims by Chinese Christians as a matter between them and their government, and did not interfere.

Ren was called upon to give testimony about several cases of outrage against Chinese Christians and their church buildings, and helped both to ascertain the extent of damages and to help with the process of compensating the believers.

Marshall Broomhall published The Jubilee Story of the China Inland Mission in 1915. He recorded that there were 2,500 Chinese “helpers” in the mission. From among these, Broomhall picked one, Ren Chengyuan, as an example of these indispensable partners in the work of the gospel, taking an extract from one of Ren’s annual reports to the mission headquarters to illustrate the essential role that the Chinese Christians played. He described Ren as “a man whose whole life and substance have been devoted to the Master’s service, while the salaries of all his Chinese helpers are paid out of his own pocket” (Marshall Broomhall, Jubilee Story, 345).

Clearly, at a time when other Chinese church leaders struggled in their relationships with foreign missionaries, Ren enjoyed strong and mutual respect with a host of missionaries from different denominations.

After his death, many tributes flowed in from those who knew him best. 

Anglican Bishop Herbert J. Molony wrote:

Pastor Ren of Hangchow was an instance, fortunately not uncommon in China, of a fine Chinese thoroughly converted to the Lord.

Pastor Ren was a great and attractive man; his whole life was devoted to the service of the Master. He made many Converts, and they were strongly attached to him. He was the great Christian of Hangchow, and his attractive and commanding personality will cause him to be remembered as one of the Apostles of the Church in Chekiang (Ren vii).

Dr. D. Duncan Main, of the Church Missionary Society, who knew him well for more than forty-six years, said this: 

Yes, Pastor Ren was a saint, and not only a saint but a man singularly attractive, radiating sunshine and sympathy wherever he went. As a Pastor he was unremitting in his zeal, and was always a kind friend and helpful advisor. And as a Preacher his theme was always the Gospel of Jesus and His love… . His was a quiet and practical piety, and in his preaching as in his life the practical virtues, humility, charity, and unselfishness had a foremost place. 

W.H. Warren, the China Inland Mission superintendent of Zhejiang, summarized Ren’s life with these words:

Pastor Ren was a man of outstanding ability, and would have been a force to reckon with in any calling in life. He early chose to walk in the way of the Lord, and amid all the vicissitudes of life held firmly to his guiding principle. Having set his hand to the plough he never seemed to look back, but with steady perseverance moved forward as led by the Spirit of God [see Luke 9:62].

The object before him has ever been a self-contained, self-supporting, and Chinese-controlled organisation. No trace of an anti-foreign attitude was ever detected. He rightly expected his position to be recognised, and then heartily welcomed the assistance and co-operation of the missionary.

He was the pivot on which all turned, both in the family and in the churches under his care. His control was autocratic, so that he found it very difficult to delegate authority, with the result that the work has centred round himself. This fact causes some doubt as to the possibility of its continuing as a unit.

Pastor Ren has lived a lonely life, much apart from his fellows… . In all practical details, such as the purchase of land, the drawing up of deeds, or anything requiring intercourse with Chinese officials, he was regarded as the final authority in Hangchow Christian circles… . 

There is an association of Chinese pastors at Hangzhou, whose members hold regular prayer meetings. Pastor Ren was a tower of strength in such an assembly. Time and time again, when difficulties of church government or discipline have engaged the attention of the brethren, perplexed their minds, and presented an apparently insoluble problem, this man has sat, saying very little, with an inscrutable countenance, hearing and weighing all that the others had to say, then finally given the clue, indicating the direction for action, and so finding a way through the maze. 

Pastor Ren’s outstanding characteristics were chiefly manifested in four directions: 1. The Long Vision… . His gaze was steady and penetrating, seeking underlying principles, and not superficial attractions… He lived deeply, would not be hurried to hasty conclusions … criticisms of his character did not disturb him; his eye was on the goal, and if his progress was slow it was steady.

2. A Grasp of Detail.

3. Fidelity to the Word of God. The Word of God was precious to the Pastor. He delighted to ponder it, and to expound it, often at great length … The doctrines of grace he held with unwavering tenacity. He read a great deal, and it was surprising to find how up-to-date his knowledge was of current Christian literature, of present-day events, and of the general tendencies of thought. He never seemed to swerve from his allegiance to the Scriptures, or to have doubts as to the faithfulness of God. So he spoke with conviction … 

4. Finally, he was a spiritual man, and a firm believer in the power of prayer … such a man was a gift of God to His own Church, to his community, to the Mission with which he maintained a close connection all his life, and to the whole Christian Body of China (Ren viii-ix).

Eternity will reveal the full impact made by godly church leaders like Ren Chengyuan during the formative years of Christianity in Zhejiang, when a solid foundation was put in place for the mighty harvest of souls that were reaped for the kingdom of God in later generations.

G. Wright Doyle