1898 — 1991
George Armstrong Young
Baptist Missionary Society missionary and educator in China during the first half of the 20th century.
Young was born in Leicester, England, into a working-class family of Scottish background. He jointed the English civil service at 16 and fought with the British army in World War I. He traced his conversion to a crisis experience in the battle of Ypres (1917) and his call to missionary service to his Baptist pastor in Bloomshury. After four years of study at Rawdon Baptist College, he went to China in 1924 with the BMS.
During his 23 years in China, largely in Shensi (Shaanxi) Province, he dealt with a variety of problems—-mediating between government and rebel armies, encouraging Christians undergoing persecution, and helping people in famine relief. He engaged in both rural and urban evangelism and taught Bible classes in churches and in the Sian Bible Training Institute. He vigorously promoted cooperative church endeavors and helped to lead the Shensi Baptist Church into the (united) Church of Christ in China. From 1952 to 1968 he was minister of Adelaide Place Baptist Church in Glasgow.
Attribution
This article is reprinted from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Macmillan Reference USA, copyright (c) 1998 Gerald H. Anderson, by permission of The Gale Group; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. All rights reserved.
Sources
- Young's The Living Christ in Modern China (1947) describes his life and ministry. He also wrote The Fish or the Dragon (1985).
About the Author
Formerly Professor of World Christianity and Academic Dean, Denver Seminary, Denver, Colorado, USA
