Jack Voelkel
Forward on Their Knees: Jonathan Goforth (part 2)
Jonathan and Rosalind Goforth, part 2
See part 1
Jonathan and Rosalind decided to establish their mission in Changte, in Honan Province. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, wrote to them at this time, “Brother, if you would enter that Province, you must go forward on your knees” (p. 80). The Goforths used their home as a place of ministry. The Chinese came out of curiosity; then stayed to listen. Jonathan’s message focused on Jesus, expositing Scripture. “My only secret in getting at the heart of big sinners is to show them their need and tell them of a Saviour abundantly able to save” (p. 83). At first he struggled with the language, and almost came to a place of despair. Then one night there was a breakthrough. He had fluency as never before. Two months later a letter came from Knox College, relating that on that very night the students had decided to have a prayer meeting focusing just on Jonathan, and were impressed with the presence and power of God as they prayed (p. 88).
The people of Changte thronged to their house. Jonathan wrote home:
During the last five weeks we have had such a number of men coming day by day that we have kept up constant preaching on an average of eight hours a day….The guest-room was filled, while others were listening outside the door and windows….During this time [five months] upwards of 25,000 men and women have come to see us and all have had the Gospel preached to them (pp109, 113).
While Jonathan worked with the men, Rosalind spoke to the women who crowded into their courtyard, fifty or more at one time. He wrote:
It has been our privilege to see the manifest signs of Holy Ghost power among them. None but the Holy Spirit could open these hearts to receive the truth, as we see some receiving it every time we speak. I never saw anything approaching to it in previous years. It cheers us beyond measure and makes us confident that God is going to save many people in this place (p. 110, 111).
Just before beginning the ministry in Changte, Jonathan wrote on the flyleaf of his Bible in 1894, “Seven Rules for Daily Living”:
1) Seek to give much, expect nothing.
2) Put the very best construction on the actions of others.
3) Never let a day pass without at least a quarter of an hour spent in the study of the Bible.
4) Never omit daily morning and evening private prayer and devotion.
5) In all things seek to know God’s Will and when known obey at any cost.
6) Seek to cultivate a quiet prayerful spirit.
7) Seek each day to do or say something to further Christianity among the heathen (p. 355).
Over the years the Goforths established a strong church in Changte, and then together began a ministry of itineration, taking the Gospel to surrounding towns and villages, and then to Manchuria. Jonathan poured himself into the lives of responsive young men, training them as evangelists, pastors, and teachers. He was effective in witness among students, attracting them with his knowledge of geography and astronomy, and then opening their eyes to the truth of the Gospel.
His missionary strategy as it developed over the years was different from many of his contemporaries. “We plan for no big schools, no big hospitals, until the converted Chinese build and equip them, but we do plan to evangelize intensively” (p. 279-280). Though for many years he followed the pattern of hiring national evangelists, he came to change his policy when he noted that when foreign funds and contacts were cut off, the national church grew more in vitality and greater confidence in the Lord as the supplier of their needs (p. 320).
He made friends with military leaders who invited him to preach to their soldiers. Marshal Feng Yu-Hsiang became a close friend. Jonathan reported that once after 13 days of meeting, he baptized 960 men, and then 4,606 officers and men partook of Communion. Feng’s army often marched singing hymns.
Revival Fires
Limited space hinders detailing perhaps Jonathan unique contribution. He hungered for greater effectiveness and was inspired by accounts of the revivals in Wales, India, and Korea. He studied them, read books such as Finney’s Lectures on Revival, and reviewed the Biblical accounts of the work of the Holy Spirit. The Lord began to use him in unusual ways, as the Holy Spirit fell on people in his meetings. Even the normally reserved Canadian Presbyterian missionaries were affected:
The missionaries attended the meetings regularly and not a few took part with their Chinese brethren in making acknowledgment of faults and shortcomings, not for any thought of example to the Chinese, but simply because God was moving their hearts and they were led to see themselves under God’s searchlight. It was a time when we were all brought very close together, not only missionary to missionary, Chinese to Chinese, but Chinese to missionary and vice versa, and all because all were getting near to Christ and He was saying again, --“That they all may be one…I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one” (p. 201).
Jonathan never “retired.” Though hindered by blindness in his mid-seventies, he continued his preaching and teaching, and spent his last two years in Canada, seeking to encourage their Church’s missionary involvement. Everywhere he went his soul was aglow with one message "the fullness of the Christ-life through the Holy Spirit's indwelling." Physical sight was gone but his life was as a "shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." On the last Sunday before his death he preached four times. One who was there gave her impressions:
As Mr. McPherson led Dr. Goforth into the pulpit he walked with firm step, head erect, and face aglow with the joy of Christ, the sightless eyes were turned upward as if he could see. The congregation listened with marked attention and stillness as with radiant joy, as seeing the Lord he loved, he delivered his address in the power of the Spirit (p 347).
Some Reflection Questions
1. What characteristics of Jonathan and Rosalind Goforth challenge you?
2. What questions do you have as you read this brief description of their lives as missionaries and as a married couple?
3. What do you think you God wants you to learn from the example of this couple?
Bibliography
All documentation is from his official biography written by his wife, Rosalind Goforth. Goforth of China. Zondervan, 1937.
1 Rosalind writes, “How often have I seen him, when taking up his Bible to read, first uncover his head and in an attitude of deepest reverence remain so a few moments before beginning his reading. In this simple act we see the secret of his life. Before he crossed the Borderland he stated that he had read the Bible 73 times from cover to cover” (p. 314).
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