Jonathan Goforth (, February 10, 1859 – October 8, 1936) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

to China with the

Canadian Presbyterian Mission Canadian Presbyterian Mission was a Presbyterian Church in Canada missionary society that was involved in sending workers to countries such as Trinidad and Tobago during British rule and China during the late Qing Dynasty, the most famous of which ...

, along with his wife, Florence Rosalind (Bell-Smith) Goforth. Jonathan Goforth became the foremost missionary revivalist in early 20th-century China and helped to establish revivalism as a major element in

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

China missions.

Biography

Goforth grew up on an Oxford County, Ontario, farm, the seventh of eleven children. As a young man he taught school in Thamesford, Ontario. Hearing fellow Oxford County native

George Leslie Mackay George Leslie Mackay (偕瑞理 or 馬偕 ''Má-kai''; 21 March 1844 – 2 June 1901) was a Canadian Presbyterian missionary. He was the first Presbyterian missionary to northern Taiwan (then Formosa), serving with the Canadian Presbyterian Mis ...

, Presbyterian missionary to Taiwan, speak, he sensed a call from God to go to China. He attended the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, and Knox College, where he graduated in 1887, and was awarded the

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...

in 1915. During his training, Goforth met Rosalind Bell-Smith at the

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Union Mission. Born in

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, England, she had grown up in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada. They married in 1887, in his final year at Knox, and eventually had eleven children, six of whom survived childhood. After initially subjecting him to teasing and even hazing, Goforth's classmates came to support him greatly in his quest to become an overseas missionary. Goforth had also read

Hudson Taylor James Hudson Taylor (; 21 May 1832 – 3 June 1905) was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China and founder of the OMF International, China Inland Mission (CIM, now OMF International). Taylor spent 54 years in China. The society tha ...

's '' China's Spiritual Need and Claims'', a book that so excited him that he ordered many copies and mailed them to many pastors that he knew in order to promote missionary work in China. The Goforths were sent to pioneer the North Henan mission in 1888. Their work was difficult and they lost five of their eleven children to sickness. In 1900, the Goforths had to flee for many miles across China during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

. Jonathan was attacked and injured with a sword, but they both survived and escaped to the safety of one of the "

Treaty Ports Treaty ports (; ) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Qing dynasty of China (before th ...

". The Goforths returned to Canada for a year. After their return to

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

in 1901, Jonathan Goforth felt increasingely restless. In 1904 and 1905 he was inspired by news of the great Welsh revival and read

Charles Finney Charles Grandison Finney (August 29, 1792 – August 16, 1875) was a controversial American Presbyterian minister and leader in the Second Great Awakening in the United States. He has been called the "Father of Old Revivalism". Finney reject ...

's ''Lectures on Revivals''. In 1907, circumstances brought him to witness firsthand the stirring Korean revival ("When the Spirit's Fire Swept Korea" 943represents his response). As Goforth returnerd to China through

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

in early 1908, congregations invited him back. During his extended visit there the " Manchurian revival" broke out, the first such revival to gain nationwide publicity in China as well as internationally. From 1908 to 1913, thousands of Chinese people converted to Christ. The revival transformed Goforth's life and ministry; from then on he was primarily an evangelist and revivalist, not a settled missionary. He also became one of the best-known of all China missionaries, admired by many, but criticized by some for "emotionalism". In 1925, he decided to remain within the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and his Henan station was transferred to the support of the

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (UCC; ) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholic Church in Canada. The United Chu ...

. He and Rosalind, despite their age and frailties, were then sent by the church to begin work in

, where they remained until Goforth's eyesight failed in 1935. He remained active into the 1930s, especially in Manchuria; in 1931 the Goforths coauthored ''Miracle Lives of China''. After his death in Toronto, Rosalind, a capable writer who had first published in 1920, wrote the popular ''Goforth of China'' (1937, with many reprints), and her own autobiography, ''Climbing: Memories of a Missionary's Wife'' (1940). Their final years in Canada were spent recounting their stories to many congregations. Goforth died at his son's manse in

Wallaceburg, Ontario Wallaceburg (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population 10,323) is an unincorporated community in the municipality of Chatham-Kent in Southern Ontario, Southern Southwestern Ontario, (Southwestern) Ontario, Canada. Originally a small settlement, it w ...

, after preaching the previous evening in nearby Wyoming, Ontario. The funeral service was held in Toronto's Knox Church, and Goforth is buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in the same city.

References

, 1921. * Ruth A. Tucker, ''From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions'', Zondervan, 1983. * Jonathan Goforth, ''By My Spirit'', 1929, 1942, 1964, 1983. * Rosalind Goforth, ''Chinese Diamonds for the King of Kings'', 1920, 1945. * Alvyn J. Austin, ''Saving China: Canadian Missionaries in the Middle Kingdom, 1888-1959'', University of Toronto Press, 1986, chapters 2, 6. * Daniel H. Bays, ''Christian Revival in China, 1900-1937''. * Edith L. Blumhofer and

Randall Balmer Randall Herbert Balmer (born October 22, 1954) is an American historian of American religion. Biography Balmer taught at Barnard College and Columbia University for twenty-seven years before moving to Dartmouth College in 2012, where he was name ...

, eds., ''Modern Christian Revivals'', University of Illinois Press, 1993. * The Rev. James Benjamin Webster, ''"Times of Blessing" in Manchuria: letters from Moukden to the Church at home, February 17-April 30, 1908'', 1908. * The Goforths' papers are in the

Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (; November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American Evangelism, evangelist, ordained Southern Baptist minister, and Civil rights movement, civil rights advocate, whose broadcasts and world tours featuring liv ...

Center archives, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill., collection 188. * Janet & Geoff Benge,'' Jonathan Goforth: An Open Door in China'', YWAM Publishing, 2001. {{DEFAULTSORT:Goforth, Jonathan 1859 births 1936 deaths Canadian Presbyterian missionaries Canadian evangelicals Canadian Presbyterian ministers Canadian Christian religious leaders Presbyterian missionaries in China Presbyterian missionaries in Korea Presbyterian writers People of the Boxer Rebellion University of Toronto alumni Christian revivalists Canadian expatriates in China Canadian expatriates in Korea

Biography

See also

References

Further reading