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
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
Union Mission. Born in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, 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
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 ...
, 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.
See also
*
Christianity in China
Christianity has been present in China since the early medieval period, and became a significant presence in the country during the early modern era. The Church of the East appeared in China in the 7th century, during the Tang dynasty. Catholic C ...
*
Christianity in Korea
The practice of Christianity is marginal in North Korea, but significant in South Korea, where it revolves around Protestantism and Catholicism, accounting for 8.6 millionAccording to figures compiled by the South Korean National Statistical ...
References
Further reading
* Rosalind Goforth, ''Goforth of China''; McClelland and Stewart, 1937;
Bethany House, 1986.
* Rosalind Goforth, ''How I Know God Answers Prayer'',
Zondervan
Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). It is a part of HarperCollins, Ha ...
, 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