China Mission - Misean Sìneach
The Call of Manchuria
The journey for John Ross and his wife was set to continue after receiving reports from Alexander Williamson, head of the United Presbyterian Church at Chefoo (Yantai), stressing the missionary need of Manchuria. The Rosses immediately set sail across Po Hai (Bo hai) Bay to the treaty port of Newchwang (Yingkou) in the Liaoning Province, where they set up a chapel in the premises of an old shop.
In 1876, the Rosses relocated to Mukden (Shenyang) to be nearer the centres of population and where John could begin his evangelistic work in earnest.
Family Loss
In January 1873, John’s wife Mary Ann Stewart gave birth to a son Drummond Ross, but his joy was short lived and tragically his wife died a few months later in Newchwang (Yingkou).
It was a devastating loss for John and in his grief he called upon the help and support of his sister Catherine in Easter Ross, who travelled to China to help him look after his son and keep house, allowing him to concentrate on building the Manchurian Mission.
The missionary family continued to grow with the marriage of Catherine to John’s close colleague the Rev. John MacIntyre in 1876.
“Onwards, and onwards still”
John became more vigorously involved in his evangelism activities and studies, travelling outwards to the villages and towns from his base in Mukden (Shenyang). He continued his language studies becoming fluent in Mandarin, Chinese and Manchu.
It was at this time that John contemplated the Korean mission leading him to the borderlands between Manchuria and Korea along the Yalu River (Amnok).
The two “Johns”
The vast mission field of Manchuria was too much work for a solitary missionary and it was decided to divide the region between John Ross and another missionary, the Rev. John MacIntyre, who was born into a ministerial family and had been posted to Baillieston United Presbyterian Church, near Glasgow before being appointed to Chefoo (Yantai) in 1871.
The two ‘Johns’ became lifelong friends working closely together spreading the word of God and Redemption throughout Manchuria and Korea; both men dedicated a large portion of their lives to translating the Bible into Korean.
Master of Languages
There was much scepticism of Europeans and great resistance to English-speaking ‘foreign’ missionaries, with inadequate grasp of the Chinese language. The Foreign Mission Committee made it their objective to appoint individuals with a flair for languages and it was strongly advised “not to send out to China men who are not qualified to master the language, it is necessary to send forth men whose ability is beyond the average.” This was positively true of John, who quickly became fluent and began preaching in Chinese to audiences exceeding a hundred. The first mission stations began to blossom when he baptised the first three Manchurian converts in July 1873.
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