The Part Played by Chinese Women in the Formation of an Indigenous Church in China: insights from the archive of Myfanwy Wood, LMS missionary

Abstract

The personal letters of Myfanwy Wood, at work in China with the London Missionary Society in the first half of the twentieth century, provide invaluable glimpses of the lives of individual Chinese Biblewomen and Christian teachers. The archive illustrates the role played by such women in the growth of Christianity in China, especially in the period 1908–39, and frequently offers greater insight into individuals than do official missionary records. This article aims, by means of its deliberately restricted personal focus, to showcase some of the rich material to be found in these letters. It also illustrates the major shift which was taking place across these decades, from the evangelism of keen but rudimentarily educated Biblewomen to the Christian higher education and professionalisation of women converts involved in vital outreach and church growth.