One truly notable Christian woman is Mildred Cable: missionary to China, a pioneering explorer and writer.
Born in Guildford in 1878 to a family with a deep Christian faith, Mildred accepted Christ at the age of twelve and soon felt God’s call to mission. One of the first women students at London University, she learnt medical skills suitable for the mission field. She sensed a calling to China and became engaged to a man who shared her vision. In 1900 the Boxer Rebellion occurred with the murders of many missionaries and their children in China, and her fiancé decided that China was not for him. He gave Mildred a choice: stay in Britain with him or go on her own. She went to China.
Arriving in 1901, she was sent by Hudson Taylor’s China Inland Mission (CIM) to northern China to work under the supervision of Eva French (another missionary), and in 1910, Eva’s younger sister Francesca joined them; together they formed a remarkable trio whose close friendship lasted for half a century.
Mildred and the sisters learnt Chinese, adopted local dress and identified with the local culture. Although involved in preaching and church leading, their main work lay with a girls’ school. Anxious to remedy the way that women had been marginalised they taught the girls not only Christianity, but also literacy, science and the Chinese classics. The school and its impact grew rapidly.
Believing that the church and educational system must be ultimately run by the Chinese themselves, the trio worked at developing local leadership. By the early 1920s they felt that this had been achieved to the point where they should look elsewhere for further ministry. Aware that the vast area of western China remained largely unreached by missionaries, they proposed to the CIM that they travel along the ancient Silk Road deep into Central Asia to evangelise. With reluctance, the leadership of the CIM gave them permission.
In 1923, taking a mule-drawn cart filled with Christian literature and accompanied by a few local supporters, the trio went beyond the Great Wall. It was the start of fifteen years of remarkable travels in which the trio made five trips, each lasting months. The region was a challenge: frequently waterless, freezing in winter and baking in summer. It was also dangerously unstable, with many different tribes, often ruled by bandits and militias. As they travelled westwards the control of China waned and they had to learn other languages. The few previous Europeans in the area had been men travelling in well-protected convoys who chose to have only limited contact with the local population. In contrast, the women travelled light and lived amongst the local people, often staying overnight in primitive local inns where they would preach around the campfires.
When the trio reached a settlement they would preach in marketplaces where, as western women, they drew large curious crowds to whom they gave away Bibles and Scripture portions. They became acquainted with local warlords and governors, with whom they shared the good news of Jesus. Moving increasingly into Muslim territory they developed a particular ministry amongst women. Eventually their travels took them to China’s frontiers with India, Tibet and Russia, and over much of the area they travelled they were probably the first Christian missionaries since the sixth century.
In 1936, with worsening instability, the trio left China for the final time. In Britain they became speakers, with Mildred lecturing to the Royal Geographical Society and all three women meeting royalty. Their fame was helped by nearly twenty books written by Mildred with Eva French’s help. Mildred was an observant and sympathetic writer and her books became enormously popular, with some still considered classics of travel literature. None of the trio ever really retired and all gave themselves to ministry. After the Second World War Mildred travelled globally, speaking about Christian mission. She died in 1952 at the age of 74, with Eva and Francesca dying in 1960.
Although much of the trio’s fame centres on their extraordinary travels they were never just explorers but always those concerned to preach to all about Jesus. Their vision extended beyond spiritual matters: they gave medical aid and encouraged literacy, particularly amongst women. Sometimes their concern was very practical: Mildred was to adopt an abused seven-year-old deaf-mute girl she encountered.
I’m struck by much in the life of Mildred Cable but let me mention three things.
First, her sacrifice. Heroically, Mildred gave up marriage for the sake of the gospel. Significantly, however, she did not become a solitary individual but developed the closest of friendships with two other women. Nothing about her life suggests any sense of loneliness, regret or frustration.
Second, her sensitivity. It is often alleged that missionaries are insensitive to local cultures but that cannot be said of Mildred. Her writings reveal both an affection for China and its people and a deep and scholarly respect for its culture.
Finally, her strategy. Mildred worked at educating women not just to emancipate them but because she believed they could spread the gospel. She took the Silk Road because she knew that along it she would be able to share Jesus with travellers from unreached countries. She trained and taught people so that they could, in turn, do the same for others. Behind Mildred’s strategy, I sense God’s. Unknown to all, the century-old open door for missions in China was closing. The trio’s evangelistic trips into the wilds of Central Asia allowed them to seize an opportunity that was soon to end.
The region they worked in may largely be closed for open mission work today, but this troubled world has many other hard places that need the sort of adventurous and faithful witness that Mildred Cable displayed.
J.John
Reverend Canon
