Translated By Richard Zou
The "2022 Chinese Missionary Mobilization Conference - Commemorating the 110th Anniversary of Charlotte Lottie Moon's Missionary Martyrdom in China'' was held online to inspire Chinese Christians to spread the gospel to the whole world.
Conducted on September 22 to 24, the conference was co-hosted by the BRC American Bethel Center, the Chicago Chinese Servant Leadership Center, and the Global Servant Leadership Renewal Platform, and co-organized by the Dubai Chinese Business Fellowship and the Led Road Luoshang Platform. Well-known overseas Chinese scholars and pastors were invited as speakers, including Mr. Dr. Yeou-cherng Bor, Executive Director of Ambassadors for Christ, Dr. Joshua Ting, former General Secretary of the Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism (CCCOWE), Professor Lin Zhiping, former dean of College of Humanities and Education at Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan, and Dr. Evan Liu, pastor of Chicago Golden Light Chinese Church and doctor of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School at Chicago.
The opening ceremony of the Charlotte Lottie Moon Chinese Missionary Conference featured the selection of Metaverse Space. Renowned American Chinese worship leader Lin Wanrong, founder of Lamb Music Ministry to lead the praise and worship. Professor Lin Zhiping and Teacher Wei Waiyang shared the story of Charlotte Lottie Moon's mission to China and its impact on their life to urge Chinese Christians to "seize the opportunity of evangelism by the Chinese” today.
Prof. Lin Zhiping talked about the special influence of American Baptist missionary Charlotte Lottie Moon on her personal experience.
Prof Lin said Moon, born in a rich family was well-educated. Therefore, when she first went to China, she disliked Chinese dress and was unwilling to be close to the Chinese. As her evangelistic work began, she found that it wasn't working. Then she tried other ways, for example, she made some small biscuits for local children to eat to be integrated into the life in China. Chinese people were relatively poor at that time, and there were many famines, so she tried to help as many as she could.
"Charlotte Lottie Moon is important to me. I converted to Christ when I was in high school." After becoming a Christian, Professor Lin attended church meetings of the Southern Baptist Youth Fellowship. During the Christmas of the year he came to Christ, Professor Lin came to know Charlotte Lottie Moon for the first time.He heard that this little sister had spent the days of famine with the Chinese and wanted to help the Chinese through fundraising, but also fell ill from starvation. On the way to send her back to the United States, Moon died in Japan.
Upon hearing this story, Professor Lin said: "I found it very strange. A thin and small American missionary, why did she have such a strong love for China in that era? There was no food on the boat, so she starved to death. I was very impressed with this lady."
"I am impressed by her, not because of how effective she was in preaching the gospel," added Professor Lin, "but because she suffered a lot to preach the gospel."
"Charlotte Lottie Moon is important in my life. I joined the Cosmic Light Ministry in 1973 and have been doing it for nearly 50 years. The call I received was a mission call, but not like a pastor preaching in a church. What I received was to put the love of the Lord into Chinese culture. I linked the story of the life of Charlotte Lottie Moon to my work. The work of Charlotte Lottie Moon was to enter the Chinese culture-biscuits for children, evangelism, faith, reaching out to them, and even giving her life for it."
Professor Lin finally concluded: "I have had a missionary’s will in my life since high school, and the real influence on this will is Charlotte Lottie Moon. She did not convince me with theory. Charlotte Lottie Moon's story showed me a preacher enters the deeper stage (mission) of (Chinese) culture from the level of life and culture.”
Professor Lin invited Mr. Wei Waiyang to introduce her life. Mr.Wei spent a long time studying the missionary’s life. "So far", he said, "no Chinese biography has been written about Charlotte Lottie Moon. " Mr. Wei said that what Moon had done in self-denial was worth learning from.
Although she was born in a very devout Christian family, she was very rebellious when she was a child, and even felt that reading Shakespeare on Sundays was more meaningful than going to church to listen to the preaching of the pastor.
Mr. Wei told two stories about her childhood. When Moon was in middle school, she hated the school bells because they reminded everyone to get up and go to class. On April Fool's Day, she wanted to surprise everyone. Then she crawled up to the clock tower secretly at midnight and wrapped the tongue of the clock in the blanket she brought. When it was time to get up the following day, the clock did not strike on time. It took school staff nearly an hour to find the cause and get the clock set up.
Among the names of Charlotte Lottie Moon (Charlotte Diggs “Lottie” Moon), the middle abbreviation was the English letter D. Once, she asked her classmates, “Do you know what the D in my name stands for?” She said arrogantly, “D stands for Demon, which means the devil.”
She believed in the Lord when she was 18, but Moon was still a bit rebellious at that time. At a church meeting, she wanted to make trouble, find fault with the preaching pastor, and create some turmoil. But, when she got home, she could not sleep all night while thinking much. The next day, she told the pastor that she wanted to be baptized and testified of her repentance.
Charlotte Lottie Moon was highly educated and liked to read and spoke several languages. She was a talented woman in the southern United States. Among Moon's family, her younger sister was the first to visit China. After her sister went to China, her sister found that there was a great need in China, thus her sister kept writing letters to invite her to serve together.
When Moon went to China, she found that her sister had suffered many hardships in the past few years, such as poverty, danger, etc. Her sister was in poor health and had mental problems, so she sent her sister back to the United States.
Moon surrendered her good living conditions and teaching job in the United States. Not only that, but she also gave up her dream of love and marriage as a young lady.
In addition to this, she abandoned her money and possessions. After Moon went to China, she found that the mission's financial condition in the United States was also very poor. She made personal loans to missions, hoping to send more missionaries.
When Moon was on a mission in China, she often wrote letters to the leaders of the mission, giving much advice, and also putting forward advice on women's missions. Later, the mission committee also set up a sister mission. She also suggested that the domestic Christmas tree decoration of the church and other expenses could be saved and used for missionary work. Charlotte Lottie Moon Christmas Offering was named after her in 1918, six years after her death.
- Translated by Richard Zou