Margaret E. Barber

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Margaret Barber

Margaret Emma Barber (* 1866 in Peasenhall , Suffolk , England ; † May 1930 in Fuzhou , China ), Chinese also Hi Scheo-ngen or - after Watchman Nee's mother - Miss He Shouen , was a Christian missionary in China. She became known for her influence on Watchman Nee (Nee Tuo-Sheng).

Life

Margaret E. Barber was the daughter of wheelwright Louis Barber and his wife Martha Barber, née Gibbs. In 1890 she followed a mission call from Hudson Taylor , founder of the China Inland Mission , to preach the gospel in China . In preparation, she worked as a nurse in a children's hospital in England.

In 1895 Barber traveled to China for the first time. She was sent by the Church Missionary Society to Fuzhou City, Fujian Province , where she worked for seven years at Tau Su Girls' High School , a middle school for girls established and operated by the Church of England .

Returning to England, Barber met David Morrieson Panton , editor of the Christian magazine The Dawn (German "Der Taganbruch"). During her two-year stay at home, she was baptized again as an adult, which led to her separation from the Anglican State Church.

In 1909, at the age of 42, Barber returned to Fuzhou as an independent missionary with loose ties to the "closed" wing of the Plymouth Brethren , this time accompanied by her niece, MS Ballord, who was 20 years her junior. The two women first rented a house on the Pagoda wharf opposite Lo-hsing Pagoda, where Barber lived until her death. To expand the work, she once prayed for a house with ten rooms. A short time later she was offered the building of a neighboring trade school for a small rent, which was closed and had twenty rooms.

At first, Barber worked with Li Ai-ming, an independent Chinese preacher. Through her Bible class at White Tooth Rock, she got in touch with Watchman Nee, who was then a student at Anglican Trinity College . Barber introduced him to the books of John Nelson Darby , Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de La Motte Guyon , Jessie Penn-Lewis , David Morrieson Panton , Theodore Austin-Sparks , but also to other books that had helped her herself. She also influenced Leland Wang (Wang Cai), who later became a Christian leader and worked with Watchman Nee .

Barber preached the gospel and taught the principles of a " sanctified life ." For the most part, she and her niece worked among women, but occasionally also among men. Periodically, they handed out tracts in the markets in Fuzhou . Barber traveled little and was not well known. She put her emphasis on a "holy life" rather than public relations. For example, she warned young Christians against devoting themselves too much to careers, which she believed would only "shipwreck the spiritual life".

When Barber died in May 1930 at the age of 64, she had almost no financial means left. In her hand-picked Bible, which she bequeathed to Watchman Nee, she had noted: “O God, grant me perfect and limitless self-knowledge!” In addition, on the flyleaf there was the note: “I desire nothing for myself, I desire everything for him Mister. ”Her niece, Miss Ballord, continued her work until 1950 when she returned to England.

Songs

Barber wrote a number of songs that were later published in China by her niece. In many she expressed her hope for the imminent return of Jesus . Watchman Nee, who was baptized with his mother at Barber's in 1921, reported at the turn of the year 1925: “She prayed, 'Do you really want to let 1925 pass? It is the last day of this year and I ask you to come back today. '"

Today Barber's songs are almost unknown. Below is a stanza:

If the path I travel
Lead me to the cross,
If the way you choose
Lead to pain and loss,
Let the compensation
Daily, hourly, be
Shadowless communion
Blessed Lord, with Thee.

literature

  • Christian Chen: Anchored to Infinity: Margaret E. Barber's Best-Loved Poems .
  • James Reetzke: ME Barber: A Seed Sown in China . Chicago Bibles and Books 2005.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Angus I. Kinnear: Against the Current (1973)
  2. ↑ Gerald H. Anderson: Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions , UK
  3. ↑ James Reetzke: ME Barber: A Brief History of the Lord's Recovery , Chicago Bibles and Books
  4. ↑ James Reetzke: ME Barber: A Brief History of the Lord's Recovery , Chicago Bibles and Books
  5. ^ Watchman Nee: Watchman Nee's Testimony , Living Stream Ministry
  6. ↑ James Reetzke: ME Barber: A Brief History of the Lord's Recovery , Chicago Bibles and Books
personal data
SURNAME Barber, Margaret E.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Barber, Margaret Emma (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British missionary in China
DATE OF BIRTH 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Peasenhall , Suffolk , England
DATE OF DEATH May 1930
Place of death Fuzhou , China