Theology on Thursday

The London Missionary Society was a trans-denominational missionary society formed in England in 1795 by Nonconformists (largely Congregational in outlook) and evangelical Anglicans. Proposals for such a society began a year earlier when Particular Baptist minister, John Ryland, Jr., received correspondence from his fellow Particular Baptist, William Carey, “The Father of Modern Missions.” Carey suggested Ryland join with other Christians along the lines of the trans-denominational Anti-Slavery Society, but for the purpose of advancing the gospel. He believed a trans-denominational society would prove more efficient than missionaries being financed by their own small denominations or a handful of churches. The labors of missionaries proved difficult to sustain and tended to reach only small groups. Ryland showed Carey’s letter to H.O. Wills and began gaining great support shortly thereafter. The London Missionary Society was soon formed “to spread the knowledge of Christ among heathen and other unenlightened nations.”

The most famous missionary sent out by the London Missionary Society was Eric Liddell (1902-1945). Liddell was born in Tianjin (formerly Tientsin), China, to LMS missionaries, the Rev. & Mrs. James Liddell. The family returned to Scotland when Eric was five. Liddell, nicknamed “the Flying Scotsman,” was slated to run the 100 m. race at the Paris Olympics in 1924. Upon hearing the heats were to be run on Sunday, he refused to break the Fourth Commandment. Despite a great deal of pressure placed upon him to run on the Lord’s Day, he adamantly refused and preached in a local church that day. He ended up running in the 400 m. race instead and winning the gold medal. The 1981 film, Chariots of Fire, which won four Oscars, centers upon the 1924 Olympics and has Liddell as one of its two primary characters (Harold Abrahams the other).

After the Olympics, Liddell returned to China, serving as a missionary from 1925-1943. He married Florence Mackenzie (the daughter of Canadian missionaries) in 1934, and the couple had three daughters: Patricia, Heather and Maureen. The 1930s were dangerous in China, especially for foreigners, yet Eric served in Siaochang with his older brother, Rob. In 1941 the British government advised its citizens to evacuate the nation. Florence and the girls departed for Canada, but Liddell remained in Tientsin between 1941-1943. He was forced to enter a prison camp in Weishien. He lived out his faith courageously at the camp, caring for the sick and elderly, teaching the youth Bible studies and other subjects, boosting morale through arranging sporting events, and feeding the enemy by preparing meals for the Japanese guards. Liddell died in the camp in 1945, just months prior to the end of the war, from a brain tumor. His last words were, “It’s complete surrender.” After his death his remains were later interred in the Mausoleum of Martyrs in Shijazhuang, a great honor for a non-Chinese individual. His passing was mourned deeply not only by those at the internment camp in Weihsien, but by all of Scotland.

While in the camp, Liddell wrote a small work intended to teach others basic doctrine and the importance of personal devotional – The Disciplines of the Christian Life. Within the pages of this small work, Liddell wrote his “personal” creed. It didn’t supplant his affirmation of the historic Christian creeds, by any means, but was intended to demonstrate verbally the importance of living for God with every fiber of one’s being. Eric Liddell, whose life demonstrates the reality and importance of living out one’s theology, confessed:

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Creator,
infinitely holy and loving,
who has a plan for the world, a plan for my life,
and some daily work for me to do.
I believe in Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God,
as Example, Lord, and Savior.
I believe in the Holy Spirit who is able to guide my life
so that I may know God’s will;
and I am prepared to allow him to guide and control my life.
I believe in God’s law that I should love the Lord my God
with all my heart, and with all my soul,
and with all my mind, and with all my strength;
and my neighbor as myself.
I believe it is God’s will that the whole world
should be without any barriers of race, color, class,
or anything else that breaks the spirit of fellowship.
To believe means to believe with the mind and heart,
to accept, and to act accordingly on that basis.