Cambridge Seven

Background

Interest in overseas missions was growing in Britain in the late nineteenth century. At the University of Cambridge, a growing number of students sought to go abroad as missionaries, educators, and physicians. In 1881 Henry Martyn Hall was established to inform students about missionary work overseas. In 1882 the American revivalist Dwight L. Moody, a preacher who led meetings for spiritual revival, held a week of meetings in Cambridge. The Korean newspaper Kukmin Ilbo describes the Seven as young men who committed themselves after hearing Moody's message at that time. The father of C. T. Studd, who was known as a cricketer, is also said to have been converted after hearing Moody preach in London.

Development

The group consisted of the following seven men:

• From the University of Cambridge: C. T. Studd, Montagu Beauchamp, Stanley Smith, Arthur Polhill-Turner, Cecil Polhill-Turner, and William Cassels
• From the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich: Dixon E. Hoste

The seven were accepted as missionaries by the China Inland Mission (today OMF), which Hudson Taylor had founded in 1865. Before their departure, they toured universities in England and Scotland, holding farewell meetings for students. It was during this tour that they became known as the "Cambridge Seven." In early February 1885 a testimony meeting was held at the Cambridge Guildhall. A booklet containing their testimonies is said to have reached Queen Victoria. The party left Britain in February 1885 and arrived in Shanghai in March of the same year; sources differ on the date of arrival, giving either March 3 or March 18. After arriving in China, the party divided into two groups. Studd and the Polhill-Turner brothers formed one group, while Hoste, Smith, Beauchamp, and Cassels spent three months studying Chinese at Pingyang Prefecture in Shanxi Province.

Outcomes and Influence

Each of the seven went on to many years of service, each along a different path.

• Hoste succeeded Hudson Taylor as leader of the China Inland Mission.
• Cassels, an ordained Anglican clergyman, became bishop of the diocese of Western China in 1895 and served there until his death in 1923.
• Smith ministered in northern China and died there in 1931.
• Arthur Polhill-Turner established a gospel hall and a hospital in Dazhou, Sichuan Province, and died in 1935.
• Cecil Polhill-Turner moved to the northwestern region near Tibet. After returning to Britain in 1900 because of poor health, he led the Pentecostal Missionary Union and was involved in establishing the Pentecostal movement in Britain.
• Beauchamp served as a British Army chaplain after returning home and died in 1939 in China, where his son was serving as a missionary.
• Studd ministered in India and then went to Central Africa in 1913. He later founded the international mission agency WEC.

The story of the Seven was published as a book that was widely read. Henry Frost, who became the first director of the China Inland Mission's North American headquarters, is known to have been among those inspired by it.

Assessment

In evangelical circles the Seven are remembered as an example of men who gave up wealth and social standing to devote themselves to missions. They are also frequently featured in Korean Christian media and at mission conferences. The China Inland Mission, to which they belonged, was an interdenominational organization in which members of various denominations worked together. Indeed, one of the Seven became an Anglican bishop, and another took part in the Pentecostal movement.

At the same time, some take a critical view of Western missionaries in China during this period as a whole. The Chinese historian Gu Changsheng (顧長聲), in a work published in the 1980s, evaluated missionary activity negatively, linking it to Western imperialism. Such discussions are treated further in the article Colonialism and Missions.