Cheng Jingyi

Early Years and Calling

Cheng Jingyi was born on 22 September 1881 in Beijing into a Christian family; his father was a pastor of the London Missionary Society. From childhood he read the Chinese classics, and he was educated at the Anglo-Chinese College (英华书院) run by the London Missionary Society in Beijing. He then completed a four-year theological course in Tianjin, and shortly after graduating he lived through the upheaval of the Boxer year (1900). A deep grounding in Chinese learning and a steadfast faith laid the foundation for his later ministry.

Bible Translation

From about the age of twenty-two, Cheng Jingyi was invited to assist the London Missionary Society missionary George Owen (文书田) in revising the Mandarin translation of the New Testament. He brought his strong command of classical Chinese to the revision; Owen was at that time involved in translating the Mandarin Union Version of the Bible. During this period he went to Scotland to study further at the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow (格拉斯哥圣经学院), returning to China in 1908 to pastor a church in Beijing.

A Voice at Edinburgh

In 1910 Cheng Jingyi attended the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh, Scotland, as one of three Chinese delegates. He spoke at the conference for only about seven minutes, yet his words stirred the whole assembly: he called for the barriers of denomination to be transcended and for a united Chinese church to be established, and he urged that the Western missions hand the authority of church government back to Chinese believers. This short, forceful speech was hailed as one of the finest of the conference, and it made him a representative figure of the movement for the independence and unity of the Chinese church.

Advocating an Indigenous Church

From then on Cheng Jingyi devoted himself to advocating an “indigenous church”, holding that the Chinese church should be self-supporting, self-governing and self-propagating, with the Chinese themselves bearing responsibility for spreading the gospel. In 1919 he promoted the China for Christ Movement (中华归主运动), encouraging his countrymen to take up the missionary task.

Building Structures of Unity

In 1922 the National Christian Council of China was founded, and Cheng Jingyi became its general secretary, coordinating cooperative work among the churches nationwide until he resigned in 1933 because of poor health. In 1927 the General Assembly of the Church of Christ in China, uniting 16 denominations, was formally established, and he was elected its first moderator, so that the long-held ideal of unity at last took institutional form. He also represented the Chinese church at international conferences many times, his reputation spread abroad, and several institutions conferred honorary doctorates on him.

Death in Shanghai

In his later years he still spared no effort, going deep into the south-western border regions to promote evangelistic work. On 15 November 1939 Cheng Jingyi died of illness in Shanghai, at the age of fifty-eight. All his life he raised the banner of the independence and unity of the Chinese church, and with a humble yet firm character he left an indelible mark on the growth and independence of the Chinese church.