Margaret E. Barber
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Margaret E. Barber or M. E. Barber (1866 – 1930), was a British missionary in China. She was born in 1866 in Peasenhall, County Suffolk, England, the daughter of Louis (a wheelwright) and Martha (nee Gibbs) Barber. She died at 63 years of age, in 1930. Within her lifetime, she went to China twice to preach the Christian gospel. She left her home and traveled in a lonely way thousands of miles.[1] Barber, who went to China as an Anglican and later became an independent missionary with informal ties to the Plymouth Brethren, is best known for her influence on Watchman Nee (Nee Tuo-Sheng).[2]
Along the south China coast (in Foochow), she and others regularly taught a Bible class at "white teeth rock". There she had contact with Nee while he studied for a time at Anglican Trinity College. Miss Barber referred him to books by J. N. Darby, Madam Jeanne Guyon, Jessie Penn-Lewis, D. M. Panton, T. Austin Sparks, and others that had been of help to her.[3][4] She also had impact on many others Chinese men and women, amongst others, the most noted of whom was Leland Wang (Wang Cai), who later became a Christian revolutionary leader associated with Watchman Nee and the Church Assembly Hall.[5]
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[edit] Life and Christian Ministry
Barber first went to China in 1899. She was sent to the city of Foochow, Fukien, where she taught in the Tau Su Girls’ High School (a school founded and operated by the Church of England) for seven years. After her return to England, she would meet D.M. Panton, the editor of the Christian magazine, The Dawn. She stayed in the country for two years, when, in 1909, with the support of D.M. Panton and the Surrey Chapel, Norwich, where he ministered, she returned to China. Her niece, Miss Ballard, who was twenty years her junior, accompanied her to China. The two women rented a house in Pagoda Anchorage where Barber lived there until she died in 1930. Ballard continued to work in Pagoda Anchorage until 1950, when she returned back to England.[6]
Barber worked to spread the Christian gospel and teach about the principles of the "divine life" in China[citation needed].
In her Christian ministry, she traveled little and received no publicity, focusing more on a holy living than an outward work. She was known to warn the young Christians against doing a popular work, which she believed would bring shipwreck to their spiritual life[citation needed]. Most of her time was spent in prayer for China and Foochow and also in helping those who sought her spiritual counsel[citation needed]. Barber anticipated the second return of Jesus Christ. This is evident in the many hymns she wrote on waiting for Christ's return. In one account given by Watchman Nee (concerning the eve of 1925):[7][8]
She prayed, “Lord, will You really let the year 1925 pass away? Although it is the last day of the year, I still ask You to come today.”
[edit] Hymns
Barber did not leave behind any writings other than a small volume of hymns that was later published by her niece in China. These compositions demonstrate her striving to live "in the Lord’s presence," as well as her eager anticipation of Christ's coming back. A stanza of one of these poems reads:
If the path I travel Lead me to the cross, If the way Thou chooset Lead to pain and loss, Let the compensation Daily, hourly, be Shadowless communion, Blessed Lord, with Thee.
[edit] Notes
- ^ M. E. Barber: A Brief History of the Lord’s Recovery by James Reetzke, Chicago Bibles and Books
- ^ Angus I. Kinnear: Against the Tide (1973)
- ^ Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, edited by Gerald H. Anderson, UK
- ^ M. E. Barber: A Brief History of the Lord’s Recovery by James Reetzke, Chicago Bibles and Books
- ^ Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, edited by Gerald H. Anderson, UK
- ^ James Reetzke, M. E. Barber: A Brief History of the Lord’s Recovery
- ^ Nee, Watchman: Watchman Nee's Testimony, Living Stream Ministry
- ^ James Reetzke, M. E. Barber: A Brief History of the Lord’s Recovery, Chicago Bibles and Book
[edit] Biographies
- Chen, Christian. Anchored to Infinity: Margaret E. Barber's Best-Loved Poems
- Reetzke, James. M.E. Barber: A Seed Sown in China (2005)
[edit] External links
- M. E. Barber A small biography
- Her Hymns Many of her Hymns
