Persistently Faithful
When is age a barrier? Jonathon Goforth, the great missionary-evangelist to China and Manchuria, was 71. Only a few years earlier, sitting in his favourite broken chair by the stove for warmth in outback Manchuria, he had begun weeping thinking of the wonderful life God had given him. “Isn’t it grand to be out here opening up such a place for the gospel? I’d rather be right here than in Windsor Castle,” he chuckled to his wife. The Goforths had given almost 50 years to the mission fields of China and Manchuria. They had survived diseases that claimed many around them, though five of their eleven children had succumbed to typhoid and other sicknesses for which there was then no cure.
Jonathon began having difficulty with his seeing. The retina in his right eye was detached. Several operations later he lost sight in that eye. Undaunted he pressed on. Though their mission field was Manchuria they sometimes “vacationed” south in their former home in Changte in China. There Jonathon would preach four times a day for seven days. His audiences varied from 800 to 1,000 people in every meeting.
Then, at 76 Jonathon lost sight in his good left eye. Again operations failed. He was blind. Anyone else would have given up but not Jonathon. Civil unrest in Manchuria had turned to chaos as the Government completely lost control. Gangs of up to a thousand bandits pillaged the countryside. The Great Depression had stopped all missionary giving. Jonathon gave the leadership of the churches, including the need to raise finances, to the Manchurians. They gave beyond their means. Forty new churches were started. Baptisms went up fourfold in a year.
With his wife’s health declining, Jonathon felt he should now return to Canada. Though 77 and completely blind, Jonathon preached ten times a week throughout Canada. Many thousands were challenged. After a particularly exhausting week he fell into bed one Sunday night and woke up in heaven. What a homecoming he must have received!
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