This week in Christian history: Creflo Dollar arrested, George Leslie Mackay dies, ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers’ written
George Leslie Mackay dies – June 2, 1901
This week marks the anniversary of when George Leslie Mackay, a pioneering Canadian Presbyterian missionary to what is now Taiwan, and died there from throat cancer.
MacKay was assigned to China when he applied to be a missionary with the Committee for Foreign Service of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, having been ordained in 1871.
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The missionary immersed himself in the culture, learning both Chinese language and philosophy, as well as marrying a Chinese woman named Tiun Chhang-miâ, also known as Minnie, with whom he had three children.
“Mackay left behind a thriving church of sixty congregations led by Chinese and aboriginal preachers; Oxford College, which became what is now Aletheia University and the Taiwan Seminary; the Tamkang Girls School; the Tamkang Middle School (now High School), of which Mackay’s son George was appointed principal; Mackay Hospital; and a strong presence of the Canadian Presbyterian mission,” stated the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity.
“This later became the North Taiwan Presbytery and later merged with the southern presbytery to become the Taiwan Presbyterian Church. He had greatly enhanced the lives of the women whom his ministry touched, and set a pattern of treating women with respect for later generations.”
