This Week in Christian History: John Brown Executed, Missionary Born, Excommunications Lifted

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, December 02, 2018

C.T. Studd Born – December 5, 1860

Charles Thomas Studd (1860-1931), British missionary who served in China, India, and Central Africa. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when Charles Thomas Studd, a noted English missionary to both Asia and Africa, was born in England as the son of a wealthy planter.

As a teenager, Studd became an expert cricket player before becoming a Christian during a Moody-Sankey campaign in 1877.

Studd spent years as a missionary in China, then India, and eventually Central Africa. He also toured the United States promoting mission work among youth.

“C. T.'s life stands as some rugged Gibraltar — a sign to all succeeding generations that it is worth while to lose all this world can offer and stake everything on the world to come,” noted the forward to the book C.T. Studd: Cricketer & Pioneer.

“His life will be an eternal rebuke to easygoing Christianity. He has demonstrated what it means to follow Christ without counting the cost and without looking back.”