In 1900, the Boxers set out to exterminate all foreigners in China in a reign of terror during which hundreds of missionaries and Chinese Christians were put to death. The CIM lost 79 people. When it was all over, indemnity money was procured by consulate officials and offered to the foreign mission societies, but Taylor would not accept.

Taylor died in 1905 after 50 years of active service for China, and D.E. Hoste, one of the Cambridge Seven, was appointed mission director. In 1927, there was another call for 200 workers, and the policy for churches to be run by national believers was established. By 1931 there were 203 new missionaries on the field.

1932-2009

At its peak in 1939, the CIM had more than 1,300 missionaries, and nearly 200,000 Chinese and minority people had been baptized. During the years of World War II and those that followed, missionaries had fantastic opportunities among university students and professionals, some of whom were high up in the government. The benefit to the church of these years of war is difficult to assess. It was a time of great harvest, and a preparation for the difficult days when the communist armies with their atheistic emphasis would be in control.

Many missions pulled out in 1948-49, but the CIM was one which attempted to stay. Having so decided, the CIM took a further step of faith and brought in 49 new workers to Shanghai in 1948 and in 1949. But it eventually became plain that the continued presence of the missionaries was causing suspicion and harassment for the Chinese believers. So the momentous decision was made in 1950 that in the best interests of the Chinese church, the CIM would withdraw.

The China Inland Mission now faced the question of whether it should continue to exist. Was this to be the end, or was there something new in God’s plan? It was either extinction or expansion. Discovering great pockets of need that included totally unreached people groups in the countries surrounding China, the CIM decided God wanted them to move forward in new faith. The mission began again in East Asia, establishing headquarters in Singapore.

A new name, Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF), was adopted in 1964 (changed again to OMF International in 1993) and the old name (China Inland Mission) was dropped. Asian Christians also began to be accepted into membership during this period, and home councils were formed in Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Indonesia. Today, nearly 20% of OMF International’s membership comes from Asia.

In 2006 Dr. Patrick Fung became the general director, the first Asian believer to hold this position for OMF International. At the OMF International Council gathering in 2006 he presented “Passion for the Impossible—Reaching the Neglected Frontiers,” to leaders from across the countries and fields where OMF serves. In his keynote, Dr. Fung looked at lessons from the China Inland Mission (CIM) history, its recent past and ministry priorities for the next 5-10 years.

He stressed the importance of who OMF International is as a fellowship: a godly community, a pioneering mission, a relevant organization and a caring family with a servant spirit. He then presented an outline of key concepts for the future.

Considering the totality of the effort required, OMF International’s leaders forged “The Five Challenges.” These identified the kind of workers God can use; the work they would do; the number of new workers needed to join the effort; how to process them and, finally, how to partner with the churches involved.

OMF International’s leadership invested a tremendous amount of energy into discerning God’s call to the neglected frontiers. They performed a detailed survey, a contemporary version of the one done with Hudson Taylor in 1883, of all the fields in East Asia. Leaders in China, Japan, Laos, Macau and so on reported on people groups and workers and all that God was doing. The momentum built as each shared the physical and spiritual needs of the targeted peoples and the numbers of personnel needed in the work. God led to the “impossible” tally of a need for 900 new workers for the work at hand! These workers will teach, provide medical expertise, lead in business ventures and a wide variety of other means to bring the gospel.

At the close of the gathering, OMF’s leaders left with a passion for these impossible challenges:

1. To pursue holiness.
2. To reach the neglected frontiers.
3. To pray for 900 new workers by 2110 (including 200 support workers).
4. To assess, care for and equip our people.
5. To engage with the sending church in fresh ways.

The nations of East Asia are still teeming with thousands who need to receive those “glad tidings” that Hudson Taylor sought to bring to the furthest points of China, and God is still leading OMF International. In 2009 OMF International has more than 1,600 people from 30 nations reaching out in East Asia. OMF International is still breaking new ground in the most dramatically changing region of the world—whether in outreach to more than 100 people groups, working with disadvantaged children, seeking new ways of evangelizing the unreached of Manila, teaching and influencing students in Taiwan and Indonesia, pioneering a witness among the Malays in South Thailand, translating the Bible, or living as “salt and light” (Matt. 5:13-14) in countries closed to traditional missionary service. OMF International missionaries are giving their energies towards building a strong church in the countries of East Asia.