![John Livingston Nevius](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/John_Livingston_Nevius.jpg)
John Livingston Nevius (4 March 1829 – 19 October 1893) was an American
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
in
Chinafor forty years, appointed been appointed by the
American Presbyterian Mission
Presbyterian Mission Agency is the ministry and mission agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Founded as the Western Foreign Missionary Society by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America in 1837, it was involved in sending w ...
; his ideas on mission organization were also very important in the spread of the church in
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
. He wrote several books on the themes of Chinese religions, customs and social life, and missionary work.
Biography
Nevius was born on a farm halfway between the villages of
Lodi and
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
in the "Lake country" of western
New York state. His biography describes it as an idyllic country location in
Lake Seneca, "gleaming through the trees", only 2 miles distant; he was the son of Benjamin Nevius, of Dutch descent, and his wife Mary Denton. He was educated at the college in Ovid, then at
Union College
Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...
in
Schenectady
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
, then, from 1850, at
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
as a prospective minister in the Presbyterian Church.
[Creegan, 1903, pp. 200-212.]
In 1853, Nevius married Helen Coan and, on June 15 of that year, the couple set off, as missionaries, on a 6-month sea voyage to
Ningpo
Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sa ...
, in the
Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...
province on the southeast coast of China, arriving in the spring of 1854. He and his wife immediately set about learning the language, and Nevius's subsequent interest in the phenomenon of
spirit possession
Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and re ...
was sparked off by conversations about the supernatural with his language tutor, Mr. Tu; the Chinese had a strong belief in the reality and power of the spirit world that was part of an
animistic
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning ' breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, ...
tradition in
Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled ...
.
The Rev. and Mrs. Nevius were soon travelling and preaching, as well as setting up missions and schools, studying and writing. In 1861 the couple moved to
Shandong province in North China, where most of their Chinese missionary work would be undertaken. They spent some time in
Tongzhou and dispensed medicine to the locals during the 1862
cholera epidemic there. John also trained missionaries and helped to establish the country's first
Synod which took place in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
in 1870, while Mrs. Nevius set up a boarding school for girls.
In 1871, they moved to
Chefoo
Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao on the ...
and built a house there called "Nan Lou". In 1873, John embarked on a taxing 600-mile missionary tour by foot, finding rest and sustenance at whatever establishments he could find along the way. In 1877, there was a famine in the province of Shantung (the "
Great North China Famine"), and he played a pivotal role in raising funds, setting up a food distribution centre and organising a relief corps from quarters at
Kao-Yai. Famine struck again in 1889, and Nevius's abilities were, once more, called upon.
Nevius continued with his missionary work to country areas until 1887, travelling thousands of miles, often under arduous conditions of terrain, weather etc. In 1890, he travelled to Korea and, although he stayed for only 2 weeks, his "Nevius Plan" (see below) was subsequently adopted and led to rapid growth of the church there. He died suddenly, at home, in October 1893, and was buried in the cemetery at
Chefoo
Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao on the ...
.
Nevius was the author of several books covering the subjects of Chinese religions, spiritual practices and social and political life,
spirit possession
Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and re ...
and missionary work; his wife also wrote an exhaustive biography (see bibliography).
Indigenous Church Mission
After questioning the methods of western missionaries of his time, Nevius took up the
Venn
Venn is a surname and a given name. It may refer to:
Given name
* Venn Eyre (died 1777), Archdeacon of Carlisle, Cumbria, England
* Venn Pilcher (1879–1961), Anglican bishop, writer, and translator of hymns
* Venn Young (1929–1993), New Zea ...
-
Anderson
Anderson or Andersson may refer to:
Companies
* Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910
* Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car
* Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer
* Anderson ...
principles of "self-propagation, self-government, and self-supporting" in a series of articles in the
Chinese Recorder journal in 1885, which was later published as a book in 1886, ''The Planting and Development of Missionary Churches''. Nevius called for discarding old-style missions and the adoption of his new plan to foster an independent, self-supporting local church. He criticized the missionaries' practice of paying national workers out of mission funds, believing the healthy local church should be able to support its own local workers.
The Nevius Plan
The missionary principles formulated by Nevius later became known as the "''Nevius Plan''", and were a development of the existing ideas of
Henry Venn and
Rufus Anderson
Rufus Anderson (August 17, 1796 – May 23, 1880) was an American minister who spent several decades organizing overseas missions.
Personal life
Rufus Anderson was born in North Yarmouth, Maine, on August 17, 1796. His father, also named Rufu ...
. When American
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
s began their work in Korea, the new missionaries invited Nevius to advise them. Embracing his method, the Korean mission enjoyed great success, although it did not gain similar popularity in China. The Nevius Plan outlined the following:
[
]
# Christians should continue to live in their neighborhoods and pursue their occupations, being self-supporting and witnessing to their co-workers and neighbors.
# Missions should only develop programs and institutions that the national church desired and could support.
# The national churches should call out and support their own pastors.
# Churches should be built in the native style with money and materials given by the church members.
# Intensive biblical and doctrinal instruction should be provided for church leaders every year.
See also
*
Rufus Anderson
Rufus Anderson (August 17, 1796 – May 23, 1880) was an American minister who spent several decades organizing overseas missions.
Personal life
Rufus Anderson was born in North Yarmouth, Maine, on August 17, 1796. His father, also named Rufu ...
*
Henry Venn
References
Bibliography
*Helen Sanford Coan Nevius.
Our Life in China' (New York, R. Carter, 1869).
*Nevius, J. L.
China and the Chinese' (New York, Harper & brothers, 1869)
*Nevius, J. L.
Demon possession and allied themes; being an inductive study of phenomena of our own times' (Chicago: F. H. Revell, 1894).
*Helen Sanford Coan Nevius.
The life of John Livingston Nevius: for forty years a missionary in China' (New York ; Chicago : Fleming H. Revell Co., 1895).
*Nevius, J. L.
The planting and development of missionary churches' (New York: Foreign mission library, 1899)
*Creegan, Charles Cole.
Pioneer missionaries of the church' (New York, American Tract Society, 1903).
External links
Biography(Biographical dictionary of Chinese Christianity)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nevius, John Livingston
1829 births
1893 deaths
American religious writers
American writers on paranormal topics
Presbyterian missionaries in China
American expatriates in China
American Presbyterian missionaries
Union College (New York) alumni
19th-century American writers
People from Ovid, New York
People from Lodi, New York