Pastor James Hudson “Jamie” Taylor IV not only inherited his family’s Christian faith but also his great-great-grandfather Hudson Taylor’s commission to preach the gospel in China. As the eighth generation Christian in his family, he shared in an interview with UChannel the story of how his family’s faith and commission were passed down to him.
Pastor Jamie Taylor is currently the principal of the China Evangelical Seminary. When asked how faith can be passed on to the eighth or even ninth generation in a culture where “wealth does not pass on to the third generation”, Pastor Jamie replied that family environment and parental role models play an important factor, but ultimately when it comes to individual faith, he can only confess that it is the Lord’s grace that came to him personally.
“Children can see faith in the words and actions of their parents. Faith can be very practical in life, being revealed in the relationships between husband and wife, parents and children.” Pastor Jamie explains that parents living out their faith authentically at home is crucial for children to learn about their faith. Faith is not just a message from the pulpit on Sundays, it is how it is realistically lived out in family, among spouses, and between the parents and children.
He emphasizes, ultimately, the passing down of faith relies on the grace of the Lord, and the willingness of each generation to turn that faith into personal faith, not just inheriting it as the last generation’s.
Missionary Hudson Taylor recorded how he left his parents’ faith in his autobiography. Remembering this, Pastor Jamie says that he also had this experience in his teens. But it was also at this stage, when he was eighteen, that he experienced transformation and truly received Jesus Christ as his personal savior. He mentions: “At the time, I realized that I am a sinner, indebted to God and to my parents, so I prayed, and gave up my life to the Lord.”
When asked about how his faith reached this turning point, Pastor Jamie recalls how his rebellious years brought a lot of big challenges to his parents. He describes: “Many people thought that, since my parents serve the Lord, our family would be perfectly smooth sailing, but my rebelliousness brought a lot of confusion to many people. Even so, my parents still lived out their faith, and this had a tremendous influence on me.”
He adds that, when he was in high school, the care and guidance he received from his high school teacher also played a significant role. His teacher was a Southern Baptist missionary, and even though Pastor Jamie grew up soaked in Christian faith, his teacher’s personal embodiment of the gospel message once again ignited the flame of faith in him, building him up to the ultimate decision of faith.
Note: The interview was originally conducted in Chinese, all quotes in this article have been translated from Mandarin into English with the purpose of easy understanding.
