Margaret E. Barber

Margaret E. Barber Missionary to China Born 1866 Suffolk, England Died 1929 Fuzhou, China

Margaret Emma Barber or M. E. Barber (1866–1930; Chinese: 和受恩; Pinyin: Hé Shòuēn; Foochow Romanized: Huò Sêu-ŏng), was a British missionary in China. She was born in 1866 in Peasenhall, County Suffolk, England, the daughter of Louis (a wheelwright) and Martha (née Gibbs) Barber. During the course of her life, she lived in China twice to preach the Christian gospel. She left her home and traveled in a lonely way thousands of miles.^[1] Barber, who initially went to China as an Anglican, became an independent missionary with informal ties to the Plymouth Brethren. She is best known for her influence on Watchman Nee (Nee Tuo-Sheng).^[2]

Along the south China coast (in Foochow), she and others regularly taught a Bible class at "White Teeth Rock". There she had contact with Nee who was studying at Anglican Trinity College. Barber referred him to books by J. N. Darby, Madam Jeanne Guyon, Jessie Penn-Lewis, D. M. Panton, T. Austin Sparks, and of others, which had been of help to her.^[3][4] She also influence others Chinese Christian leaders, including Leland Wang who later formed the Chinese Foreign Missionary Union.

Life and Christian Ministry [edit]

Miss Barber was an Anglican missionary sent by the Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.) to the city of Fuzhou, Fujian, China where she taught in the Tau Su Girls’ High School (a school founded and operated by the Church of England) for seven years. Known as an excellent missionary, her co-missionaries became jealous of her and fabricated a serious charge which caused her to be recalled from the field. Miss Barber was famed for knowing the Lord in a deep and living way and she had deeply experienced the cross and practiced continually the lessons of the cross. For this reason, Miss Barber decided not to vindicate herself concerning the charges made against her. She remained at home in Great Britain until years later the chairman of the mission board became aware of the case against her and that it was misrepresented. Forcing her to tell the truth, Miss Barber told him the whole story and was fully vindicated before the mission board.^[5]

While she remained in England, Miss Barber came into contact with D.M. Panton, the editor of the Christian magazine, The Dawn. Panton was both a student of the word and one who began to see that denominationalism was evil in the sight of God. Through her relationship with him, Miss Barber also began to see the denominations as evil in the sight of God.^[6]

Before the board could send her back to China, Miss Barber resigned from the mission, considering that it was the right time to do so, even though she felt lead by God to return to China for the Lord’s interest. She returned to China by herself not in connection with any mission, settling in a suburb of Fuzhou, with the spiritual support of Panton and the Surrey Chapel, Norwich, where Panton ministered. Her niece, Miss Ballard, accompanied her to China. The two women rented a house in Pagoda Anchorage where Barber lived there until her death in 1930. Ballard continued to work in Pagoda Anchorage until 1950, when she returned to England.^[6][7]

Barber lived with little traveling and no publicity. Rather, Miss Barber was content to just remain home and pray much for the Lord’s move in China and helped those who sought her counsel in seeking after the Lord, one of whom was Watchman Nee. Furthermore, Miss Barber lived by faith, having no outward means of support.^{[8][9][10][11]}

One of Barber’s well-known characteristics was her anticipation of the second coming of Jesus Christ. This is evident in the many hymns she wrote on waiting for Christ's return. In one account given by Watchman Nee (concerning the eve of 1925):^[12][13]

Barber died in 1930 in Anchorage Pagoda. All of her belongings, which included little more than her old Bible with all her notes, were left to Watchman Nee. In the March 1930 issue of Watchman Nee’s periodical, ‘’The Present Testimony,’’ Nee made the following remarks concerning Miss Barber’s departure:^[9]

We feel most sorrowful concerning the news of the passing away of Miss barber in Lo-Hsing Pagoda, Fukien. She was one who was very deep in the Lord, and in my opinion, the kind of fellowship she had with the Lord and the kind of faithfulness she expressed to the Lord are rarely found on this earth.”

—Watchman Nee, ’’Watchman Nee: A Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age.’’ Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1991:18. Print.

Hymns [edit]

Barber did not leave behind any writings other than a small volume of hymns that was later published by her niece in China. These compositions demonstrate her striving to live "in the Lord’s presence," as well as her eager anticipation of Christ's coming back. A stanza of Barber's poem reads:

Footnotes [edit]

Further reading [edit]

• Chen, Christian. Anchored to Infinity: Margaret E. Barber's Best-Loved Poems
• Reetzke, James. M.E. Barber: A Seed Sown in China

External links [edit]

• M. E. Barber Biography
• Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity

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