FALL 2016 Professors visit China to research Brethren mission in Shanxi Province Two Elizabethtown College professors es- Bach and Kenley want to tell the story of caped Pennsylvania last winter for an exotic the interaction of the Brethren and the peo- spring break destination, but it was not a ple of Shanxi and interpret the work of the tropical sandy beach. Jeff Bach, director of Brethren in the context of the many struggles the Young Center, and David Kenley, profes- China experienced in the first half of the sor of Asian history, traveled to Shanxi Prov- twentieth century. On this trip the professors ince in China to conduct research for a book discovered that although the Brethren con- project about the Brethren mission in China. gregations formally ended after the Commu- A Brethren couple living near the city of nist Revolution, the areas where the Chinese Pingding, Eric Miller and Ruoxia Li, helped Brethren established congregations proved Bach and Kenley by arranging excursions in many cases to be fertile ground for more and meetings with people who provided recent Christian activity to emerge. helpful information. “We were treated royal- The trip began in Taiyuan, the provincial ly by many Chinese people who helped us to capital of Shanxi. Miller introduced Bach experience some of life in Shanxi today and and Kenley to Professor Anrong Liu, who to learn about Shanxi’s past,” noted Bach. teaches history at a college in Taiyuan and Five members of the Church of the studies Christian activity in Shanxi. She has Brethren traveled to China in 1908 to start a special interest in the Brethren missionar- mission work. They were Frank and Anna ies. Together, this small group visited two Crumpacker, George and Blanche Hilton, former homes of E. L. Ikenberry and Minor and Emma Horning. After two years they Meyers, Brethren missionaries in Taiyuan. David Kenley, Guimei Liang, and Jeff Bach decided to locate in the interior province The group traveled on to Shouyang, one meet at Liang’s home near Shouyang. Liang, of Shanxi and settled in Pingding. Famine of the Brethren mission stations and the age 94, is the last living member of the in 1918-1919, an outbreak of pneumonic childhood home of Ruoxia Li, Miller’s wife. Brethren congregation at Shouyang, where plague in 1919-1920, and regional military Pastor Yin, who serves a small Christian she also attended the girls’ school. conflicts made humanitarian service an im- congregation in Shouyang, gave the visitors portant priority for the missionaries in ad- a tour through the old mission house and the dition to their evangelism and educational newer church building adjacent to it. He also small Brethren hospital in Shouyang until the work. During the main years of missionary showed them a church manual written in Japanese invasion of China. Liang reported activity, from 1910 to about 1948, the church Chinese that the Brethren created, as well as that she reads her Bible and prays every day. in China grew and developed indigenous a scrapbook of photos from the mission era. Meeting Liang was one of the highlights of leadership as well as trained Chinese teach- Just outside the city of Shouyang, the the trip for Bach. ers, nurses, and doctors. The peace teach- group stopped at the home of Yin’s aunt, For the next several days, Kenley and ings of the Brethren were severely tested by Guimei Liang. At age 94, she is the last Bach stayed near Pingding, where the Breth- armed conflict between provincial leaders in living Brethren member of the Shouyang ren mission started. The two professors at- the 1920s, the Japanese occupation during congregation. She remembered her teacher, tended worship in a Christian congregation the 1930s, and the revolution in the 1940s, Minerva Metzger, when she attended the there. Although the church is not directly when missionary staff were finally evacu- Brethren girls’ school. She recalled the day connected to the Brethren congregation of ated. The last Brethren missionary returned of her baptism at age 18 in a stream near her the past, the congregants consider the Breth- to the United States in 1953. home. Later she worked as a nurse in the (continued on page 2) 1 From the Bach and Kenley’s visit to China (continued from page 1) Director ren their spiritual forerunners. After a walk- in the museum. After Matian, the travelers ing tour of the old section of Pingding in the ate supper in the nearby town of Zouquan, Lars Levi Laestadius is probably an morning, they toured the You Ai Hospital, another Brethren mission station (formerly unfamiliar name to most of us. We where Eric Miller works. It is a newer, pri- known as Liao Chou). The restaurant was may even wonder how to say it. When vate hospital offering care for people who in the church building that the Brethren had Dr. Aini Linjakumpu applied to be cannot obtain it elsewhere. In the evening built. It is the only Brethren church building our Snowden Fellow, my knowledge Kenley and Bach were treated to a walk to that is still standing. Thirteen Chinese Breth- about the Laestadians expanded as I see colorful lanterns, a part of Pingding’s ren were killed in Zouquan (Liao Chou) by read about this Pietistic group from Lantern Festival marking the end of the lunar Japanese occupying forces in 1940. Finland. Their views on temperance, ecstatic experience, and confession of new year celebrations. The second excursion into southern sins are intriguing. I plan to learn a lot Later in the week, the professors visited Shanxi included places where missionary more about Laestadius and his group the hospital that stands on the site of the old Frank Crumpacker stayed and preached. this fall. I hope that you will join me. Brethren hospital. They met hospital adminis- Thanks to Professor Wang’s help, Bach and trators and viewed an exhibit about the hospi- Kenley met people whose relatives had host- Shanxi Province in China is a place I tal’s history, which features a bust of Dr. Daryl ed Crumpacker and saw some old, traditional had read about related to Brethren missionaries. However, my knowledge Parker, one of the Brethren physicians. homes where he stayed. Bach was surprised expanded exponentially during my trip Miller also arranged two excursions to that some memories of his work still survive there last March with David Kenley rural areas of southern Shanxi Province. after seventy years. from the history department. Meeting Bach had asked to see some of the villages Professor Wang also helped the research- people who told me about Shanxi mentioned in Crumpacker’s journals as ers find the site of Frank and Anna Crump- and seeing towns and cities created preaching points for the Brethren. A retired acker’s home in Pingding. Along the way, completely new perspectives for me. professor of education from the area, Profes- they met two elderly men who had attended The Young Center’s mission is sor Wang, led the two trips. the Brethren boys’ school. One of them re- to expand understanding about The first outing included a tour of Ma- membered Frank Crumpacker as a large Pietist and Anabaptist groups. The tian, the headquarters of the 8th Route Army, man. recent Amish conference increased the leading force in the Chinese Communist Other highlights of the trip were not con- knowledge about the Amish and Revolution. The group also visited a museum nected directly to research about the Breth- technology, health care, and other commemorating the army. Several photos ren. One morning Professor Wang arranged topics. Our Kreider Fellow and researchers over the spring and taken by Howard Sollenberger, son of one for a visit to part of the Great Wall that bor- summer have brought new questions of the Brethren missionaries, were featured ders Shanxi Province. On another morning and new insights even as they enlarge he took the two Americans to a teachers’ col- the understandings of their topics. lege in Pingding to meet students preparing Next spring, the Young Center building to teach English. They demonstrated their itself will expand when construction of English skills and asked many questions the new addition begins. The building about American popular culture. At the end will increase in order to serve our of their trip, Kenley and Bach spent a day mission of increasing understanding of Pietist and Anabaptist groups. in Pingyao, a UNESCO world heritage site renowned for its intact city wall and many Sometimes knowledge grows by historic buildings. learning more about topics that The professors were overwhelmed by the are already familiar. Sometimes generosity of their Chinese hosts, who were understanding increases by encountering people, places, or eager to share broader history of Shanxi and subjects that are totally new. At the to learn about the Brethren. Kenley noted Young Center, we embrace both ways how much the Brethren had to depend on of expanding knowledge. help from their Chinese associates, who provided much of the work in establishing Come and join us for our programs Brethren congregations in China. Bach was this fall to learn more about the Laestadians, Brethren in Shanxi, and surprised that some memories of the Breth- perspectives on 9/11. Drop in on our ren remain, and that generally they are posi- Heritage Festival. Whether a topic is tive. The researchers returned from spring new or old at a Young Center event, break with many new friendships and a deep we can all increase in understanding. appreciation for their hosts. See you soon! Although not directly connected to the Bach and Kenley will give an illustrated Jeff Bach Brethren, this church in Pingding, which presentation about their trip on Tuesday, Sep- Director Kenley and Bach visited, sees itself as the tember 20, at 7:30 p.m.