Gladys Aylward

 Gladys Aylward (1902-1970) stands out as an example of how God can use someone of meager means and abilities when they give themselves over to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Gladys was born into a working class family in Edmonton, London, on 24 February 1902, daughter of a mailman and oldest of two sisters and one brother. Unlike many famous Christians in history she did not excel scholastically or exhibit an exhaustive knowledge of the Bible and classic languages but rather her early life was marked with a propensity for play acting and a willingness to serve. God prepares those He calls for the roles they are to play and these propensities were to become contributing factors in her success as God put them to good use.

After working for several years as a parlormaid Gladys attended a revival meeting at which the preacher spoke of dedicating one's life to the service of God. Gladys responded to the message, and soon afterwards became convinced that she was called to preach the Gospel in China. At the age of 26 she became a probationer at the China Inland Mission Center in London but failed to pass their examinations. She worked at other jobs and saved her money. Then she heard of a 73-year-old missionary, Mrs. Jeannie Lawson, who was looking for a younger woman to carry on her work. Gladys wrote to Mrs. Lawson who said she could take on this work if she could get to China. She did not have enough money for the ship fare but did have enough for the train fare so in 1930 she set out from London with her passport, her Bible, her tickets, and two pounds nine pence, to travel to China on the Trans-Siberian Railway, despite the fact that China and the Soviet Union were engaged in an undeclared war.

When Gladys finally arrived in China she joined a seasoned missionary widow to run an inn for mule drivers, in a remote area. They used each evening to tell Bible stories to all who stayed at the inn. Their audiences were quite attentive, as the Chinese loved stories.  The small parlor maid from London learned Chinese from a local mandarin with whom she had an interesting relationship, one filled with mutual respect and challenges. The mandarin even asked her to deal with a prison riot because the head of the prison and the soldiers were afraid. Gladys was able to calm the prisoners down, and she promised she would help to bring about reform so they would have work and more food. In the quiet following the riot one of the men called to her, “Thank you, Ai-weh-deh!”, and this name, meaning 'The Virtuous One', became hers. She even took this as her official name when she became a naturalised Chinese subject in 1936, four years after she arrived in China.

As time passed, Ai-weh-deh's situation changed. She was approached by the local mandarin who wanted her to be responsible for ending the practise of binding the feet of baby girls. This was a great opportunity for Ai-weh-deh. She would then be able to visit many remote villages and preach the gospel to all who would listen. She was given soldiers to protect her and to help her enforce the new law, and she was very successful in this role, becoming well known among the people in the proces.

Gladys practiced her Chinese for hours each day, and was becoming fluent and comfortable with it. When Mrs. Lawson suffered a severe fall, and died only one year after Gladys' arrival in China, Gladys was left to run the mission alone with the aid of the Chinese cook, who was a Christian. Fluent in the language, she began to share the Gospel in surrounding villages and through circumstance, became aware of the many unwanted children. Her missionary work turned in a different direction as she began to care for these unwanted little ones. But her care wasn't limited to children. During those years China was under attack by Japan and many Chinese soldiers were wounded. Her Inn now became a refuge for 20 orphans and as many as 30 to 40 injured soldiers at a time.

In 1947 the new Communist regime took control and Gladys and other missionaries had to leave China. Whilst other missionaries moved to Malaysia and other countries in South East Asia she chose to return to England burdened for the spiritual condition of her native land. She wrote, "England, seemingly so prosperous while other countries passed through terrible suffering at the hands of Communist domination, had forgotten what was all important - the realisation that God mattered in the life of a nation no less than in that of an individual."

In 1958, after ten years in England, she left for Taiwan and started another orphanage. She remained here for the rest of her life serving God by serving His children. She died on 3 January 1970.

"She may have been small in stature at barely five feet tall, but she was a giant of conviction"