1900 - Alfred Woodroofe

August 1900

Yoyang, Shanxi

Alfred Woodroofe.

Alfred Woodroofe was born at Loughborough, in the English county of Leicester. After experiencing the saving grace of Christ in February 1889, he immediately found his life transformed, and his former selfish desires melted away. As a young believer all Woodroofe wanted to do was to make Jesus known to as many people as possible. After undergoing training he was accepted by the China Inland Mission in June 1897, and boarded a ship taking him to China the following September.

For the first several months he was stationed at Anking in Anhui Province, before transferring to Shanxi. In 1899 Woodroofe narrowly escaped with his life when a mob attacked him. Afterwards he wrote, “Are we called to die? The poor, feeble heart says, ‘Oh no; never.’ But to bring blessing into the world, what has it always meant? What to the Saviour? What to the Apostles? ‘This is the way the Master went should not the servant tread it still?’”[1]

Alfred Woodroofe was at Lucheng in southeast Shanxi when the troubles began in the summer of 1900. When a mob of hateful Boxers entered Lucheng in search of Christians, Woodroofe and three Chinese believers fled into the mountains. For more than a week they slept in caves at night, while during the daytime they hid in ravines. One account noted:

“His last few weeks on earth were full of anxiety and suffering. Shortly before his death he wrote, ‘The great wonder is that I am still here in the midst of so many whom I am sorry to say would rejoice to see the blood flow’…. He wandered about during the day where he was not likely to be seen, and during the night took shelter in caves nearer the city where the wild beasts were less to be feared.”[2]

A letter from Woodroofe, dated July 30, 1900, showed that he knew his time in this world was soon to end. He lamented,

“We have come, I suppose, to the saddest time for our Mission in China, yet we do not forget that from God’s standpoint it may yet prove to be the gladdest, both for us and for the Kingdom of our blessed Lord Jesus…. A whole system has sprung into being, which has put knives and divers arts into the hands of the boys and youths of every city and town and village, and their work is to finish the cutting off of God’s people…. I simply have to wait God’s time, either for deliverance or death, which I believe to be the door to life…. May the Lord bless and prosper His work through you who remain, but for me, we know that ‘absent from the body’ is ‘present with the Lord.’

Ever yours, with much love in Jesus, Alfred Woodroofe.”[3]

At one stage Woodroofe managed to send a note to some colleagues at Yoyang, saying he wished to come down from the mountains so they could all die together. They advised him to remain where he was. He wrote a second time, telling them that his feet were badly cut and bleeding. He ended by quoting from James 5:11, “We consider blessed those who have persevered.” This was the last communication heard from Alfred Woodroofe, who died at the age of just 28.