Jonathan Goforth (Chinese: 顧約拿單 , February 10, 1859 – October 8, 1936) was the first Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 Presbyterian

Presbyterian Church in Canada

The Presbyterian Church in Canada is the name of a Protestant Christian church, of presbyterian and reformed theology and polity, serving in Canada under this name since 1875, although the United Church of Canada claimed the right to the name from 1925 to 1939...

 missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 to China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 with the Canadian Presbyterian Mission

Canadian Presbyterian Mission

Canadian Presbyterian Mission was a Canadian Presbyterian Church in Canada missionary society that was involved in sending workers to countries such as China during the late Qing Dynasty...

, with his wife, Rosalind (Bell-Smith) Goforth

Rosalind (Bell-Smith) Goforth

Florence Rosalind Bell-Smith was a Presbyterian missionary, and authoress. Rosalind was born near Kensington Gardens, London, England. When she was three years old she moved with her parents to Montreal, Canada.Her father, John Bell-Smith, was an artist, and Rosalind also intended to go into art...

. Jonathan Goforth became the foremost missionary revivalist in early 20th century China and helped to establish revivalism as a major element in Protestant China missions.

Goforth grew up on an Oxford County, Ontario

Oxford County, Ontario

Oxford County is a regional municipality and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the Southern portion of the province. The regional seat is in Woodstock...

 farm, the seventh of eleven children. As a young man he taught school in Thamesford, Ontario

Zorra, Ontario

Zorra is a township in Oxford County, situated in south-western Ontario, Canada. A predominantly rural municipality, Zorra was formed in 1975 through the amalgamation of East Nissouri, West Zorra and North Oxford townships.-Government:...

. Hearing fellow-Oxford County native George Leslie Mackay

George Leslie Mackay

George Leslie Mackay was the first Presbyterian missionary to northern Formosa . He served with the Canadian Presbyterian Mission. Mackay is among the best known Westerners to have lived in Taiwan.-Early life:...

, Presbyterian missionary to Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, speak, he claimed to sense a call from God to go to China. He attended University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

, and Knox College

Knox College, University of Toronto

Knox College is a postgraduate theological college of the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1844 as part of a schism movement in the Church of Scotland following the Disruption...

, where he graduated in 1887, and was awarded the Doctor of Divinity

Doctor of Divinity

Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....

 in 1915. During his training, Goforth met Rosalind Bell-Smith at the Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 Union Mission. She had been born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and had grown up in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

. They married in 1887, in his final year at Knox, and eventually had eleven children, six of whom survived childhood.

Goforth was greatly supported by his fellow classmates to become an overseas missionary. He had also read the book by Hudson Taylor

Hudson Taylor

James Hudson Taylor , was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China, and founder of the China Inland Mission . Taylor spent 51 years in China...

: China's Spiritual Need and Claims

China's Spiritual Need and Claims

China’s Spiritual Need and Claims is a book written by James Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, in October, 1865. It is arguably the most significant work regarding Christian missions to China in the 19th century...

, a book that he ordered many copies of and mailed them to many pastors that he knew to promote missionary work in China.

The Goforths were sent to pioneer the North Henan

Henan

Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...

 mission in 1888. Their work was difficult and they lost five of eleven children to sickness.

In 1900, the Goforths had to flee for many miles across China during the Boxer Rebellion

Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...

. Jonathan was attacked and injured with a sword, but they both survived and escaped to the safety of one of the "Treaty Ports".

The Goforths returned to Canada for a year. After their return to Henan in 1901, Jonathan Goforth felt increasingly restless. In 1904 and 1905 he was inspired by news of the great Welsh revival

1904-1905 Welsh Revival

The Welsh Revival was the largest Christian revival in Wales during the 20th century. While by no means the best known of revivals, it was one of the most dramatic in terms of its effect on the population, and it had repercussions that reached far beyond the Welsh border, triggering a series of...

 and read Charles Finney's "Lectures on Revivals". In 1907, circumstances brought him to witness firsthand the stirring Korean revival ("When the Spirit's Fire Swept Korea" [1943] represents his response). As he returned to China through Manchuria

Manchuria

Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...

, congregations invited him back in early 1908. During this extended visit there occurred the unprecedented "Manchurian revival

Manchurian revival

The Manchurian revival of 1908 was a period of spiritual renewal in the life of the Protestant Christians at churches and mission stations in Manchuria, . It was the first such revival to gain nationwide publicity in China as well as international repute...

". It was the first such revival to gain nationwide publicity in China as well as international repute. The revival transformed Goforth's life and ministry; from then on he was primarily an evangelist and revivalist, not a settled missionary. He also became one of the best known of all China missionaries, admired by many, but criticized by some for "emotionalism."

In 1925, he decided to remain within the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and his Henan station was transferred to the support of the United Church of Canada

United Church of Canada

The United Church of Canada is a Protestant Christian denomination in Canada. It is the largest Protestant church and, after the Roman Catholic Church, the second-largest Christian church in Canada...

. He and Rosalind, despite their age and frailities, were then sent by the PCC to begin work in Manchuria

Manchuria

Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...

, where they remained until his eyesight failed in 1935. Goforth remained active into the 1930s, especially in Manchuria; in 1931 the Goforths coauthored "Miracle Lives of China". After his death in Toronto, Rosalind, a capable writer who had first published in 1920, wrote the popular "Goforth of China" (1937, with many reprints), and her own autobiography, "Climbing: Memories of a Missionary's Wife" (1940).

Their final years in Canada were spent recounting their stories to many congregations. He died at his son's manse in Wallaceburg, Ontario

Wallaceburg, Ontario

Wallaceburg is an unincorporated community and town located in the municipality of Chatham-Kent in Southern Ontario, Canada. Originally a small settlement, it was recognized for its significant contribution to the lumber and boat building industries and strategic location along the banks of the...

, after preaching the previous evening in nearby Wyoming, Ontario. The funeral service was held in Toronto's Knox Church

Knox Presbyterian Church (Toronto)

Knox Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian church in downtown Toronto, Canada.-History:In 1820 the first Presbyterian congregation in Toronto was formed, and after the donation of land from Jessie Ketchum, built a church on Richmond Street...

, and he is buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery

Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto

Mount Pleasant Cemetery is a cemetery located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.In the early 19th century, the only authorized cemeteries within the city of Toronto were limited to the members of either the Roman Catholic Church or the Church of England...

in the same city.