Margaret E. Barber or M. E. Barber (1866–1929; Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

: 和受恩; Pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

: Hé Shòuēn; Foochow Romanized: Huò Sêu-ŏng), was a British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 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...

 in 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...

. She was born in 1866 in Peasenhall

Peasenhall

Peasenhall is a village and a civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal District, in the English county of Suffolk. It was the location of the Peasenhall Murder.- Amenities :...

, County Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, 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...

, the daughter of Louis (a wheelwright) and Martha (née Gibbs) Barber. She died at 63 years of age, in 1929. Within her lifetime, she went to China twice to preach the Christian gospel. She left her home and traveled in a lonely way thousands of miles. Barber, who went to China as an Anglican, later became an independent missionary with informal ties to the Plymouth Brethren

Plymouth Brethren

The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...

. She is best known for her influence on Watchman Nee

Watchman Nee

Watchman Nee was a Chinese Christian author and church leader during the early 20th century. He spent the last 20 years of his life in prison and was severely persecuted by the Communists in China. Together with Wangzai, Zhou-An Lee, Shang-Jie Song, and others, Nee founded The Church Assembly...

 (Nee Tuo-Sheng).

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 while he studied for a time at Anglican Trinity College. Miss Barber referred him to books by J. N. Darby

John Nelson Darby

John Nelson Darby was an Anglo-Irish evangelist, and an influential figure among the original Plymouth Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism. He produced a translation of the Bible based on the Hebrew and Greek texts called The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation...

, Madam Jeanne Guyon

Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon

Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon was a French mystic and one of the key advocates of Quietism...

, Jessie Penn-Lewis

Jessie Penn-Lewis

Jessie Penn-Lewis was a Welsh evangelical speaker and author of a number of Christian evangelical works.-Early life:Penn-Lewis was born in Victoria Terrace, Neath in 1861. Her father was a Methodist minister...

, D. M. Panton

David Morrieson Panton

David Morrieson Panton was the pastor of Surrey Chapel, Norwich, Norfolk, UK, where he succeeded Robert Govett. He was the editor of The Dawn Magazine, a writer of books and numerous tracts, and a British leader amongst those pursuing Prophetic studies.-Early days:Panton was born in Jamaica in...

, T. Austin Sparks

Theodore Austin-Sparks

Theodore Austin-Sparks , usually known as "Mr. Sparks" or just "TAS", was a British Christian evangelist and author.Born in London in 1888, Mr. Austin-Sparks was sent as a boy to live in Scotland with his father's relatives. It was there that he became a Christian at the age of 17 while listening...

, and others that had been of help to her. She also had an influence on many others Chinese men and women including Leland Wang (Wang Cai) who later became a Christian revolutionary leader associated with Watchman Nee and the Church Assembly Hall

Chinese Independent Churches

The Chinese Independent Churches are a major category of churches of Chinese people.During Missionary Council Meetings in the mid to late 19th century several Western missionaries started advocating for the Chinese Christians to become independent instead of relying on outside support and funds....

.

Life and Christian Ministry

Barber first went to China in 1899. She was sent to the city of Foochow, Fukien

Fujian

' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...

, where she taught in the Tau Su Girls’ High School (a school founded and operated by the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

) for seven years. After her return to 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...

, she would meet D.M. Panton

David Morrieson Panton

David Morrieson Panton was the pastor of Surrey Chapel, Norwich, Norfolk, UK, where he succeeded Robert Govett. He was the editor of The Dawn Magazine, a writer of books and numerous tracts, and a British leader amongst those pursuing Prophetic studies.-Early days:Panton was born in Jamaica in...

, the editor of the Christian magazine, The Dawn. She stayed in the country for two years, when, in 1909, with the support of D.M. Panton and the Surrey Chapel, Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

, where he ministered, she returned to China. Her niece, Miss Ballard, who was twenty years her junior, accompanied her to China. The two women rented a house in Pagoda Anchorage where Barber lived there until she died in 1930. Ballard continued to work in Pagoda Anchorage until 1950, when she returned to England.

Barber worked to spread the Christian gospel

Gospel

A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...

 and teach about the principles of the "divine life" in China.

In her Christian ministry, she traveled little and received no publicity, focusing more on a holy living than an outward work. She was known to warn the young Christians against doing a popular work, which she believed would bring shipwreck to their spiritual life. Most of her time was spent in prayer for China and Foochow and also in helping those who sought her spiritual counsel. Barber anticipated the second return 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):

She prayed, “Lord, will You really let the year 1925 pass away? Although it is the last day of the year, I still ask You to come today.”

Hymns

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

Second Coming

In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...

 back. A stanza of Barber's poem reads:

If the path I travel

Lead me to the cross,

If the way Thou chooset

Lead to pain and loss,

Let the compensation

Daily, hourly, be

Shadowless communion,

Blessed Lord, with Thee.

Biographies

• Chen, Christian. Anchored to Infinity: Margaret E. Barber's Best-Loved Poems
• Reetzke, James. M.E. Barber: A Seed Sown in China (2005) Available from Chicago Bibles and Books

External links

• M. E. Barber A small biography
• Her Hymns Many of her Hymns
• Biographical dictionary of Chinese Christianity
• More of her hymns with mp3 melodies