Westminster Biblical Missions

Life and Work

John Livingston Nevius was the seventh generation of Joannes Nevius who became schepen of New Amsterdam in 1654. About 1818 John P. Nevius moved from New Jersey to a farm the Finger Lakes region of western New York in the township of Ovid, Seneca County. His son, Benjamin Hageman Nevius, married in 1826 Mary Denton, of English descent. To them was born John Livingston on March 4, 1829, in the same place. During his early years on the farm John developed a strong physique and developed a knowledge of farming. With his brother Reuben he first attended Ovid Academy and then entered Union College, at Schenectady New York in 1845. Upon graduating in 1848, he went south to Georgia, where he taught school for a year with considerable success. The greatest event of this period, however, was his conversion. From his letters to his brother Reuben, his conversion was the result not of sudden influences from without but of months of inner questioning.

Returning north, he entered Princeton Theological Seminary in 1850, and graduated in 1853. In that year he was ordained, appointed as a missionary by the Presbyterian Board, and assigned to Ningpo, China. He was ordained by the Presbytery of New Brunswick on May 23. In June he married Helen Sanford Coan, a school friend of Ovid Academy days. In September they both sailed, by way of the Cape of Good Hope, for China.

Presbyterian Missionary to China

There he labored at this post from 1854 to 59. The first years were full of uncertainties, and the climate of Ningpo, to which they had been assigned, was notoriously difficult. Mrs. Nevius health failed, and in 1857 she had to return to the United States for a period. Nevius became pastor of a church at Ningpo and started evangelistic work in San-Poh. He and his wife became pioneers in a mission station in Hang-chow in 1859, where he was the first to find a footing, but had to withdraw because of political unrest. He then sojourned in Japan from 1859-61, where he prepared a Compendium of Theology for Chinese students. Upon return to China, they proceeded to aid in the establishment of a mission in Shantung province, in Northern China, serving at Tung-chow, 1861-64; and at Chefoo, 1871-93. There Nevius toiled with characteristic energy for more than thirty years. His evangelistic zeal prepared the way for many local churches, the work in each locality being delegated as far as possible to native residents.

Cultural Influence

The statesmanship of his contribution to the missionary program was recognized by his appointment as American chairman of the Second Missionary Conference in Shanghai, 1890; and in America by the prominence accorded to his counsels and addresses. A lasting benefit to China’s material well-being resulted from his experiments in acclimatizing Western fruits and vegetables. Nevius character was seen in his commanding presence and the powers of concentration, but equally characteristic were qualities of geniality, sympathy and good comradeship.

His life continued active and full to the last day; and it ended peacefully at his desk after daily prayers in San-lou, the house which he had himself erected on a hill overlooking the Chinese city of Chefoo. At his death he was occupied with a translation of part of the Bible. He died on October 19, 1893.

The Nevius Method

Study of the Nevius method became a part of the preparation of missionary candidates. Charles A. Clark wrote,

The history of the National Presbyterian Church of Korea for the last twenty-five years should be better known by the Church at large, for it is a record of the workings of God’s Spirit that should inspire the Church in the homeland to a greater belief in the possibilities of Missions, and should inspire it also to a greater zeal in its own work here at home.

Thirty years ago there were less than 10,000 Christians in that country. Today there are over 160,000 Presbyterians alone. Counting all denominations, there are more than 250,000 meeting each Sunday in some three thousand congregations. All through these last thirty years, the Christians have shown an apostolic zeal in preaching to their neighbors and an apostolic earnestness in bringing their church to self-support and self-government. Not only have they brought their own church to a high state of organization. They have become a missionary-sending church, with their missionaries working north in the two Manchurias and in Siberia, south in the Island of Quelpart, east in Japan among the 400,000 Koreans there, and west among the Chinese in Shantung, China.

Many people have asked what the secret of this great success has been. Of course, it is not by might nor by power but by My Spirit that all such things come. Humanly speaking, however, those who know the work best believe that the results have come because of a peculiar system of methods that have been used there, something not used to such an extent at least in any other Mission field in the world.

Read more about the Nevius Method …

Writings:

Nevius kept up a steady output of written material both in Chinese and in English. This included at least sixteen tracts or books or translations in Chinese, and several works in English:

• San-Poh. (1869)
• China and the Chinese. (New York, 1869; Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1882) This book provides a historical perspective of the Chinese Empire and its inhabitants, Confucianism, the Chinese government, the religions of China, religious rites and beliefs, superstitions and the science of feng shui, modes of divination, the dialects of China, social customs, festivals, customs and amusements.
• Methods of Mission Work (1886, Published by the Northern Board, 1899)
• Planting and Development of Missionary Churches. Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1958. 1958. Preface to the Fourth Edition by Bruce Hunt.
• Demon Possession and Allied Themes (1894, 1895) which was published after his death. Kregel.

Bibliography:

• Dictionary of American Biography
• Hunt, Bruce. Preface to the Fourth Edition of Planting and Development of Missionary Churches.
• Mrs. Helen S. C. Nevius, Life of John Livingston Nevius, New York, 1895. The chief source of information is by his wife.
• Necrological Report … Princeton Theological Seminary,1894.
• A. Van Doren Honeyman, Joannes Nevius… and His Descendants… 1627-1900. (1900)
• F. F. Ellinwood, “Rev. John L. Nevius, D.D.” in Church at Home and Abroad (Feb. 1894)
• Gilbert Reid, “The Rev. John L. Nevius, D.D.” in Missionary Review of the World (May, 1894)
• Clark, Charles A. The Korean Church and the Nevius Method, Fleming H. Revell. (1930, 1937)
• Clark, Charles A. The Nevius Plan for Mission Work, illustrated in Korea. Seoul: CLS, 1937.
• Kim, H. K. “The Influence of Nevius on Korean Reformed Spirituality.” Korean Christianity, 2 (1997).

Posted on February 20th, 2007 by Rev. Eric Bristley
Filed under: Biographies, Missions