By Joanne Landon

Missionary Biography: Jeanie Lawson

John_Atkinson_Grimshaw___Shipping_on_the_Clyde__1881__Public_Domain.jpg

To many she might best be remembered as the elderly missionary seeking an assistant in China when Gladys Aylward arrived to help. But who was this Jeanie Lawson, and what influence did she have on the new missionary Gladys?

Jeanie and her future husband Dugald Lawson, both grew up poor as “bankies”—those living along the banks of the Clyde River in Glasgow, Scotland. As a major shipbuilding center, the Clyde boasted affluence and worldwide travel. Sleek tall ships raced home with the first harvest of tea, and then early steam ships replaced them. Jeanie and Dugald watched these ships coming and going along “their river” to the far regions beyond. They too felt the strong winds blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean, which landed cargo and people at their doorstep.

Dugald and Jeanie both became grocery store assistants. They also became believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and active members in their local assembly, Orangefield Baptist Church, Greenock. Their pastor was Gospel-minded with a global emphasis. In this atmosphere, two young lives were nurtured for overseas missions.

In 1886 the China Inland Mission had appealed for 100 new workers for the following year. Dugald and Jeanie both responded separately to this call but were married on the field. New stations needed new workers, and Dugald and Jeanie were among the new recruits who arrived in China in 1887, staying until 1916.

Ever passionate about the imminent return of Christ, Dugald was determined to reach as many lost as possible. Jeanie was faithful in teaching women and children as best she could, yet she struggled with the loss of five infant children in eight years. Jeanie was familiar with poverty as a youth and with infant mortality in those Victorian times—but losing all her children, was this her payment for answering God’s call to China?

In 1899, as she stood by the small grave of her fifth child, she wept again. And her grief wouldn’t heal. A few months later, in 1900 the mission urged that she go to Shanghai, the mission’s headquarters, for medical help. There she would safely stay and be seen by good doctors for physical and mental healing.

Dugald, however, felt compelled to stay put for the time being to carry on the mission work. But then, one day in June, he sensed the immediate need to join his wife in Shanghai. A telegram arrived, also confirming his need to join his wife as soon as possible. He got out just in time, taking the last train to Shanghai. The next day, that very train line was destroyed by the Boxer rebels.

In that town where the Lawsons had served, fellow-servants lay martyred at rebel hands. Thus, God used Jeanie’s brokenness to preserve her life and her husband’s.

After a brief return to Scotland for recuperation, Dugald was back on the field in 1901, thankful that China was opening again after all the destruction and massacres at the mission stations. Jeanie would return to Dugald and the work shortly afterward when her health was fully restored.

The next years saw spiritual victories, a growing church body, and a record number of baptisms despite famine, destructive hailstorms, and ongoing cries for help. Through many trials, God continued to draw souls to Himself. Jeanie, although not traveling as much as Dugald, would teach classes at home to the women and children. She rejoiced when souls turned to the Savior.

With continued political unrest, in 1911 the Lawsons had to re-locate to the coast. Then after another short furlough, they returned to China. Soon after WWI created more unrest, and at its end, Dugald (a rather stubborn soul) and Jeanie resigned the mission to return to Scotland, where Dugald died in 1930.

But Jeanie’s story doesn’t end there. Her heart and will were forever in China. Her children all died there. And she too would die there. Her Savior had called her there, and her one desire was to be back in China reaching lost souls. But now she was well into her 70s with no backing and no mission. With dogged determination, a few possessions, and a tiny sum left after her husband’s burial, she headed back to China.

When Jeanie’s prayer letter requested a missionary helper, the parlor maid, Gladys Aylward, answered the call. Through those first months on the field with Jeanie, Gladys was thrown headlong into the language (with all its emotions) and nuances of the culture. She dressed and ate Chinese and learned the language by listening to Bible stories and speaking to the local children. These two determined women, at times met head-on in disagreement, but they both desired the salvation of the lost, and they turned the courtyard of their home into an inn for travelers with mules.

By now Jeanie was frail and elderly, and when a balcony collapsed, she fell onto the courtyard. She never totally rallied and died shortly afterwards. Jeanie’s wish to be buried in Chinese soil was at last fulfilled. That last year of her life, God had sent her a helper to carry on the Gospel witness. Before her death she told Gladys: "God called you to my side, Gladys; He wants you to carry on His work here. He will provide. He will bless and protect you."

Thus with the encouragement from one worn-out old missionary who knew what it was to lose all her children, Gladys Aylward (pictured on left) would go on to rescue over 100 Chinese children and plant the Gospel seed in hearts of young and old.