Margaret E. Barber

This article is about the English missionary stationed in Fuzhou. For the English Christian writer, see Margaret Barber.
Margaret E. Barber
Missionary to China
Born1866
England Suffolk, England
Died1929
Taiwan Fuzhou, China

Margaret Emma Barber or M. E. Barber (1866–1930; Chinese: 和受恩; Pinyin: Hé Shòuēn; Foochow Romanized: Huò Sêu-ŏng), was a British missionary in China. She was born in 1866 in Peasenhall, Suffolk, England, the daughter of Louis (a wheelwright) and Martha (née Gibbs) Barber. The family moved to 59 St Martin's Lane, Norwich around 1876 and established a carriage-manufacturing business. The family home in Norwich was opposite St Martin's parish church which was intensely evangelical in the 1880 - 90s and must have had an influence on the Barber family. During the course of her life, she lived in China twice to preach the Christian gospel. She left her home and travelled in a lonely way thousands of miles.[1] Barber, who initially went to China as an Anglican, became an independent missionary with informal ties to the Plymouth Brethren. She is best known for her influence on Watchman Nee (Nee Tuo-Sheng).[2]

Along the south China coast (in Fuzhou), she and others regularly taught a Bible class at "White Teeth Rock". There she had contact with Nee who was studying at the Anglican Trinity College. Barber referred him to books by J. N. Darby, Madam Jeanne Guyon, Jessie Penn-Lewis, D. M. Panton, T. Austin Sparks, and of others, which had been of help to her.[3][4] She also influenced others Chinese Christian leaders, including Leland Wang who later formed the Chinese Foreign Missionary Union.

  1. ^ M. E. Barber: A Brief History of the Lord’s Recovery by James Reetzke, Chicago Bibles and Books
  2. ^ Angus I. Kinnear: Against the Tide (1973)
  3. ^ Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, edited by Gerald H. Anderson, UK
  4. ^ M. E. Barber: A Brief History of the Lord’s Recovery by James Reetzke, Chicago Bibles and Books.