Gladys Aylward: The Housemaid Who Was Told “No” and Went to China Anyway

Some of the bravest people in history began their story with a closed door. Gladys Aylward was one of them.

She was born in north London in 1902 and went to work as a housemaid at about 14, according to the SOAS University of London archive, which looks after a collection of her papers. She had little schooling and no money. What she did have was a growing certainty that God wanted her in China.

A door that closed

In 1925, after attending an evangelical meeting, Gladys became convinced she was called to be a missionary, SOAS records. She applied to the China Inland Mission in London and studied at its training centre. The answer was no.

According to Christian History magazine, the committee decided she was too lacking in education to become a missionary. The Boston University missions dictionary says simply that she struggled with the introductory studies.

Many of us would have stopped there. Gladys went back to work as a housemaid and started saving her wages.

A one-way ticket

Christian History says she saved enough for a one-way ticket to Tientsin (now Tianjin) in northern China. She set off in the early 1930s with an old suitcase of food and clothes. The records differ on the year: the SOAS archive and the Boston University entry say 1930, while Christian History gives October 1932.

The Boston University entry says she travelled by the Trans-Siberian railway and was nearly held in Russia on the way. She went as an independent missionary, with no mission society behind her.

She joined an elderly missionary, Mrs. Jeannie Lawson, in the mountain town of Yangcheng in Shanxi province. Together they ran an inn that gave travellers food and a place to sleep, and a chance to hear the gospel, SOAS records. Mrs. Lawson died in 1931, and Gladys carried on alone.

Becoming one of the people

Gladys did not stay an outsider. She learned the local language and, Christian History says, came to speak, read and write Chinese fluently.

The local mandarin, the official in charge of the district, appointed her as an inspector to enforce a new rule against binding young girls’ feet, according to both SOAS and Boston University. It was a painful old custom, and SOAS says her task was to remove the bindings from local girls’ feet.

In 1936 she became a Chinese citizen. “She identified herself with China and its people,” the Boston University entry says. She also took in orphans and children who had nowhere else to go.

The long walk

Then war came. During the Japanese invasion, the children in her care were in danger. Gladys led them on foot over the mountains toward safety in Shensi (now Shaanxi) province, ending at the city of Sian (Xian). The Boston University entry puts the distance at about 240 miles. Christian History says there were 100 children.

Accounts differ on the year. The SOAS archive dates the journey to the spring of 1938, while many other tellings place it in 1940. What every account agrees on is that a small woman with no army and no money got the children through. SOAS notes that she then fell ill with typhus for several days.

“What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”
Psalm 56:3 (KJV)

That verse does not promise that fear will never come. It tells us what to do when it does. Gladys surely felt afraid on those mountain paths. She kept walking anyway, and she kept trusting.

A life poured out

Gladys returned to England in 1947 for an operation and spent time preaching there, SOAS records. Boston University says she later served needy children in Taiwan, where a children’s home bore her name, until near the end of her life. She died on January 3, 1970. Her story reached millions through the 1959 film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, starring Ingrid Bergman.

What her story teaches families

• A “no” is not the end. The mission board’s answer did not cancel God’s plan. It only changed the route.
• Small faithfulness adds up. Years of saving a housemaid’s wages bought the ticket that changed thousands of lives.
• Love learns the language. Gladys made herself one of the people she served, and that opened every door.
• Courage is trust in motion. Fear came, but faith kept her feet moving, one mountain at a time.

Maybe you or someone in your family has heard a hard “no” this year: from a school, a job, a doctor, or a dream that did not work out. Gladys Aylward’s life is a gentle reminder that the One who calls us also makes a way.

Through every storm, we rise together.

Has a “no” in your life ever turned out to be the start of something better? Share your story in the comments.

Sources: SOAS Special Collections, “Gladys Aylward” (Sep 10, 2017); Boston University History of Missiology, “Aylward, Gladys (1902-1970)” (Aug 17, 2017); Christian History, “We’re Sorry, Gladys…But God Can’t Use You in China” (1988); KJV Psalm 56:3