Andrew Gih

Andrew Gih, known in Chinese as Ji Zhiwen, was born in 1901 in China. He grew up in a land that was changing rapidly, with the old order of the empire gone and the new republic struggling to take shape. As a young man he came to faith in Christ and felt called to preach. He studied in Shanghai at a Bible school connected to the Bethel Mission, a work led by missionaries who emphasized prayer and evangelism.

The Bethel Mission was a center of revival in China in the 1920s and 1930s. Under its influence, young Chinese preachers formed evangelistic bands, small teams that traveled from city to city holding meetings. Gih became one of the leaders of this movement. He founded and led what became known as the Bethel Worldwide Evangelistic Band, and he traveled widely through China and Southeast Asia, preaching in churches, schools and public halls. He worked in the same period as John Sung, and the two men often shared pulpits and saw large numbers come to faith.

He was known as a clear and earnest preacher, a man who spoke plainly about sin and about the cross. He called people to repent and to be born again, and he stressed the importance of holiness. His meetings were marked by prayer, and he encouraged his teams to give time to seeking God before they spoke. Many in the churches of China and among overseas Chinese communities came under his influence.

When the Communists took control of China in 1949, he left the mainland and moved to Hong Kong and later to the United States. He continued his work among Chinese people abroad and helped to found the Evangelize China Fellowship, which supported missionaries and evangelists who served Chinese communities in many parts of the world. He remained active as a speaker and writer for many years.

The full record of his life is not easy to find in English, and some of the details here should be checked against fuller sources. What can be said with confidence is that he was among the leading Chinese evangelists of the twentieth century and that he helped to carry the gospel outside China at a time when the churches in the homeland were under pressure.

He died in the 1980s. Like many evangelists, he was a man of intense energy who gave himself to travel and who was often away from his home. His legacy is found in the churches that grew out of the bands and in the generation of Chinese believers who trace their faith to his preaching. His life shows how God raised up Chinese evangelists to carry the gospel to their own people.