The Hidden Life and Fire of C. T. Studd

Charles Thomas Studd was born on the second of December, 1860, in the quiet English village of Spratton, Northamptonshire. His father, Edward Studd, had once been a wealthy indigo planter in India, known in the circles of privilege and sport, until a series of evangelistic meetings under Dwight Lyman Moody shook him to the depths of his soul. The proud planter fell to his knees and rose again a redeemed man. From that day the Studd home ceased to be a mansion of pleasure and became a house of prayer. The Scriptures were opened each night, hymns were sung, and strangers were invited in to hear of the grace of God. Charles was still a boy when he first watched his father pray with tears streaming down his face. The image never left him.

The child of wealth and refinement grew into a young man of remarkable talent. He entered Eton College, and later Trinity College, Cambridge, where his name became famous across England for his prowess in cricket. He was one of the best athletes of his generation, the captain of Cambridge, and the hero of crowds. Portraits of him appeared in the newspapers, and applause followed him wherever he went. Yet even amid the cheers, he carried a hidden ache. His father's death in 1883 brought back the echo of eternity, and when his brother fell seriously ill, Charles realized how empty fame truly was. Standing by that bedside, he faced his own soul and confessed that he was not right with God. That night he knelt alone and surrendered his life to Christ. In that surrender the athlete died, and the missionary was born.

Not long afterward, he met a group of young Cambridge men who shared his burden for the unreached nations. They prayed together, studied the Scriptures, and consecrated themselves to the service of Christ wherever He might send them. The world would soon know them as the Cambridge Seven. Under the leadership of Hudson Taylor they offered themselves to the China Inland Mission. Their decision shocked polite society. Newspapers mocked them, professors pitied them, and friends called them foolish idealists. But Studd answered every argument with one line that has since circled the world: "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."

Before sailing, he gave away the entire fortune he had inherited from his father, a sum large enough to secure him a lifetime of comfort. Some of it he sent to George Müller for the support of orphans, some to D. L. Moody for evangelistic work, and the rest to missionaries who laboured in the slums of London. He kept nothing for himself, saying that the man who trusts in riches cannot fully trust in God. In 1885 he left England for Shanghai, never to be the same.

The years in China were years of trial, faith, and discovery. He exchanged his fine clothes for the simple robe of a Chinese teacher, learned the language with painstaking diligence, and went from village to village preaching Christ. He suffered sickness, loneliness, and misunderstanding. He saw converts, but he also saw much hardness. Still he persevered. In 1888 he married Priscilla Stewart, an Irish missionary whose faith equaled his own. They lived simply, prayed daily, and raised four daughters while continuing the work. Their union was one of shared fire rather than comfort. When illness forced them back to England after ten years, they counted the cost not as loss but as obedience.

For a brief season he ministered among soldiers in India, calling them to holiness and repentance. Yet his heart was drawn farther still. In 1910, when most men of his age thought of rest, the fifty-year-old missionary heard the call of Africa. Reports had reached him of tribes deep in the Congo who had never once heard the name of Jesus. Against the pleadings of friends and physicians he set out again, his body weak but his spirit aflame. The journey was brutal. Fever struck, provisions ran low, and at times he was too sick to walk. Yet each dawn found him on his knees, whispering prayers for strength to go one more mile. He wrote in his journal, "Only one life, 'twill soon be past; only what's done for Christ will last."

In the Congo forests he built small mission stations and trained local believers to preach. He refused to build dependence on foreigners. He taught that the African church must be self-reliant, self-supporting, and full of the Holy Ghost. The people loved him. They called him the man with the shining eyes. He travelled through rain, mud, and sickness, carrying medicine, Bibles, and the message of the cross. At night his hut glowed with lamplight as he read the Word aloud and prayed for his converts by name.

Out of this work grew the Heart of Africa Mission, later known as the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade. Studd's vision stretched beyond one continent. He dreamed of a chain of faith stretching around the globe, of men and women consumed with the same flame that had consumed him. His letters to supporters in England were fiery appeals, calling for intercession, sacrifice, and obedience. He wrote, "God is not looking for nibblers of the possible, but grabbers of the impossible." His words stirred a generation.

The cost was heavy. His health collapsed more than once. For years he was separated from his wife, who continued to lead the mission's home base in England while he labored on in the Congo. Their only communication was through letters carried by hand across continents, letters filled with Scripture, encouragement, and reports of souls won. In his final years his body was wasted, his voice often faint, yet his heart beat with the same urgency. Visitors to his hut in Ibambi found him surrounded by African co-workers, praying with eyes closed and hands raised, thanking God for one more day to preach Christ.

In the early hours of July 16, 1931, his labour ended. He died quietly, his Bible open beside him, his face at peace. Those who gathered to bury him sang hymns of victory. One of his converts said, "The white man who loved us has gone to his Master." His grave lies beneath the African soil he loved, marked by a simple stone and the words of the gospel he lived to proclaim.