Open-House Evangelism

Jonathan and Rosalind Goforth were among the most successful missionaries who ever served in China. Part of their secret was their hospitality skills, which, on some occasions, got quite a workout. They practiced what they called “Open-House Evangelism.” Since the Chinese were very curious to see the interior of the Goforth’s house, with its European furniture and fashions (including a kitchen stove, a sewing machine, and an organ), the Goforths opened their home for tours.

Visitors came from miles around. Jonathan would give a brief presentation of the gospel at the beginning of the tour, then Rosalind would often speak with the women afterward.

On one single day alone, more than two thousand people showed up, and during one particular five-month period, some twenty-five thousand people came to visit. Rosalind later said, “Some may think that receiving visitors is not real mission work, but I think it is.

I put myself out to make friends with the people and I reap the results when I go to their villages to preach. Often the people of a village will gather around me and say, ‘We were at your place and you showed us through your house, treating us like friend.’ Then they almost always bring me a chair to sit on, a table to lay my Bible on, and some tea.”

According to missionary historian Ruth Tucker, “It was this type of evangelism that paved the way for Goforth’s future ministry.”1 1 Ruth Tucker, From Jerusalem to lrian Jaya (Grand Rapids, Ml: Zondervan, 1983), 190. 2 Edith Schaeffer, L’Abri (Wheaton, lL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1969), 75-76.