On the Road to Siangyang

On the Road to Siangyang tells the story of a Swedish immigrant church in America undertaking, soon after its organization, a mission to central China that would last nearly sixty years, from 1890 to 1949, when Christian missionaries had to leave the Chinese Mainland upon the establishment of the People's Republic. Covenant missionary work was carried on along broad lines: preaching and evangelism; medical and benevolence work; and education for boys, girls, and adults. Missionaries labored amid turbulent years: through the Boxer Rebellion (1900), the fall of the Manchu dynasty (1911), ongoing civil war, and more than a decade of Japanese occupation (1931-1949). Three Covenant missionaries were kidnapped by the communists and held for ransom, and another three were murdered on the road from Siangyang to Kingchow. But the mission work has borne fruit, and a final chapter reports the Christian work being carried on today throughout Hubei Province.

Jack R. Lundbom is a retired professor of Old Testament and Christian origins and an ordained minister of the Evangelical Covenant Church who has lectured, preached, and written extensively over a period of fifty years. Major works include commentaries on Jeremiah for the Anchor Bible (1999; 2004), Deuteronomy (2013), and a previous book of sermons on the Christian walk, Oil Enough to Make the Journey (2022).