Section Seven

“How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the news of good things!” (Rom. 10:15)

Although Sister Barber was recognized as a good teacher who knew how to perfect people, she still did not give up her gospelpreaching duty. About ten miles from Pagoda Anchorage, in the house of Mr. Lee, a seeking friend, Sister Barber was often seen cooking in the kitchen and preaching the gospel to the family and other friends in her broken Foochow dialect.

At first she felt awkward in preaching the gospel, because she could not speak much Chinese. Therefore, she hired Pastor Lee from the Anglican denomination to teach her the Foochow dialect. Before long she could speak. Because she wanted to save souls, she went with Pastor Lee to preach the gospel in Lianchiang County. The Spirit of the Lord was with them.

A young man named Peter Roan believed in the Lord. Then a group of older women received the Lord Jesus’ salvation, left their idols, and turned to God. Some even gave their lives to the Lord and became Sister Barber’s co-workers.

After a few years, the number of the believers increased. Sister Barber helped to raise up churches in Chantung and Lianchiang County. In obedience to the Lord’s word, she helped them only in spiritual things, to build up the Body of Christ. She would not touch anything concerning church administration. After several years’ hard labor, the number of the co-workers also increased gradually. After being trained by Sister Barber, they worked in Chantung and Minhour County. At that time Sister Ding, Sister Yeh, Sister Chen, and Sister Lee were added to the work and began to serve the Lord fulltime.

Sister Barber was diligent and faithful to take the Lord’s word into His field. When she preached the gospel, she was often despised and insulted. But she rejoiced in her sufferings for the Lord, for His gospel, and for the people’s souls. She was not discouraged, and she did not lose heart. In laboring through a period of several decades as if it were one day, from the beginning to the end she never lost heart.

In keeping spiritual principles, Sister Barber was not only strict with herself; she was also strict with her co-workers. For example, when they went out to preach the gospel, they would take nothing from the Gentiles (3 John 7). She exhorted her co-workers to follow the twelve apostles in focusing on prayer and the preaching of the gospel. She disagreed with living a life of two sides: preaching the gospel on the one hand, and making tents on the other.

Moreover, she did not preach the social gospel; she only preached the cross of Christ. Even though her co-workers came from different backgrounds, she encouraged them to have the heart of Christ and to be in one accord. They learned to preach the gospel, to be sanctified by being separated from worldly things and sins, and to be proper vessels that the Lord could use. She did not celebrate the Chinese New Year, and she was not influenced by the worldly fashion. Her co-workers kept an absolutely clear separation between male and female. There were few talks between the two; for the most part they only prayed for each other. One co-worker was rebuked by Sister Barber after he carried water with a 15yearold female student.

She paid more attention to prayer than to work. She gathered the co-workers monthly for prayer. They used prayer to sustain the work in every place and to help it develop smoothly.

Although she was extremely strict with the co-workers, she was also full of love and consideration. At the age of 80, Sister Wang recalled the time when she had been called by the Lord 50 years earlier. She had left her teaching job to serve the Lord and to live by faith. The first time she came to Pagoda Anchorage and attended the Bible study meeting, Sister Barber gave her some money. The amount was small, but the giving revealed love. The memory remained so fresh in the heart of the receiver that, even ten years afterward, she would tell the story to everyone she met.