The Small Woman – Gladys Aylward
23 February 2025 extracted from School of Theology Boston University
GLADYS AYLWARD (1902-1970) is known as “The Small Woman” or “Virtuous One”. A housemaid born in Edmonton, north of London, Aylward went to China as an independent missionary. With little educational background and no specific abilities to commend her for missionary work, Gladys was turned down by the China Inland Mission. In 1930, with no mission board to support or guide her and less than ten dollars in her pocket, Gladys Aylward left her home in England to answer God’s call to take the message of the gospel to China. She headed for China on the Trans-Siberian railway, which was the cheapest but most dangerous route. Nearly detained in Russia, she managed to get to Tianjin and from there travelled to the province of Shanxi in northwest China. Learning the rough Mandarin language for the area, she identified herself with China and its people and became a Chinese citizen in 1936.
In the beginning, Gladys joined a seasoned missionary widow to run an inn where, in the evening, they would entertain their guests with stories from the Bible. Gladys also began taking children into her home, and soon, she had an orphanage with about 100 children.
With the Sino-Japanese War waging around her, she struggled to bring the basics of life and the fullness of God to orphaned children. Time after time, God triumphed over impossible situations and drew people to Himself. The late 1930s were days of strife as government forces fought against the Japanese and Communists. In this chaotic context, Aylward led them on a perilous journey to safety in Xian, capital of the neighbouring province of Shaanxi, 240 miles west-southwest of Yangcheng in 1940. She retuned to England during World War II, went back to China in the late 1940s, and then continued work with needy children in Taiwan through the Gladys Aylward Children’s Home until nearly the time of her death.
“Gladys Aylward: My Missionary Life in China” The autobiography of Gladys Aylward tells the life story of one woman’s determination to serve God at any cost. With God, all things are possible!
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