Heritage Column for December 15, 2005
By Fred Anderson
‘Tis the season for gift-giving, mistletoe and Lottie Moon. It is time for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, which supports missionary work around the world. Today her spirit still lives in the ministries of thousands of missionaries. Recently this columnist re-encountered the spirit of Lottie Moon when he visited Louise Hill, a retired Southern Baptist missionary who lives in Richmond.
Last week's column told about a chance encounter when this columnist took a Chinese Baptist visitor to meet Mrs. Hill. The visitor began to interview the 92-year-old missionary, and this columnist resorted to his best devices, making rapid notes in Gregg shorthand. The result was a double-whammy: an oral history interview for the Hong Kong Baptist and a bundle of cryptic shorthand notes for the Virginia Baptist. In it all, the spirit of Lottie Moon kept shining forth.
Louise Heirich Hill never paused once she started reminiscing. She graciously accepted her interviewer's questions and framed thoughtful responses. For the observer, it was like watching a Barbara Walters' television interview with a celebrity except that the polite Chinese visitor did not ask the highly personal questions which characterize Walters' interviews. This columnist was just as glad that he didn't because as Louise Hill freely admits, she is known for speaking her mind.
The interviewer prompted his subject with an opening question: “What do you want to tell the Chinese Christians to encourage them?” For the next 90 minutes Louise Hill offered a thrilling testimony: “I think that our emphasis was always to remain true to the Scriptures. In Canton we found very strong Christians and appreciated their leadership. They wanted to do things in the most progressive way to reach Christians. We were the only Caucasian members of the church.” She told about their involvement with the Graves Theological Seminary in Canton where her husband, the late Eugene Hill, taught. She taught piano, voice and English.
“The students were very responsive and many came to visit at our house. They would just come and knock on the door and everyone knew they were welcome no matter when they came. We were all in to serve the Lord. We spoke Chinese all the time so they thought of us as one of them. We never felt like strangers. Eugene was well loved by everyone who ever heard him preach. He said that he was more Chinese than they were.”
During their first term, the Japanese-Chinese War began. “There were some among the Japanese soldiers who were Christians, only a few, but some of them came to our home after hours and studied with us.” After Pearl Harbor, the Hills had to leave China but returned when the war ended.
The second term saw the rise of the Communists. “We opted to stay because we both were teachers in the seminary. We had a peace about it. We knew that the Chinese Christians needed encouragement. We were the only missionaries who opted to stay so we were very noticeable. The Chinese Christians were so faithful to us although they knew that they could get into trouble. People were being executed every day right in the public square. It was a difficult time yet it was a time of inner peace because we knew that we were where God wanted us. In history many Christians were killed in China and we expected to be among them.”
The time finally came when they had to leave. “They sent us to prison for a little while. We were placed under house arrest and told we were not desirable citizens. We were told that we must leave and which train to leave on. Some of our Chinese friends waited for hours through the night to buy our train tickets. At one place we were told to get off the train and to take a bus into Hong Kong proper.”
She told about conditions in China at the time. “When there were public meetings and my husband was required to go, he would never overindulge in the food because he knew there were hungry people out there and that it was the practice of the government to gather what food was left over and give it to the poor. Through it all, we had the feeling that we were in God's will. We fully expected to die there any time.”
Louise Hill told about Eugene's background. He was orphaned at age 13 and had the care of his younger brothers. The couple met at Oklahoma Baptist University. She was preparing to fulfill a dream. “When I was 5 years old I felt called to be a missionary in China. I just knew that was where I wanted to spend my life. I was the youngest of 10 children, and I hated to leave my parents, but they were so enthusiastic about our going as missionaries. We never saw them again. They died while we were in service.”
In 1956 Eugene Hill joined the headquarters staff of the Foreign Mission Board, SBC, where he remained until retirement in 1975. About 1961 the Hills became greatly involved with Chinese in Richmond, out of which eventually a church was constituted. Today the members of the Chinese Baptist Church still recognize the sacrificial and willing spirit of Lottie Moon within the life of their own friend, Louise Hill.