Lambs of Cavalry: Missionary Marriage and the Chinese Civil War

George Kelly, a Pentecostal missionary from North Carolina who had arrived in China in 1910, had committed himself wholly to a lifetime of evangelism and social good works in China. After suffering through multiple personal tragedies over a forty-year missionary career, George’s roots had grown deeper in China. He had resolved to live and die there. As the Chinese Communist Party gained the advantage in the Chinese Civil War, George clung to his mission. In the fall of 1949, with the communist army poised to invade his home in South China, oppressive conditions and direct threats against westerners compelled him to plan to take his wife and children to safety. George’s commitment to his orphanage and his congregation compelled him to remain as long as possible, but would he and his family flee in time?