[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:7-8a
John and Betty Stam (1934)
Love for China
Two Chinese people gave their lives trying to save the Stams from death at the hands of the Communists.
The American missionary couple and their baby daughter Helen were captured by Communist soldiers in Tsingteh, Anhui Province, where the district magistrate had told them that there was no danger.
The soldiers left Tsingteh, taking the Stams with them. En route they considered killing the crying baby but an old farmer, one of the prisoners who had just been released to make room for the Stams, heard their conversation and protested. He was killed in her place. The Stams were then held in a house guarded by soldiers.
The next day, 8 December 1934, they were taken into the nearby town to be executed. On the way they stopped at the top of a hill where the town physician, Dr Wang, ran forward and asked the Communists to spare their lives. When it was discovered that he was a Christian, he was taken away to be killed. John began to plead for mercy for Dr Wang and at this moment one of the soldiers took his sword and killed John. Betty fell beside him and was also killed. Following their deaths, a Chinese evangelist called Lo arranged for the burial of the bodies and took care of their baby daughter. She was then taken to her grandparents, Dr and Mrs Scott, who were in Shantung Province.
Betty had been brought up in China by her missionary parents and had felt God’s call to go back during her time at Bible college in America. John also had a love for the people of China. They were married in Shanghai and the focus of their evangelistic work was in Tsingteh, Anhui Province, where they were captured.
“They have not died in vain. The blood of the martyrs is still the seed of the church. If we could hear our beloved children speak, we know from their convictions that they would praise God because he counted them worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ.”
Dr Scott, speaking of his daughter and son-in-law