George Leslie Mackay reached Tamsui in northern Taiwan on 9 March 1872. He became a pioneer of the northern Presbyterian mission, joining preaching with education and medical care. Protestant missionaries were already serving in southern Taiwan; his calling was to help a church take root in the north.
Born in Ontario in 1844, Mackay trained in Toronto and Princeton, then studied in Edinburgh. Ordained in 1871, he crossed the Pacific from San Francisco, visited Hong Kong and mainland mission stations, and continued to southern Taiwan. Early in March 1872, experienced missionaries accompanied him by sea to Tamsui.
Learning came before fluent preaching. Mackay remembered spending hours with buffalo herdboys, listening, talking, and recording unfamiliar words. Years later they still recalled those encounters. A more sustained partnership developed with Giam Cheng Hoa, known as A Hoa. Keith’s biography describes their exchange: Mackay taught him the Bible, while A Hoa drilled Mackay in the language of educated speakers.
Church life soon took visible form. Keith recounts five young men, including A Hoa, being baptized in February 1873 despite hostile interruptions. The following Sunday they shared communion with Mackay. When one young man felt unworthy to participate, Mackay prayed with him privately before he returned to the Lord’s Supper.
Preaching and training local ministers developed alongside dentistry, medical work and schools. Oxford College equipped evangelists and teachers; a girls’ school widened educational opportunities. In 1878 Mackay married Tiu Chhang-mia, known as Minnie. She spoke to women during missionary journeys and helped with girls’ education.
One journey began with a mistake. Mackay recalled setting out by moonlight, believing dawn was near. His party walked for miles through rain before daylight finally came. Their unexpectedly early arrival brought them to a man who was about to leave but stayed to meet them. Mackay linked that encounter with the man’s conversion and the eventual building of a place of worship.
In an address published in 1895, Mackay reported sixty churches and about two thousand converts. These were his mission figures, not an independently audited census. He credited trained local ministers and entrusted oversight to his first convert while he was away. Taiwanese believers were carrying responsibility for the expanding work.
Taiwan’s religious landscape remains diverse. Pew’s 2024 analysis of its 2023 adult survey placed Christians at around five percent. Joshua Project separately estimates 6.4 percent Christian adherents and 3.3 percent evangelicals. Pray for Taiwan’s churches and the continued equipping of pastors for the ministry.
References
[1] Presbyterian Church in Canada Archives, “150 Years of George Leslie Mackay in Taiwan.”
[2] Marian Keith, The Black Bearded Barbarian: The Life of George Leslie Mackay of Formosa (New York: Missionary Education Movement of the United States and Canada, 1912),
[3] George Leslie Mackay, From Far Formosa: The Island, Its People, and Missions, edited by J. A. Macdonald (New York: F. H. Revell, 1896 edition), pp. 136–137.
[4] [George Leslie MacKay], “Mission work in Formosa,” The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal 26 (1895): 60–71; specifically pp. 60–61 and 65–69.
[5] William Miner, “4 facts about religion and diversity in Taiwan,” Pew Research Center, 29 July 2024.
[6] Joshua Project, Taiwan country profile.
Artwork references
“Oxford College, Tamsui,” photographic book plate in Mackay’s From Far Formosa, p. 290. National Taiwan University Library,
Family likeness and clothing guided by the historical family portrait published by Tamsui Presbyterian Church.
