William Borden

William Whiting Borden (1887-1913) was a philanthropist and millionaire Christian Missionary Candidate who died in Egypt before reaching his chosen field, Gansu province in China.

William was born onto a prominent and wealthy Chicago family.His father had made a fortune in Colorado silver mining. He was the third of four children.

His mother converted to evangelical Christianity in 1894. She took her son to Chicago Avenue Church. later Moody Church.He responded to the gospel preaching of R.A. Torrey and prayer and Bible study became his hallmark for life.

After he graduated from The Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania aged 16 his parents gave him a gift of a chaperoned trip around the world. This developed a desire to become a missionary…
At a meeting In London, where R.A. Torrey was preaching, he surrendered his life for Christian service.

1905 he went to Yale University. Encouraged by classics tutor Henry Burt Wright he began daily prayer groups which within 2 years reached the entire university.

1906, at a Student Volunteer Movement convention, Samuel Marinus Zwemer impressed him with his emphasis on the open doors for evangelizing the Muslim world.

William had a charismatic personality, was sociable, athletic, fun loving but also an intense hardworking natural leader. He was elected president of Phi Beta Kappa.
With his own money he funded a New Haven rescue mission and worked there.

He graduated in 1909 and then attended Princeton Theological Seminary (1909-12).
His reputation was such that he became a board member of the National Bible Institute in New York City - at one point he was temporarily in charge of the whole ministry. He became a director of Moody Bible Institute. Aged 22 he was a member of the North American Council of the China Inland Mission ( until he applied to go to China!)

His intention was to become a missionary to Uyghur Muslims in Northwestern China. He decided to first study Islam and Arabic in Cairo. He boarded with a Syrian family so that he would hear Arabic spoken as much as possible. He also spent time distributing Christian sermons written in a Koranic style.

March 13th 1913 he contracted cerebral meningitis and died a few weeks later on April 9th 1913, aged 25.
His mother had just arrived from the USA. After a simple funeral he was buried in the American cemetery in Cairo. On his gravestone was written
Apart from faith in Christ, there is no explanation of such a life
(words suggested by Samuel M. Zwemer who attended the funeral)
Other services were also held back in the USA, Japan, Korea, India and South Africa.

Legacy
Borden Memorial Hospital (1918-1951) in Gansu, was founded by the China Inland Mission with money donated by the Borden family ($800,000) after the death of William. The hospital was handed over to the Chinese government in 1951.
( Read ‘Borden Memorial Hospital’)