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Marie Monsen
Marie Monsen (1878–1962). Born in 1878 in Sandviken, Norway, to Johannes, a model carpenter, and Karen Monsen, Marie Monsen was a Norwegian missionary and evangelist who catalyzed revivals in China from 1901 to 1932. Raised in a Christian family near a prayer house, she trained as a teacher and nurse before arriving in China on September 1, 1901, with the China Mission Association (later part of the Norwegian Lutheran Mission). Early setbacks—a fall causing a severe concussion and near-fatal malaria—humbled her, deepening her faith. Monsen’s preaching, marked by bold questions like “Have you been born again?”, sparked the Shantung Revival (1929–1931), confronting sin and igniting spiritual awakening among missionaries and Chinese believers in Henan and beyond. Known as the “mother of the Chinese house churches,” she worked closely with Asbjørn Aavik, fostering the house church movement. Her quasi-Pentecostal emphasis on the Holy Spirit’s baptism stirred controversy among Norwegian traditionalists, leading to marginalization at home. Returning to Norway in 1932 to care for her ill parents, she joined a free evangelical congregation in Bergen in 1935 and published books like A Present Help (1945) and The Awakening (1959), chronicling her experiences. Unmarried, she died in 1962 in Bergen, her grave later honored in 2001 at Brother Yun’s request for her Henan legacy. Monsen said, “The Holy Spirit searches hearts when we dare to speak the truth.”
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Marie Monsen shares a touching story of a schoolgirl who, after becoming very ill, faced death with a peaceful heart as she had made amends with God and man the night before. The girl, filled with joy and assurance of salvation, quoted Proverbs 28:13, expressing her newfound freedom in confessing and forsaking sins. Despite a heart attack, she confidently told her classmates about her imminent journey to Heaven, urging them not to delay their decision for Christ. Her peaceful passing brought salvation to many hearts, reflecting the joy in Heaven over one soul's homecoming.
Confess Your Sin Before It's Too Late
"A schoolgirl, the best in the school, became suddenly very ill one night, and was immediately made fully aware that the time had come for her by death to go home. The evening before she sickened, she had put every everything right with God and man, and went to bed that night for the first time with her soul at liberty. A few hours later she lay sick unto death and told everyone with a radiant face that she would soon be at home with the Lord. I can see her yet, the happy little soul, when she had just believed unto salvation. While still on her knees, she opened her Bible and read Prov. 28.13, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." She put her finger on the passage and said with a lovely smile: "I have always lived in the first half of that verse, now I have moved. I have a new address, I live now in the last half of the verse." She had a serious heart attack in the night, but was better in the morning. Her classmates stood in her room, almost paralysed, and heard her fearlessly and joyously say that she was going Home soon; they saw the peace of God in her face. She called them to her side, one by one. "Promise to meet me in Heaven. Don't put it off. Think if I had put it off yesterday!" At the next meeting, hearts melted, and while we sang our first hymn she entered the Father's house. There was joy in heaven then; and later, joy came to the many who experienced salvation in that church."
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Marie Monsen (1878–1962). Born in 1878 in Sandviken, Norway, to Johannes, a model carpenter, and Karen Monsen, Marie Monsen was a Norwegian missionary and evangelist who catalyzed revivals in China from 1901 to 1932. Raised in a Christian family near a prayer house, she trained as a teacher and nurse before arriving in China on September 1, 1901, with the China Mission Association (later part of the Norwegian Lutheran Mission). Early setbacks—a fall causing a severe concussion and near-fatal malaria—humbled her, deepening her faith. Monsen’s preaching, marked by bold questions like “Have you been born again?”, sparked the Shantung Revival (1929–1931), confronting sin and igniting spiritual awakening among missionaries and Chinese believers in Henan and beyond. Known as the “mother of the Chinese house churches,” she worked closely with Asbjørn Aavik, fostering the house church movement. Her quasi-Pentecostal emphasis on the Holy Spirit’s baptism stirred controversy among Norwegian traditionalists, leading to marginalization at home. Returning to Norway in 1932 to care for her ill parents, she joined a free evangelical congregation in Bergen in 1935 and published books like A Present Help (1945) and The Awakening (1959), chronicling her experiences. Unmarried, she died in 1962 in Bergen, her grave later honored in 2001 at Brother Yun’s request for her Henan legacy. Monsen said, “The Holy Spirit searches hearts when we dare to speak the truth.”