[Updated 29/Mar/2026]
Reverend Hugo Gustaf Rodine was an outstanding missionary with a heart for evangelism, whose American-Swedish mission was based in Canton, China at the beginning of the 20th century. He headed up this mission for 12 years.
Born in Nebraska in 1892, Hugo Rodine was of Swedish descent on his mother's side. He grew up in the Swedish Evangelical Free Church of North America and trained for mission in China.
He married Ruby May Nordin in 1915, and they went out to China in 1917. They had four children, Grace, Ruth, Irene and Paul.
In 1923 they were joined in the work in Canton by Rev Arthur Lindquist and his wife-to-be, who went on to become founding President of the Canton Bible Institute. This became the Evangel Seminary when it moved to Hong Kong in 1949.
During a turbulent time of civil unrest in Canton in June 1925, when Rodine was away, the Lindquists took Ruby Rodine and her children to Cheung Chau for their safety, where the Rodines had had a holiday retreat built, House #17A. The house was new but empty, but basic furniture and dishes were supplied by a neighbour, and they were glad of a roof over their heads. Rodine joined them soon after.
The Rodines served for 10 years, until 1927, when he came down with typhoid fever. In the days before antibiotics, medical care was marginal; he and his family were put on a ship back to the U.S. with no confidence that he would even survive the long trip. The Lindquists were left to carry on alone.
Thankfully he did survive, and he was able to continue his ministry as pastor in Iowa, Nebraska and California, all while working on the mission’s leadership committee.
Rev Rodine returned briefly to Canton in 1935, to cover for the Lindquists when they were compelled to return to the USA by Annie's illness, but he left China the following year.
In the 1938 list of European owners of houses on Cheung Chau, Hong Kong, we have a Mr N G Rodine as the owner of House 17A, which we think may be a typo for H G Rodine. This was after H G Rodine returned to the USA in 1936.
Rev. Rodine took part in activities of the Assembly Hall on Cheung Chau and was a member of its Religious Committee.
Back in the USA in 1944, Hugo Rodine served with Arthur Lindquist on the committee of the Free Churches' Ministers' Annuity and Aid Plan, which was successfully set up at that time with funding from the 150 or so Free Churches in the movement. Like Rodine, Lindquist owned a holiday retreat on Cheung Chau, House #2*.
In 1946, Rodine was chosen as the Secretary of Foreign Missions, effectively heading up the society's mission work. With Rodine leading from 1946 to 1958, the Free Church’s mission grew from 43 missionaries on four fields to 158 on seven fields.
After his retirement in the USA, he served several other Free Churches and was chaplain for a hospital in Colorado.
Hugo Rodine died in Los Angeles, California, in 1971, aged 80.
*House #2 or House #23.
Sources:
Reach Global - The Evangelical Free Church of America.
The Tale of Two Steamer Rugs by A Hall-Lindquist. (Trinity International University).
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