[Updated 06/Apr/2026]
Arthur G H Lindquist was a visionary Swedish American missionary with the Evangelical Free Church of America in Canton and Hong Kong in the first half of the 20th century. He left behind significant achievements both in Hong Kong and back home in the USA.
Born a farmer’s son in Nebraska, in 1892, Lindquist came to faith at a young age and felt the call to serve in mission. He trained at The Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, where he met his wife-to-be, Annie Mae Hall, and did his missionary training at Wheaton College.
After completing their training, the couple, as yet unwed, sailed to Hong Kong with the Swedish-American Mission in September 1923, along with missionary Hugo Rodine and his family, who had started at the Mission Home in Canton in 1917. Rev Rodine was also Swedish American.
On the steamer from Hong Kong to Canton, the party slept on used sheets, not knowing what infections they were risking. In later years, they took sheets with them.
The Mission Board granted Arthur and his bride to be married in 1924, rather than waiting the statutory two years. They had a simple wedding rather than a lavish Chinese celebration which would have left them in debt.
They began their honeymoon in Hong Kong with a ride on the Peak Tram, before taking a boat to Shanghai and train inland to the sights of Peking, before returning to Canton.
Cheung Chau
These were years of danger and civil unrest in Canton, and in June 1925, when Rodine was away itinerating, the Lindquists had to take Mrs Rodine and her four children to safety to their newly built holiday home on Cheung Chau, Hong Kong, House #17A.
When Rev Rodine eventually joined them, the Lindquists occupied another two-room house together with the Carl Johnsons. It was very crowded. The Johnsons decided to help matters by going on early furlough, from which they never returned.
Amid this instability, in August 1925, Annie Lindquist was admitted to the Matilda Hospital, seven months pregnant, where she gave birth prematurely to twin girls, whose total weight was just 7lbs 1oz, named Violet Hope and Myrtle Grace. Amazingly, they both survived, and the family returned to Canton in late October.
The troubles continued with a lot of anti-British feeling, causing Annie Lindquist to return to Cheung Chau with her babies and her amah, Cheung, A-Yi, to help with the heavy work and water carrying. In 1926, she was joined by Lydia Klint, another missionary.
Canton
In the autumn, they returned to the work in Shi Kiu, braving ongoing hostility, including at one point, a threatening mob at the door of the church.
In 1927 Chinese New Year, they received word to hasten to Canton owing to the trouble in Nanking, and again they retreated to Hong Kong and Cheung Chau.
The years 1925 and 1927 caused a great deal of unrest among the missionary body in South China. In 1925, even while refugeeing in Hong Kong, there were those who felt that missionary work was finished. In 1927, the Communists, in trying to take over Canton, had left nearly 7000 dead.
That year, the Rodines returned to the USA, leaving just the Lindquists, but later that year, things changed and the door opened for the Lindquists to return to Canton, and the summer of this year saw the first of the Guangzhou Bible Conferences, which ushered in a spiritual revival.
Following this conference, a conference for South China missionaries was held on Cheung Chau, for rest and spiritual recharging. Three houses were prepared and others were rented. Speakers were Rev William Robb and Dr Lechmere Clift, (House 18A), ‘a ready and gifted Bible teacher.’ All attending were greatly rested, strengthened and encouraged.
Back in Canton, Rev Lindquist and his wife recognised the growing need for spiritual teaching there following the revival, and they began teaching Bible classes in their home. In 1929 this became a Bible evening school sponsored by the Evangelical Free Church of China (EFCC).
Also in 1929, a third daughter was born to them, Carol Joy.
In 1930, the family went home on their first furlough, returning in the autumn of 1931.
As the number of attendees at the evening school approached one hundred, Rev Lindquist spearheaded the creation of a Bible school, in Guangzhou's Henan district, which was later named the Canton Bible Institute in 1932 and operated in Canton for approximately five years.
In 1933 a son, Oscar Hall, was born into the family.
That same year, by dint of sacrifice by the whole congregation, the First Evangelical Church of Canton built itself a new 1000-seater church valued at $20,000 US. At that time, $5 US was a month's salary for some.
The years of strain eventually caught up with Annie Lindquist. By May 1935 she was described as ‘broken in health’, and the family returned to America so she could recover. The constant dangers, the pressures of raising and teaching four children, Arthur’s heavy ministry load, and the reduced missionary staff since 1927 had all contributed to her exhaustion.
Rev Hugo Rodine returned from the USA to Canton to cover for them in their absence that year.
Hong Kong
In October 1937, when Japan invaded China and attacked Canton, Annie Lindquist was in House #6 on Cheung Chau, and she wrote to the Evangelical Beacon with an update. There had been a successful summer conference in Canton followed by a missionary conference on Cheung Chau.
Rev Lindquist had relocated the Bible Institute to Hong Kong. Premises were rented in Kowloon near the airfield.
Refugees had been pouring into Hong Kong from Shanghai, and the Lindquists had taken some into their house (#6). As a result, they were sleeping in their dining room.
Also on Cheung Chau, in another small house, was Miss Anna W Ericsson, and young missionaries Opal Anderson and Millicent Johnson, to continue with their language study at the language school, which had just moved to Cheung Chau from Canton. They, too, wrote to the Evangelical Beacon saying they were in their own 'small house' next door to a Baptist family called Snuggs. Apart from the dangers of war, Hong Kong had experienced a cholera epidemic, floods had destroyed crops and they had suffered from the typhoon of that year.
Arthur bravely returned to a ravaged Canton to lead the church folk and was soon supporting over 100 destitute individuals. Thankfully, the Japanese respected American property.
In 1938 the Lindquists were greatly encouraged by the arrival of Rev Donald and Marguerite Carlson to help in the work. They went to House #23, Cheung Chau, for two years' language study.
In 1939, the Lindquists were spending Christmas on Cheung Chau in House #6, where Arthur wrote a glowing report home for publication in the Evangelical Beacon on what the Free Church had achieved so far in Hong Kong: Two churches had been opened, with 300 attendees at the recent Christmas service in the second church. The Bible School had been transferred to Hong Kong, to a building which housed the Bible School, the second church and had quarters for EFCC missionaries on the third and fourth floors, at a cost of $23,000. Now they had aspirations for a church building that would seat at least a thousand.
During this time, Lindquist had been given a diagnosis of TB but after several weeks of rest and repeated negative tests, the doctor reassured him that he did not have it.
In the fall of 1939, the Lindquists were greatly heartened by the arrival of a new couple to help in the work, the Gustaf Ericksons, accompanied by a young Ruth Rodine and her husband. They were accommodated in House #4 on Cheung Chau for 2 years' study at the language school.
In 1940, the Lindquists went home on furlough, which meant that the family avoided the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong.
Ministers' Annuity and Aid Plan
While confined in the USA in the war years, Arthur Lindquist used his time well, and his great achievement on the home front was as a promoter of the Ministers' Annuity and Aid Plan (MAAP) in the Free Church Movement. This was because of the lack of retirement provision for pastors and missionaries, which the years of the Great Depression had previously highlighted.
The MAAP began in 1944 as a retirement fund for ministers and missionaries.
Lindquist chaired the MAAP committee for a number of years and in his report at the 1945 Conference, he announced that over the past year, the plan had been presented in 111 out of 152 churches, with personal visits to 103 made by himself. Ninety-nine congregations had adopted the plan. Nearly 40 churches remained unvisited, but efforts would continue the following year. The plan’s income in this year was $23,993. An astonishing campaign.
In 1971, the MAAP was replaced by the Free Church Ministers and Missionaries (FCMM) benefit plan, which now supports several thousand workers today.
Serving on the MAAP committee with Lindquist was colleague, Rev Hugo Rodine (mentioned earlier), whose great achievement was as Secretary of the EFCA Foreign Missions.
At his first opportunity, Arthur Lindquist was back in China in December 1945 and the family joined him in December 1946. By this time they were regarded as senior missionaries.
In 1949, the ongoing civil war in China compelled another closure of the Canton Institute, and in that year, he relocated it permanently to Hong Kong, re-establishing it at sites in Hau Wong Road, Kowloon City and Kent Road in Kowloon Tong.
At the same time, he bought House #2* on Cheung Chau for the use of himself and others for the next six years. In 1953 he offered it to new missionary Doris Ekblad-Olson when she started in Hong Kong.
Arthur Lindquist stepped down as President of the Institute in 1955, and was succeeded by Mr. Woo, Yan-Tak.
Due to Rev Lindquist’s foresight, the Institute secured its official campus at 59 Cumberland Road in 1957 and expanded to include properties at 15 and 55 Cumberland Road as a dormitory and library, respectively.
Anticipating the Institute's ongoing growth, Rev Lindquist oversaw the acquisition of a new integrated campus at Mei Foo, addressing both the need for additional space and the advancement of theological education.
The Lindquists returned from China for the last time in 1959.
Arthur Lindquist Requiescat in Pace 1960.
In August 2019, the Canton Institute, now the Evangel Seminary, transitioned to the Mei Foo campus, a testament to the enduring legacy of Arthur Lindquist’s vision and leadership.
*It’s not clear whether this was House #2 or House #23.
Sources:
The Tale of Two Steamer Rugs I by Annie Hall-Lindquist. (Trinity International University).
The Tale of Two Steamer Rugs II by Annie Hall-Lindquist
Evangel Seminary HK - Our History
The Evangelical Beacon Magazine 06/Feb/1940
The Evangelical Beacon Magazine July 11th 1961
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