Students Who Changed the World – C. T. Studd

C. T. Studd (1860-1931)

In the late 1800s, C. T. Studd was well-known as the son of a wealthy businessman and as “England’s greatest cricketer” while studying at Cambridge University. After attending a meeting held by the evangelist Dwight L. Moody, Studd caused a sensation in his homeland by dedicating his life to God and cross-cultural missionary service abroad.

Studd and six other notable Cambridge students, dubbed the “Cambridge Seven,” rejected status and wealth to depart for the interior of China as frontier missionaries with the China Inland Mission. While there, Studd met his wife, Priscilla, who gave birth to four daughters over the next ten years. The Studds focused on sharing the good news of life in Jesus Christ in a focused way, Priscilla with women and Studd himself with opium addicts.

After returning to England with his family due to health issues, Studd struggled with God’s will for his life. Hearing of African tribes yet to hear the message of Jesus, Studd left for the Belgian Congo with a small group of recruits to begin a new work there. This fledgling new mission became the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade, which today reaches around the globe in the name of Jesus.

For more on the life of C. T. Studd, take a peek at C. T. Studd: Cricketer and Pioneer by Norman Grubb.