Joan served with China Inland Mission (CIM) as an evangelist from September 1945 until her expulsion from China in April 1951.
She continued as a missionary, working in Thailand with OMF International, until her ‘retirement’ in 1983. In her 70s and 80s she was able to return to China on short-term teams, teaching English. Her biography, Point Me to the Skies (Monarch Publications), was published in 2007.
Joan Margaret Wales was born 29 November 1916 in Seven Kings, Essex. At 8 years old she committed her life to Jesus at a Children’s Special Service Mission summer camp. Later, when given books about Mary Slessor and Wilfred Grenfell, missionaries to West Africa and the Arctic, their stories awakened a ‘curious joy’ in her. Having become a children’s nurse, Joan approached the CIM, but her application was rejected. Persevering, she retrained as a hospital nurse and was accepted. WWII delayed her commissioning, but she then joined the first CIM group to sail for China at the end of the war.
Medical mission in Sichuan
After language training, Joan volunteered for a new initiative under the leadership of Dr Jim Broomhall: a medical mission to the Nosu-Yi people in Daliangshan – the Great Cold Mountains of Sichuan Province. Four years later, within a few months of a small church being established, China’s new Communist leaders forced the team to leave.
In 1953 Joan sailed for central Thailand, where she was engaged in pioneer evangelism, based in OMF hospitals, establishing churches in surrounding villages. She continued in this role until 1983, when she became a parish visitor at St Mary’s Church, Reigate.
In 1988 Joan returned to Daliangshan with Dr Broomhall and again in 1991 with Dr Broomhall and Dr James Hudson Taylor III. Subsequently, a new organisation, Medical Services International (MSI), was established to serve the Nosu-Yi. Through MSI’s summer English teaching teams Joan continued her earlier ministry to the Nosu-Yi until 2006, when she was 89 years old.
Devoted evangelist
Joan’s retirement was given a new lease of life in 2007 with the publication of her biography, later translated into Chinese and Korean. She found new opportunities to tell others her story of God’s faithfulness.
Throughout her life Joan was a devoted evangelist, ever ready to point people to Christ. In her 90s she continued to witness to God’s goodness from the comfort of her armchair, until a fall In November 2016 brought her ministry to an end. Her funeral at Pembury Baptist Church was, fittingly, held on what would have been her 100th birthday – a celebration of a different kind.
