author
Rosalind Goforth
1864–1942
Born in England and raised in Canada, she became a Presbyterian missionary in China and turned years of hardship, travel, and faith into vivid books that still draw readers in. Her writing is remembered for bringing missionary life close to ordinary readers, especially through the story of her husband, Jonathan Goforth.
2 Audiobooks
How I Know God Answers Prayer: The Personal Testimony of One Life-Time
by Rosalind Goforth
Chinese Diamonds for the King of Kings
by Rosalind Goforth
About the author
Born Florence Rosalind Bell-Smith on May 6, 1864, near Kensington Gardens in London, she moved to Montreal as a child and grew up in an artistic family. Her father, John Bell-Smith, was a painter, and she studied at the Toronto School of Art before her life took a very different direction.
After marrying Jonathan Goforth in 1887, she went with him to China as a Presbyterian missionary. The years that followed included ministry work, constant travel, family life under pressure, and the dangers of unrest, including the Boxer period. Those experiences gave her a strong, direct voice as a writer.
She is best known as the author of missionary books such as Goforth of China, along with other works drawn from her life and faith. Rosalind Goforth died on May 31, 1942, and is remembered both for her own writing and for the way she recorded a remarkable chapter of Christian mission history.