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John & Betty Stam
Courageous Martyrs for Christ

One cold morning in 1934, American missionaries John and Betty Stam were beginning their day in Tsingteh, China. Betty was bathing her three-month-old daughter, Helen Priscilla, when Tsingteh’s magistrate suddenly rushed inside, warning everyone to leave immediately. Rumors were spreading wildly about the town that Communist forces would be taking the city that very day. A Communist is someone who does not believe in God and believes that government should control everyone’s possessions. In a communistic government, children are taught to spy on their parents and believers are killed for teaching about the dear Lord Jesus.

“Do you think we should leave, John?” Betty asked when the magistrate left.

“Let us wait and see,” replied John. But it was already too late—the Communists had captured the city using stone paths cut through the mountains. Within hours, soldiers were pounding on the Stams’ door. John opened the door to the four soldiers who entered and spoke courteously to them. He asked them if they were hungry, and Betty brought them tea and cakes.

Why do you think the Stams were so friendly to their enemies? No doubt they were thinking of the Lord Jesus’ words when He said, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). God wants us to treat others with kindness—even those who are not kind to us.

Kindness meant nothing to the Communists, however, and they took John, Betty, and baby Helen as prisoners. They were marched to a prison where the captors had to release some of the imprisoned criminals to make room for the Stams. As they did so, the soldiers fired their rifles, frightening baby Helen.

“Kill the baby!” shouted one of the Communists. “Why kill her? What harm has she done?” asked one of the prisoners being released to make room for the Stams.

“Are you a Christian?” one of the guards growled. “No,” the prisoner said softly, “I was just released.”

“Are you willing to die for this foreign baby?” Before the man could reply, the soldiers killed the man in front of a horrified John and Betty.

The next day, John and Betty were marched twelve miles away to Miaosheo. Before leaving Tsingteh, they stopped at a postmaster’s shop where John, under guard, was able to send a letter to his mission board. (You may read the letter to the right.)

They spent their last night on earth in a wealthy man’s house, which had been abandoned in the panic to escape the Communist takeover. John was tied to a post all that night, but Betty was able to move about and tend to the baby. What she did that night would save her baby’s life.

A guard woke John and Betty up the next morning. “Strip off all your outer garments,” he ordered. Betty shot a look at John. She knew that guards always gave this command to those they were planning to behead.

The young couple’s hands were then tied tightly behind their backs, and they began to walk through the town. John had given his socks to Betty, so he had to walk barefoot. The townspeople were summoned to watch the execution.

John and Betty were calm as they walked through the town. They had already yielded their lives to the Lord Jesus as little children, so they were ready for whatever outcome the Lord Jesus had for them.

John Stam had grown up in Paterson, New Jersey. John’s father directed the Star of Hope Mission and John was a member of the Madison Avenue Baptist Church in Paterson. Betty Scott was raised in China, where her parents served the Lord as missionaries. They met at a student-led missionary prayer meeting at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois, where they discovered that they both were burdened for China. Realizing they loved each other, they began to seek the Lord as to whether or not they should marry. But even in this, they yielded to the Lord, discerning it was not God’s time for marriage. They would have to wait—perhaps for up to five years!

Surrendered to Christ’s plan for her life, Betty sailed for China in 1931. Her mission board, the China Inland Mission, had placed her in a part of China far from where John would be serving the Lord. Yet God had a plan, and He was working on their behalf. The senior missionary Betty was to work with was captured by the Communists, making it impossible for her to remain where she was. She was forced to go to Shanghai due to failing health. By the time she had recovered, another year had passed and John had arrived in Shanghai. They became engaged and married—long before they ever thought possible.

That had been one short year ago. Now, they must trust God with their lives yet again.

As the guards pushed them forward, a Christian man took pity on the missionaries and pleaded for their lives. The angry guards searched his house and found a Bible and a hymnbook, enough to sentence the man to death. John began to beg for the man’s life but in response, the Communist leader sharply ordered John to kneel. John continued to speak in soft tones as the guard swung his sword, ending his life. The guards turned their eyes to Betty, but she did not scream.

With a shudder, she knelt down beside her husband’s body, and the same sword that had taken John’s life soon ushered her into the presence of Christ.

But what of baby Helen? Two days later, Mr. Lo, a local evangelist, learned of the Stams’ executions and went to look for the baby. An elderly lady whispered the location of the house the Stams had been held in. Arriving at the site, he found it in shambles. As he searched each room, a sharp cry pierced the air. Mr. Lo found baby Helen hidden safely inside a sleeping bag. She was warm and alive, but very hungry after almost thirty hours without food.

Mr. Lo brought baby Helen to his wife, the only woman in the region who knew how to mix the proper amount of Lactogen (a powdered milk) and feed it to the baby. Brave men were found who would take Helen to safety, but Mr. Lo had no money with which to pay them. Here God supplied. On her last night on earth, Betty had hidden ten dollars in Helen’s clothes. It was just enough to bring Helen to safety.

Boys and girls, you may wonder why God would allow these two faithful servants to die in this way. Only God knows that answer. But what we do know is that John and Betty Stam did not believe their lives were wasted. Betty once said, “When we consecrate ourselves to God, we think we are making a great sacrifice, and doing lots for Him, when really we are only letting go some little bitsy trinkets we have been grabbing, and when our hands are empty, He fills them full of His treasures.” They understood that God’s way was perfect. God used the death of John and Betty Stam to move many men and women to answer His call into missionary service. As a result, untold multitudes are part of the family of God. Some day those of us who know Christ as our Saviour will see God Himself reward John and Betty Stam with a special crown reserved only for those of His servants who have given their lives for the cause of Christ.

John and Betty Stam were martyred for the cause of Christ on December 8, 1934.