Collection 460 [February 14, 2008]
Taylor, Phyllis Evelyn; 1924-
Interviews; 1992
Audio tapes (.1 cubic feet)
Restrictions: None
Brief Description. Oral history interviews with Taylor in which she discusses her childhood and conversion, education at Wheaton College, her experiences as a Christian and Missionary Alliance teacher and evangelist among the Bantu people in the Belgian Congo from 1952-1966; her work in Taiwan from 1968 on as an independent missionary; teaching English as a means of evangelism.
| Full name | Phyllis Evelyn Taylor | |
| Birth | April 23, 1924, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States | |
| Family | ||
| Parents | Lloyd B. and Minnie Simmons Taylor | |
| Siblings | 3 brothers. Phyllis was the third of four children | |
| Marital Status | Single | |
| Conversion | September 9, 1935 | |
| Education | ||
| 1941 | Graduated high school | |
| 1941-1944 | Graduated Nyack Missionary Training Institute, New York | |
| 1944-1945 | High Point College, North Carolina | |
| 1946-1947 | Graduated Wheaton College, Illinois, BS in Education | |
| 1949-1950 | Graduated Wheaton College, Illinois, MA in Christian Education | |
| Career | ||
| 1945-1946 | Nine months of leading children's meetings for the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) near Milaca, Minnesota | |
| 1946 | Worked as a secretary at the Oak Ridge atomic facility in Tennessee | |
| 1947-1948 | Taught elementary school in Villa Park, Illinois | |
| 1948-1949 | Taught elementary school in Nyack, New York | |
| 1950 | Received appointment as missionary of the CMA | |
| 1951-1952 | Attended French language school for missionaries in Belgium | |
| 1952-1966 | Served in the Belgian Congo at Maduda, Kikonzi, Lukula, Boma, Vungu. After a brief time teaching missionary children, she taught in and directed African schools, led Bible and Christian education conferences, and led evangelistic meetings in villages. Most of her time was spent with the Bantu people. | |
| 1954-1955 | Furlough in the United States | |
| 1960-1962 | Prolonged furlough in the United States because of the civil war in the Congo | |
| 1966-1967 | Taught in the Christian Education Department at Canadian Bible College in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada | |
| 1967 | Resigned from CMA | |
| 1967-1968 | Taught at elementary school in Pleasantville, New Jersey, to raise funds for her mission work in Taiwan | |
| 1968-1970 | Taught at Christ's College in Tanshui, Taiwan. Taught English grammar and composition, psychology, set up and taught several Christian Education courses, planned and directed a Christian Education Conference for the churches in the area, planned and directed a missionary program with five students and traveled around the Island giving the program in various churches during summer vacation | |
| 1970-1972 | Taught elementary school in Atlantic City, New Jersey to raise funds for herself and mission work in Taiwan. | |
| 1972-1980 | Taught at Taipei American School in Taiwan as part of her self-supporting missionary activities, such as newspaper evangelism, and teaching Sunday School and serving on the council of the United States Navy Support Chapel. She also did prison ministry among foreign inmates and led Bible studies for women and medical students. In addition, she taught English classes for the staffs of the Hilton Hotel, the American Express Bank, the American Shipping Line, Johnson's Wax. | |
| 1982 | Self-published The Master, an explanation of the plan of salvation, which has since been translated into Chinese, African, and Indian languages. These have usually been distributed free to Christian workers in several countries. Ms. Taylor also over the years prepared many evangelistic audio tapes, video tapes and booklets | |
| 2001 | Trained teachers in India for two months | |
| December 2001 | Retired and returned to the United States to live in Kissimmee, Florida | |
Phyllis Taylor was interviewed by Paul Ericksen in August 1992 at the Billy Graham Center Archives in Wheaton, Illinois, United States. The events described in the interview cover the time period 1925-1992.
T1 ( 65 minutes). Memories of her childhood, conversion of her mother at a tabernacle in North Carolina; Phyllis' conversion at eleven during meetings led by evangelist Bill Young; call to become a missionary at the age of thirteen; influence of her mother and the church on her Christian life; attending Nyack Missionary Training Institute; attending Highpoint College; attending Wheaton College; Enock Dyrness; comparison of Highpoint and Wheaton; leading children's meetings in Minnesota; working at the Oak Ridge atomic bomb plant; professors at Wheaton; extracurricular activities; Foreign Mission Fellowship; her experiences as a Wheaton grad student and a teacher at Villa Park, Illinois; financial support for her graduate education; using the Sugar Creek Gang books at Villa Park; being a grad student; memories of the 1950 Wheaton revival; her thesis on the Gospel of Mark; visits to Wheaton since graduation; appointment as a missionary and assignment to the Belgian Congo; difficulty of her year of French language study in Belgium; government certification of schools in the Belgian Congo; problem with her first assignment as a teacher of missionary children; language study in Kinkongo; her next station at Kikonzi where she taught Congolese student; local Bantu villages; social contacts between missionaries and local people; contacts between missionaries; program and requirements of the school; life of the students; story of one student who became an administrator of the hospital in Kikonzi; the poison cup as a means of judgment; comments on the history of the CMA in the Congo; animism among the Bantu and use of fetishes
T2 ( 17 minutes). Story about a young Bantu convert who was poisoned by his mother; description of CMA mission stations at Maduda and Kikonzi; a snake attack during a prayer meeting; changes in the mission's education program during Taylor's time of service; training women to be Bible teachers; Taylor's three terms of service; description of Taylor's teaching and evangelistic work; description of evangelistic services; opposition to evangelistic meetings
T3 (61 minutes). Preparing curriculum materials for Bantu teachers; Seventh Day Adventist missionaries in the Congo and Angola; opposition from Roman Catholic missionaries; memories of the coming independence to the Belgian Congo; violence against white Europeans and Americans; evacuation of missionaries from the Congo; personal experiences during the upheaval before Taylor's furlough in 1960; incidents in the Boma/Matadi area during the 1964 uprising; division in the CMA church in the Congo over the ABAKO [Alliance des Bakongo] movement; missionary conference tours in the United States from 1960-1962; returning to the Congo in 1962; reflections on her accomplishment during her last tour in the Congo; several examples of conflicts of missionaries with the Congolese police; a temporary evacuation in 1964; differences between men and women missionaries; Congolese gender differences; her resignation from the Congo field in 1966 and her desire for more evangelistic work in villages; living in New Jersey while raising her own support to go to Taiwan; James Graham and Christ's College; going to Taiwan in 1968; teaching Christian education at Christ's College; organizing a Christian education conference for local pastors; reason for returning to the United States in 1970; teaching at Taipei American School in Taiwan after 1970; teaching at United States military installations; ancestor veneration in Taiwan; story of one convert's relationship with his family; need for the Taiwanese to become missionaries
T4 (40 minutes). Influential Taiwanese Christians; efforts to get Taiwanese to become missionaries; Taylor's assistance CMA work in Tenmu [?]; periodic conferences for missionaries; other means of personal spiritual support; Darryl Johnson's radio sermons; the International Church in Taipei; work of the Mormons in Taiwan; charismatic Christians in Taiwan; teaching English to the staff of Hilton hotels; Taylor's vacations and other relaxation in Taiwan; impact of the United States withdrawing their embassy from Taiwan in 1979; Taiwanese attitudes toward mainland China; use of Taylor's book (The Master) in different languages and in China; her brother's work in Indonesia - Christ for the Island World; working on her book, 1980-1982; Willys Braun and his work in Zaire; her plans to continue working; her use of Christmas luncheons for the local business community as an evangelistic outreach; developing a Christmas television broadcast in 1991; Christian advertising on buses and taxis by Joseph Lin; tracts Taylor has written using Sun Yat-sen as an example
T5 (30 minutes). Taylor's desire to write children's books; her book on David and Goliath; Taiwanese book publishing; her combining of English teaching classes and Bible study; payment rate for her classes; witnessing in classes; dedication of students; high cost of tentmaking ministry; English classes as a field for Christian witness; impact of her being unmarried in Taiwan; story of a Taiwanese woman she witnessed to; being a single missionary in Zaire; plans to return to Taiwan and expectations for her ministry there; plans to use Chinese characters and Christmas as means of evangelism on her television show; comparison of Christ, Buddha, and Sun Yat-sen
Provenance
The materials in this collection were given to the Archives of the Billy Graham Center by Phyllis E. Taylor in August 1992.
Accession: 92-101The following items are located in the AUDIO TAPE file.
| # | R/C | speed | length | Sides | Contents | Dates |
| T1 | R | 3.75 | 65 min. | 1 | Oral history interview of Phyllis Taylor by Paul Ericksen | 8/26/92 |
| T2 | R | 3.75 | 17 min. | 1 | Conclusion of T1 | 8/26/92 |
| T3 | R | 3.75 | 61 min. | 1 | Oral history interview of Phyllis Taylor by Paul Ericksen | 8/28/92 |
| T4 | R | 3.75 | 40 min. | 1 | Continuation of T3 | 8/28/92 |
| T5 | R | 3.75 | 30 min. | 1 | Conclusion of T4 | 8/28/92 |