Young Jehu Lewis Shuck had been moved by the stories of the mission field shared by Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice. At a church service, when the plate was passed for the missions offering, Lewis added a card with one word that he had written — myself. In 1835, he set sail for China and joined the newly formed Foreign Mission Board in 1846.

In China, he dedicated his years of service to teaching, preaching, planting churches and translating gospel tracts. He worked to spread the gospel in Hong Kong, Canton and Shanghai.

In a letter to the American Baptist Publication Society, he wrote: “We are at present much straitened for want of a chapel, but hope ere long to have one.” Soon after, Lewis helped plant the first Baptist chapel in Shanghai.

After returning to the United States, Lewis continued ministry, establishing the first American Chinese church in Sacramento around 1860.