He was converted in his late teens through the ministry of Revd Dr Luke Wiseman, a biographer of Charles Wesley.
The men adapted the Miao script developed by Samuel Pollard to translate portions of the Bible.
[1] Metcalf finally settled in Taku (Taogu) with the Eastern Lisu, establishing a church and Bible College.
Metcalf did not live to know of the hardships of the Cultural Revolution which included the death in 1973 of his convert Pastor Wang Zhiming, whose statue is among those of the Ten 20th Century Martyrs on the West Gate of Westminster Abbey.
In 1999, Ruth Metcalf carried her father’s manuscript back to Yunnan and presented it to the Religious Affairs Bureau in Wuding.