John W. Gowdy

John W. Gowdy (Chinese: 高智約翰; Pinyin: Gāozhì Yuēhàn; Foochow Romanized: Gŏ̤-dé Iók-hâng; 7 December 1869 – 1963) was a Scottish American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and The Methodist Church, elected in 1930.

John was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of Joseph and Margaret Jane (née Graham) Gowdy.

His birth name may have been John Goudy but he changed it to Gowdy, possibly to aid pronunciation.

Family members who remained in the UK look to have changed the spelling to Goudie.

He was appointed a Missionary Teacher at the Anglo-Chinese College in Fuzhou, China, serving in this position 1902–04.

He also was a Class Leader in the Heavenly Rest Methodist Church in the Fuzhou Annual Conference.

John W. Gowdy was elected a bishop by the 1930 meeting of the China Central Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.