This year (2019) marks 147 years since Mackay arrived in Taiwan, and this meaningful date calls for an analysis of Mackay’s early mission strategy. As Canada’s first missionary to Taiwan, Mackay’s mission was characterized by an emphasis on medicine, education (which adopted ‘secularized language’), and a holistic mission approach that formed the early indigenous church. Mackay was in Formosa for 29 years (1872-1901) and he brought great blessings to North Formosa. Besides Mackay Clinic, Oxford College and the Women’s School, he also oversaw the establishment of more than 60 congregations, saw the church grow to 3000 members, and led the training of more than 60 local ministers. Such achievements are closely related to his determination of evangelism and strategy, which was formed around and indigenous evangelism. Although Mackay’s own mission approach, but it is also clear that… “What would succeed in Europe or America would fail in Asia. China is not India, and Formosa is not Chin.” In his memoirs, Mackay clearly described his way of evangelism. This essay argues for studying Mackay’s approach in northern Taiwan, including a variety of influences: Mackay’s distinctive contextual mission, Mackay’s personal experience that shaped his mission theology, and the tensions among the missionaries themselves. These all contributed to the development of a movement that was contextual or indigenous. Within this approach, mission theology and practice shared a mutually reinforcing relationship.