The Mustard Seed Mission

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Our Story | The Mustard Seed Mission

OUR STORY · SINCE 1952

A promise that continues to grow.

Some organizations are built from a strategy. The Mustard Seed Mission was built from a promise — made by one woman, in the hardest years of her life, and kept for more than seventy years since. This is where that story starts, and where it’s still being written today.

ROOTED IN TAIWAN

GROWING SINCE 1952

Illustration of Lillian Dickson’s historical care for children continuing through present-day family support in Taiwan

LILLIAN DICKSON WITH CHILDREN IN TAIWAN

OUR FOUNDER

Lillian Dickson

1901–1983 · A life devoted to Taiwan

Lillian Ruth LeVesconte Dickson was born on January 29, 1901, in Minnesota, USA. In 1927, she married Rev. James Ira Dickson and moved with him to Taiwan for missionary work. World War II forced a temporary return to the United States — but as soon as she could, she came back, and committed herself fully to the island and its people.

“There’s only one life. Let’s spend it where we’re needed most.”

LILLIAN DICKSON

In 1952, under Lillian’s leadership, that conviction took shape under the name of The Mustard Seed. In 1962, The Mustard Seed Mission Foundation was formally registered in Taiwan. Her guiding motto, “wherever the need is, that’s where we go,” became more than a personal creed. It became the principle the organization has followed ever since.

From there, her work grew quickly. She pioneered mountain clinics, tuberculosis sanitariums, and maternity care for underserved communities; cared for patients with leprosy and black-foot disease, pairing medical treatment with vocational training; opened Taiwan’s first indigenous vocational education programs; and founded orphanages and youth homes to give children and teenagers a stable place to grow up.

Over more than half a century of service in Taiwan, she touched the lives of nearly a million people — and became known, with deep affection, as “Mother of the Lepers,” “Mother of the Blind,” “Mother of Orphans,” and “Mother of the Mountains.”

She passed away in 1983 at the age of 82 — still at work, to the end — and was laid to rest beside her husband at Taiwan Theological Seminary. Her work didn’t end there. It became the foundation for everything that came next.

1927

Lillian arrives in Taiwan

1952

The Mustard Seed begins

1962

Foundation registered in Taiwan

A LIFE OF PRACTICAL CARE

Wherever the need was, she went.

From mountain clinics and children’s homes to skills training and family support, her work began with people whose needs had been overlooked.

Archival photograph of Lillian Dickson working at her desk in Taiwan

SEVEN DECADES OF SERVICE

A story still being written.

Every generation has faced different needs. The commitment to show up has remained the same.

1948–1962

Answering the Call

Before MSM had a name, it had a mission. Mobile medical teams reached remote communities in Nantou and Hualien in 1948. Care for leprosy patients began in 1949, and support for the visually impaired followed in 1951. In 1952, the work took shape under the name of The Mustard Seed. Over the following decade, MSM opened tuberculosis sanitariums, kindergarten teacher-training programs, the Agape Children’s Home, vocational schools in Hualien, and The Mustard Seed Youth Home. In 1962, The Mustard Seed Mission Foundation was formally registered in Taiwan.

1963–1973

Building the Foundation

MSM’s support for indigenous communities deepened in 1963, the same decade its most enduring landmark took shape: the Lillian Dickson Conference Ground opened in Wanli in 1965, built as a place where children and teenagers could enjoy a carefree life in nature. By 1968, MSM was sending indigenous pastors into mission service abroad, and by the early 1970s its first vocational schools had opened outside Taiwan — in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

1983

A Promise Kept

Lillian Dickson passed away that year at 82 years old — still at work, to the end. Her mission did not end with her. It became the foundation for everything that came after.

1990s–2000s

Growing Beyond Taiwan

MSM’s care for Taiwan’s seniors expanded through the 1990s, with new residential and nursing services opening in Hualien and New Taipei City. At the same time, MSM’s international relief work grew steadily — extending to Malaysia and Indonesia in 1997, Indochina in 2000, Swaziland in 2002, and child sponsorship support for Cambodia’s orphaned and impoverished children in 2008.

2010s

Deepening Roots at Home

The 2010s brought MSM’s sponsorship model home, expanding church-partnered support for vulnerable children and youth across Taiwan starting in 2010. Hualien’s Vocational Training Center was formally established in 2012, community food banks began opening from 2016 onward, and family service centers for indigenous communities and new immigrant families opened in cities across the island. MSM’s international sponsorship reach also grew, extending relief and support to children in India, Nepal, and Pakistan.

2020–2025

A Living Legacy

In 2020, the Lillian Dickson Conference Ground opened its Bible Cultural Park, and MSM launched its 50+ Empowerment program for older adults entering a new chapter of work. Through COVID-19, MSM ran community-level prevention services across Taiwan. In 2022, MSM partnered with the National Museum of Taiwan History for a public exhibition on its work, and launched humanitarian relief for Ukraine. In 2024, MSM received Taiwan’s Aurora Trust Award, recognizing it as one of the country’s most innovative and high-impact nonprofits. And in 2025, that same spirit answered new emergencies — earthquake relief in Myanmar, and recovery support for families affected by flooding in Hualien’s Guangfu area.

DECADES OF SERVICE

What seven decades adds up to.

Since 1952, MSM’s work has been counted one family, one child, one delivery at a time. Here is what that adds up to, cumulatively, through the end of 2024.

4,313,293

cumulative service instances recorded

THROUGH DECEMBER 2024

INDIVIDUALS RECORDED

People served

10,949

Children supported in Taiwan

5,376

Children and youth in residential care

5,248

Youth supported through education and training

2,539

Children supported internationally

1,577

Older adults supported through care services

304

Children in community-based, family-style homes

SERVICE INSTANCES

Services delivered

3,147,567

Community living-supplies distributions

141,493

Visits through community and family support programs

57,899

Overseas post-disaster emergency assistance

35,630

Domestic disaster response and epidemic-prevention services

15,976

50+ employment empowerment sessions

Figures reflect cumulative organizational reporting through the end of 2024. People served and service instances are different measures; service instances may include repeat visits or deliveries. Category figures are selected breakdowns and do not represent an exhaustive sum of the headline total.

THE STORY CONTINUES

“Lillian Dickson used to say there’s only one life — and that we should spend it where we’re needed most. Seven decades later, The Mustard Seed Mission is still trying to live up to that promise, one family at a time.”

The places she built are still standing. The work she started hasn’t stopped.

Illustration of a child and caregiver standing beneath a growing mustard tree

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