Otis Gibson's ordination was given in 1854, but his scheduled sail had to be postponed till spring the next year because the recording secretary forgot to record the recommendation.
On April 3, 1855 Gibson and wife set sail from New York Harbor on a clipper ship bound for Shanghai.
On that day Gibson wrote, "Believing that God ordered our course, we feel content and satisfied that all is for the best."
Finally they reached Foochow on August 13, 1855, following Gibson's teacher Erastus Wentworth with whom he got acquainted at Dickinson College.

In 1856, Otis Gibson and his Methodist co-laborers established two churches in the city, namely, Church of the True God and Church of Heavenly Peace, which were the first two Methodist churches built in East Asia.
On December 26, 1856, Gibson purchased a place in the South bank of River Min and established there in 1859 a commodious wooden Western-style boarding school for laymen and ministers.
In the 1860s Gibson also helped in the translation work of the Bible and other Christian books into the local Foochow dialect.

On June 14, 1857, Otis Gibson and Robert S. Maclay baptized their first convert, a native tradesman named Ting Ang (陈安).
Some weeks later he and Maclay made an unannounced visit to Ting Ang's house and found no sign of idols.

During his tenure in China, Gibson also started the Methodist mission in Yen-p'ing (today Nanping) in 1864.
There Gibson succeeded in renting a small house for use as a chapel, but he was faced with strong opposition.
Soon afterwards, he went back with Eliza to the United States, and his work in Yen-p'ing was continued by Nathan Sites and other Methodist missionaries.
Otis Gibson's ordination was given in 1854, but his scheduled sail had to be postponed till spring the next year because the recording secretary forgot to record the recommendation. On April 3, 1855 Gibson and wife set sail from New York Harbor on a clipper ship bound for Shanghai. On that day Gibson wrote, "Believing that God ordered our course, we feel content and satisfied that all is for the best." Finally they reached Foochow on August 13, 1855, following Gibson's teacher Erastus Wentworth with whom he got acquainted at Dickinson College.
In 1856, Otis Gibson and his Methodist co-laborers established two churches in the city, namely, Church of the True God and Church of Heavenly Peace, which were the first two Methodist churches built in East Asia. On December 26, 1856, Gibson purchased a place in the South bank of River Min and established there in 1859 a commodious wooden Western-style boarding school for laymen and ministers. In the 1860s Gibson also helped in the translation work of the Bible and other Christian books into the local Foochow dialect.
On June 14, 1857, Otis Gibson and Robert S. Maclay baptized their first convert, a native tradesman named Ting Ang (陈安). Some weeks later he and Maclay made an unannounced visit to Ting Ang's house and found no sign of idols.
During his tenure in China, Gibson also started the Methodist mission in Yen-p'ing (today Nanping) in 1864. There Gibson succeeded in renting a small house for use as a chapel, but he was faced with strong opposition. Soon afterwards, he went back with Eliza to the United States, and his work in Yen-p'ing was continued by Nathan Sites and other Methodist missionaries.
Otis Gibson