Karl Gützlaff
Lechler was born on 26 July 1824 to pastor and Pietist Gottlob Lechler. He initially joined the merchant industry as an apprentice. During this time, an illness in which he contracted resulted in his Christian faith being strengthened and in 1844 committed himself to becoming a missionary by entering a Mission school run by the Basel Mission. It was during this time that he became acquainted with Theodore Hamberg During this time, the missionary Karl Gützlaff began touring churches in Western Europe and calling for missionary work to begin on the inland areas of China where no Westerner had ventured before. The Rhenish Missionary Society and the Basel Mission heeded the call and arranged for Theodor and Lechler to set sail for China, arriving on March 19, 1847.