Church History · 1792

William Carey and the Modern Missions Movement

In 1792 an English shoemaker and Baptist pastor named William Carey preached expect great things from God, attempt great things for God. He sailed to India in 1793, and his team translated the Bible into dozens of languages, inspiring the modern missions movement.

Read it in the Bible: Matthew 28:18-20 Isaiah 54:2-3 Romans 10:13-15 Revelation 7:9

In 1792 an English Baptist pastor and former shoemaker named William Carey published a short book urging Christians to take the gospel to every nation, then preached a sermon with the famous call to expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. That October a small group of pastors formed the Baptist Missionary Society, and in 1793 Carey sailed for India. He spent the next 41 years there without coming home. His team translated the Bible, in whole or in part, into dozens of languages. He is often called the father of modern missions, though as he would be the first to point out, the Moravians had gone before him.

Who Was William Carey?

Carey was born in 1761 in the village of Paulerspury, England. His family was poor, and he trained as a shoemaker. He came to faith as a teenager and became a Baptist preacher. He had no university education, but he loved learning. He taught himself Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Dutch and French, often with a book propped up on his workbench while he fixed shoes.

He also loved geography. He read Captain Cook's voyages, made a homemade map of the world and kept track of the population and religion of every country he could. When he looked at that map, he saw millions of people who had never heard of Jesus.

What Was the Enquiry?

In Carey's day many British Christians believed that the Great Commission was meant only for the apostles. A popular story says that when Carey raised the topic at a ministers' meeting, an older pastor told him to sit down, because when God wanted to convert the heathen, He would do it without Carey's help. The story may be exaggerated, but it captures the mood.

In 1792 Carey published An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. He argued that Jesus' command still applied, that the obstacles could be overcome, and that Christians should organize and give to send missionaries.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28:19 to 20

What Did Carey Preach in 1792?

In May 1792 Carey preached to a gathering of Baptist ministers in Nottingham. His text was Isaiah 54:2 to 3.

Enlarge the site of your tent, stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not hold back. Lengthen your ropes and drive your stakes in deep. Isaiah 54:2

No copy of the sermon survives, but those who heard it remembered its two points. Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God. It became known as the Deathless Sermon. On October 2, 1792, in Kettering, a small group of ministers formed the society that became the Baptist Missionary Society. Their first offering was small enough to fit in a snuffbox.

What Did the Moravians Do First?

Carey was not the first Protestant missionary. In 1732, sixty years earlier, two Moravians from Herrnhut in Germany, Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann, sailed to the Caribbean island of Saint Thomas to bring the gospel to enslaved Africans. Moravians went on to Greenland, North America, South Africa and beyond. In his Enquiry, Carey pointed to the Moravians as an example. He is often quoted as saying to his fellow Baptists, see what these Moravians have done. You can read their story in the article on the Moravian Church.

What Did Carey Do in India?

Carey arrived in Calcutta in November 1793. The first years were brutal. Money ran out, the East India Company did not want missionaries, and his wife Dorothy, who had not wanted to leave England, suffered deep mental illness after the death of their five year old son, Peter. For seven years Carey saw no Indian converts.

In 1800 he moved to Serampore, a Danish town where missionaries were allowed. There he worked with Joshua Marshman and William Ward, known as the Serampore Trio. That December they baptized their first Hindu convert, Krishna Pal. In 1801 they published the New Testament in Bengali.

How Many Languages Did Carey Translate the Bible Into?

Carey was a gifted language scholar. He became a professor of Bengali and Sanskrit at Fort William College in Calcutta. By 1826 he had overseen translations of the whole Bible into six languages of India and parts of it into many more. Altogether the Serampore team produced Bible translations, complete or partial, in over 30 languages. When a fire destroyed their print shop and many manuscripts in 1812, Carey started over.

He also founded schools and Serampore College in 1818, studied plants and farming, and campaigned against sati, the burning of widows on their husbands' funeral fires. The British government banned sati in 1829. When the ban came, Carey reportedly put off preaching that Sunday to translate the order into Bengali immediately.

Why It Matters for You Today

Carey died in India in 1834. He asked that his gravestone say only that he was a wretched, poor and helpless worm, resting on God's kind arms. He knew it was not about him. A shoemaker with a homemade map started a movement that sent thousands of missionaries around the world in the 1800s. You do not need a big title to obey the Great Commission.

How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? Romans 10:14

Get Nate's Highlighting Guide Free

Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Questions People Ask

Who said expect great things from God, attempt great things for God?

William Carey, an English Baptist pastor, gave this call in a sermon on Isaiah 54:2 to 3 in Nottingham in May 1792. No copy of the sermon survives, but those who heard it remembered these two points.

Why is William Carey called the father of modern missions?

Carey's 1792 Enquiry and his work in India inspired the founding of many missionary societies in Britain and America. He showed how a supported missionary could plant churches, translate Scripture and serve a nation.

Were the Moravians the first Protestant missionaries?

The Moravians were among the first. In 1732 Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann went to Saint Thomas in the Caribbean, sixty years before Carey. Carey himself pointed to the Moravians as an example.

How many languages did William Carey translate the Bible into?

By 1826 Carey had overseen translations of the whole Bible into six languages and parts of it into many more. The Serampore mission produced Scripture in over 30 languages.

Sources

← The Episcopal Church in the United States The Second Great Awakening →

See the whole Church History