History of the Church II: Week 13

Evangelizing the Globe  Over the top of a shoemaker’s workshop hang a sign that said “Secondhand shoes bought and sold”.  Inside William Carey would read Latin and Greek in-between jobs of repairing shoes.  It was from this humble beginnings one of Christianity’s greatest eras had started: Christian missions.  “Never had a another set of ideas, religious or secular, been propagated over so wide an area by so many professional agents maintained by the unconstrained donations of so many millions of individuals.” Kenneth Scott Latourette foremost historian of Christianity’s expansion. 

Evangelizing the Globe  For sheer magnitude, the 19 th century Christian mission work is without parallel in human history.  After becoming a Christian in1779, Carey began to grow in his walk until he met William Fuller.  Baptists at the time were Calvinists so let’s just say their sermons were not making anyone get up and dance like David.  Fuller believed it is the duty of all men to repent and believe the gospel but it is also the duty of all believers to carry salvation to all the world. 

Evangelizing the Globe  Carey was inspired to write An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen.  In this work, he answered the five objections given for not taking the gospel to “heathen” lands:  distance  their barbarism  the danger  difficulties raising support  unintelligible languages  His reasoning? If we can trade with them why can’t we save them?

Evangelizing the Globe  Carey and Fuller had to go back to the Bible to the teachings of Jesus to get the church to understand missions work.  In 1792, Carey, Fuller and 11 other Baptist colleagues founded the Baptist Missionary Society and within a year Carey and his family moved to India.  The British East India Company which virtually ruled India did not want missions work which might diminish profits.  Read quote on p. 375

Evangelizing the Globe  They refused Carey permission to live in Calcutta so he went to live with the Danes.  He took a job as a foreman in Bengal that only required him to work for three months of the year.  He used his spare time over the next 25 years to organize a network of mission stations.  With some help of two fellow Baptists, Joshua Marshman and William Ward, they plunged into the Hindu religion to gave knowledge like Paul did in his Mars Hills ministry.

Evangelizing the Globe  By 1824, he had published six complete and 24 partial translations of the Bible as well as several grammars, dictionaries and works of Hindu culture.  With success of Carey’s India adventure, the churches of England and eventually America send scores of missionaries to the “heathen” in the 19 th century.  Part of this compulsion to send missionaries came from the evangelical revivals of in America and England in the 18 th century.  Several features of this movement affected modern day Christianity.

Evangelizing the Globe  The formation of voluntary societies to send missionaries had several major effects:  Made possible interdenominational action  Encouraged lay leadership  Allowed all to participate in missions work (collecting money, clothes)  Many of the societies were formed by young people especially college students many of whom pledged their lives to missions work  Volunteerism rather than compulsion  The missionaries not only took the gospel to underdeveloped nations but also established schools, hospitals, trained doctors and nurses, translated languages and helped better agricultural techniques