SHILOH MESSENGER - March 2020
















For God So Loved the World

"And He said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.,” Mark 16:15

This month we share parts of his biography, His is a life well utilized in obedience to what The Lord Jesus commanded, and undeniably he embraced a Global Eternal Perspective. As we read this man’s Biography, it had us weeping! Oh that we have a heart for Missions that would indeed cause us to want to see people saved whatever the cost. **** portions of William Carey’s biography are shared from The Revival Study Bible and Christianity Biographies.

William Carey was born in England and became a cobbler at the age of fourteen. He was converted at the age of eighteen and affiliated himself with the local Baptist Church. At the age of twenty-six he was ordained. His income as a Preacher was so limited that he gained his subsistence by working as a shoemaker. In front of him on his work bench, hung a map of the world which he himself had made. He studied privately on his own, and mastered Dutch, French, Greek, and Hebrew before he was twenty years of age. Two years later, he joined the Baptist Church, and began preaching immediately, mostly on the theme of Missions. He helped organize the English Baptist Missionary Society and was one of its first Missionaries to India. His services there were remarkable for their range and depth. In addition to Soul winning, Carey founded Serampore College, and with the aid of other linguists, he translated the Bible into forty four languages and dialects. Through his efforts, the Bible was made available to three hundred million people before the American Civil War. He was also instrumental in developing grammars and dictionaries in Bengali, Sanskrit, and other native tongues. He is known as The Cobbler who gave India a Bible. He has rightly been called “The Father of Modern Missions.” William Carey had a love so great to bring The Gospel of Christ to as many people as possible that he would pay any price, make any sacrifice, and undergo any hardship. He was adamant with the conviction that the Church must take God’s Word to every Nation. At this particular time of his life, most Protestants were not active in Missionary activity. Carey kept urging his fellow Pastors to set up a Missionary Agency, but they always seemed to have more urgent problems closer to home. At one meeting an elder Pastor reportedly snapped at him, “Young man, Sit down, when God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without consulting you or me!” But William Carey simply would not let anything stand in the way. The obstacles he faced were many and menacing, any of which would have given most a cause to turn back. He had a lack of formal education. He did not go to school beyond the age of 12 when he became a Cobbler’s apprentice. He was educationally unqualified. Yet he knew God had given him a great gift for languages, and this must be used to share Christ with other Cultures. He experienced rejection and when he was preparing for ordination in 1785, he was rejected when he gave his first sermon as a candidate. It took two more years for him to be eventually ordained to the Ministry. His missionary concern was ignored until in 1792 he produced one of the most important books in all of Church History: An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians. In it he argued that Christ’s “Great Commission” in Matthew 28:19-20 was not just to the Apostles but to Christians of all periods. It proved to be kind of the charter of the modern Protestant Missionary Movement. William Carey showed that if Christians want to claim the comforts and promises of the New Testament, they must also accept the commands and instructions given there. Soon after the publication, he delivered a famous sermon in which he admonished Christian Leaders to “expect great things from God: attempt great things for God.” His Colleagues formed a missionary society and sent Carey as their first Missionary to India. He had much heartache and family tragedy. He and his wife, Dorothy lost three children. In India, Dorothy progressively struggled with mental stability and could not cope with the strain of living in India. They had three other young children to raise. No one would have blamed them if they had decided to pack it in and sail back home to more familiar and comfortable surroundings, but they stayed on. William Carey spent seven years in India before seeing his first convert, and then there was the problem of the persecution of anyone who became a Christian because it meant breaking caste in India. He had great oppositions. The British East India Company did not want missionaries in India. There was the disastrous fire in 1812 at the Mission printing plant that destroyed years of Carey’s translation work. There were repeated attacks of malaria and cholera, impoverished living conditions, and insufficient funds. Was it worth it? Beyond a doubt. William Carey formed a team of colleagues whose accomplishments elevated them to first magnitude in all mission’s history. Carey’s team translated The Bible in 34 Asian Languages, compiled dictionaries, started the still influential Serampore College, began Churches, and established 19 mission stations, and so much more! He is known to this day as “THE FRIEND OF INDIA” Equally important is the vision that Carey raised for Missions. William Carey’s life inspired tens of thousands to give themselves for the spread of The Gospel.


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