William Carey
William Carey, known as the "Father of Modern Missions, this is not true, there are several other groups that had a profound effect on modern missions. Back in the early 1600’s the Moravians sent out many missionaries to several far away lands.
He was born at Northamptonshire, England, and became a cobbler at the age of fourteen. He studied privately on his own and mastered Dutch, French, Greek, and Hebrew before he was twenty years of age. Two years later at the age of twenty-two, 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.
Carey founded the 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.
A quote; "Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God."
The problem with Carey’s way of doing things is that it differed greatly from the way Jesus Christ instructed us to do! Carey looked to education, instead of that power from on high, his whole approach was in direct contrast to the instruction that Jesus gave. Let’s look at the instruction that Jesus gave in regard to missionary work.
“And He
was saying to them, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
And as you go, preach, saying, `The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast
out demons; freely you received, freely give. Do not acquire gold, or
silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your
journey, or even two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker
is worthy of his support. And into whatever city or village you enter, inquire
who is worthy in it; and abide there until you go away. And as you enter the
house, give it your greeting. And if the house is worthy, let your greeting of
peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your greeting of peace return
to you. And whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of
that house or that city, shake off the dust of your feet. Truly I say to you,
it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of
judgment, than for that city.”
(The old time missionary
work taught by Jesus was much better, and can’t be improved upon.)
This is the way Jesus instructed missionary work to be carried out, but today, most missions copy Carey’s way of doing things, instead of that of Jesus! I believe that is the reason that we see so little success. As for Carey’s quote, "Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God." I agree with the first part, but, as for the second part. I believe that it would be much better to be lead of the Spirit of God, instead of “attempting great things.” As a result, great things would be done. Editor.