Be Inspired

William Carey was one of the most remarkable Christian missionaries of his generation and changed perhaps more than anyone how people thought about mission and spreading the gospel. He was a great inspiration to countless missionaries who followed him to India and other parts of the world and is responsible for many thousands of new disciples throughout the world.

Carey was baptised in 1783 and from the very beginning was a devoted evangelist. Unlike many of his friends and colleagues, Carey viewed evangelism as essential not as an optional extra. When Carey became a teacher of geography it is said that he would weep when he told his students that many people throughout the world had never heard the name of Jesus.

Carey was extremely gifted with languages and at 12 taught himself Latin and by 21 had also mastered Greek, Hebrew and Italian. He later mastered Dutch and French.

Carey's desire to evangelise was often at odds with his peers. He was once famously told by a senior Christian that 'When God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid or mine!' Carey, however, knew that god wanted to use ordinary Christians to reach people with the gospel. He had read the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and burned with a desire to see people saved. Carey preached a famous sermon in 1792 where he ended with his now famous phrase 'expect great things, attempt great things.'

Carey set sail for India in 1793 and entered the country illegally. He started immediately to preach the gospel although he faced financial ruin. He preached for seven years continually before he saw his first convert baptised. He also became a fierce critic of many brutal practices in India at that time.

Carey preached the gospel fearlessly and presented the true claims of Christianity against the falsehood of Hinduism and other such beliefs. He preached that salvation came through the name of Jesus Christ and was often the first person to preach the gospel in many of the villages he visited.

By 1837 Carey and his companions had translated the Bible into 40 different languages and opened well over 100 schools. Education was a key part of Carey's strategy to transform India and did much to improve education, particularly for girls. By 1821 he and his friends had baptised 1,400 people, rescued numerous children and in 1829 helped outlaw the practice of burning alive wives of dead husbands.

Toward the end of his life Carey wrote 'What is there in all the world worth living for, but the presence and service of God? I feel a burning desire that all the world may know this God, and serve him.' The 19th century came to be known as the Great Century of Missions and that was largely due to the inspiring life of William Carey.