Research Paper: The Calling of William Carey
Walter Dean Troup
GLST605: History and Theory of Global Engagement (D01)
November 26, 2023
Content
s
Contents..................................................................................................................................ii
William Carey, Missionary to India..........................................................................................2
Carey’s Historical Setting....................................................................................................................2
Carey’s Missiological Approach..........................................................................................................5
Contemporary Application of Carey’s Missiological Approach...........................................................8
Bibliography..........................................................................................................................10
1
In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus spoke a parable in which he ends with: “For many are called,
but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14, English Standard Version). While this paper is not a look
into the idea of a general calling with the gospel and a receiving of the elect, the idea of a
“calling” from God has been accepted, rejected, and pushed to the side for as long as human
beings have filled the earth. A missionary calling cannot be explained as a one-time event, rather
it is a lived-out faithfulness to the one who calls for the reason in which they are called.
From a biblical context, the examples of God’s calling of individuals can be seen in the
pages of the Old and New Testament (Genesis 6:13, Genesis 12:1-9, Exodus 3:10, Matthew 4:19,
Acts 9:17-19). An example of missionaries being sent out can be dated back to the time of the
disciples of Jesus Christ. While Jesus was in his earthly ministry, he called his disciples
together, and “he sent them out to=proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal” (Luke 9:2, English
Standard Version). Then, after his resurrection, he instructed them to go and “make disciples
of=all nations” (Matthew 28:19). The ability to accomplish this would be by the power of the
promised Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). Many followers of Christ, since that time, have understood the
importance of the gospel being proclaimed to the whole world. Moreover, many Christians
throughout history have taken up the duty to leave a familiar place and lifestyle so that those who
have never heard about Jesus would call upon his name and be saved (Romans 10:13).
This paper aims to shine a light on William Carey, an Englishman who felt a strong
calling to take the gospel message of Jesus Christ to a place where there were no churches or a
translation of the Bible in the local language. Through his life and ministry, he lived out his
calling as he journeyed to a foreign land to tell people about their greatest need: a relationship
with the Creator of the universe through Jesus Christ. Looking into Carey’s calling, specific
2
lessons can be gleaned to help modern-day missionaries carry out their own calling to glorify
God and make him known.
William Carey, Missionary to India
Carey’s Historical Setting
William Carey was born in 1761 in England near the community that “produced
Shakespeare, had fostered Wyclif and Hooker, had bred Fox and Bunyan, and had for a time
been the scene of the lesser lights of John Mason and Doddridge, of John Newton and Thomas
Scott.”1 From ages sixteen to twenty-eight, Carey worked as a village shoemaker. While
working under his apprentice Clarke Nichols, the master would be the one who first led him to
Christ.2 At eighteen, “Carey was thus emptied of self and there was room for Christ.”3
In the notes of the first public meeting of the Baptist Missionary Society in London, dated
October 5th, 1783, the following entry was made: “I baptised in the river Nen, a little beyond Dr.
Doddridge's meetinghouse at Northampton, a poor journeyman shoemaker, little thinking that
before nine years had elapsed, he would prove the first instrument of forming a society for
sending missionaries from England to preach the gospel to the heathen.”4 This poor journeyman
shoemaker would one day be recognized as the father of modern-day missions.5
While pastoring in Moulton, a group of ministers were gathered when John Ryland Jr
asked for someone to bring up a topic for discussion. Carey stood up and proposed, “The duty of
1 1. George Smith,=The Life of William Carey: Shoemaker & Missionary=(Champaign, IL: Bookjungle.com,
2008), 3.
2 Ibid., 7.
3 Ibid., 10.
4 Ibid.
5 Sharon Rusten with E. Michael,=The Complete Book of When & Where in the Bible and throughout
History=(Wheaton, IL: Michael E Rusten, 2005), 327.
3
Christians to attempt the spread of the gospel among heathen nations.”6 At this suggestion,
Ryland replied, “Young man, sit down. When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it
without your aid or mine.”7 This was not the response he was expecting. Following the words of
Paul when he said “For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to
every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). Carey believed
that every person should have a chance to hear the gospel in their own language. He fully
understood that Jesus called every Christian to be a witness to the world in which they lived
(Acts 1:8). There is no sign of a specific instance of a calling through multiple resources. No
voice, no vision or dream. However, what burned in Carey’s heart was a passion for the gospel
to be received by everyone. His life and desire were pushed by the thought that Jesus came to
seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), and he was invited to play a part in achieving that. His
calling would take him away from what he knew as familiar to fulfill his calling in India.
Before his departure in 1792, he would author the pamphlet An Enquiry into the
Obligations of Christians, to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens.8 Through this
pamphlet, you could see his calling to make Jesus known to all people, and the hope that others
would join. The Enquiry “surveys the scope of the problem, challenges commonplace objections
to the work, and emphasizes the need for workers.”9 He wrote that the work would not be easy,
6 Timothy George,=Faithful Witness: The Life and Mission of William Carey=(United States: Christian
History Institute in association with Samford University, 1998), 53.
7 Ibid.
8 William Carey and Ernest A. Payne,=An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the
Conversion of the Heathens=(Rochester, NY: Scholar’s Choice, 2015).
9 Jeffrey W. Barbeau,=Religion in Romantic England: An Anthology of Primary Sources=(Waco, TX: Baylor
University Press, 2018), 437.
4
and the support for reaching the heathens would not come from government agencies but from
those believers back at home.10
Carey would use Paul’s text from Romans 12:1-2 for the last message he preached,
emphasizing giving your life as a living sacrifice and encouraging them to “let it go.”11 This
same thought is echoed through the faithful lives of those mentioned in Hebrews 11. In each
circumstance, individuals like Noah, Abraham, David, and Samuel received a calling on their
lives and lived that calling out because of their faith. Carey was no different, he was standing on
the edge of living out the calling on his own life. On his departure, Carey encouraged those back
at home, “I will go down, if you will hold the rope.”12 And with that, Carey sailed to India, never
to return to England.13
Carey lived out his calling with a single purpose: serve others. This purpose would be
accomplished in many ways through the years, but ultimately, everything pointed to Jesus Christ.
Arriving in Calcutta in November 1793, Carey would find employment in an indigo factory and
travel to villages learning the Bengali and Hindi languages.14 As a Baptist missionary, Carey was
refused permission to minister in Bengali by the East India Company because he was not an
Anglican missionary, so he moved to Serampore, concentrating on northern India.15 There,
Carey and “his colleagues developed a thriving missionary network,”16 in December 1801, they
10 Ibid.
11 Timothy George,=Faithful Witness: The Life and Mission of William Carey=(United States: Christian
History Institute in association with Samford University, 1998), 78.
12 Larry W. Sharp,=The Greatest Missionary Generation: Inspiring Stories from around the World=(Peabody,
MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2021), Chapter 7.
13 Jeffrey W. Barbeau,=Religion in Romantic England: An Anthology of Primary Sources=(Waco, TX:
Baylor University Press, 2018), 436.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
5
saw their first Hindu conversion eight years after stepping off the boat from England. In the next
two decades, there would be 1,407 recorded baptisms by Carey and his team.17 In addition,
Carey would translate the Bible into six different Indian languages and portions of the Bible into
twenty-nine other languages.18 Aside from the conversions and translation of the Bible, Carey
also worked to “abolish suttee, the practice of a widow committing suicide following her
husband’s death.”19 William Carey died in 1834 and was buried in Serampore, India.
His listed accomplishments in the forty plus years as a missionary in India are inspiring.
Taking a calling to serve people in a foreign land, never returning to his homeland, is a feat that
is rarely seen today in missionary circles. How did he fulfill his calling and accomplish these
great works? What was his thought process? What was his missiological approach as he stepped
into India?
Carey’s Missiological Approach
As stated above, the purpose of Carey’s calling was to serve, and he approached this in a
variety of ways: respect for the local people, working with a team of missionaries, and
innovation in mission that had never been considered. All the while, he pointed people to Jesus.
William Carey respected the Indian people, even before he arrived, he had a love that stretched
across the dividing waters. This love and respect for other people can be seen through the Bible.
Jesus’ words in John 3:16 reminds that he was sent for “whoever believes in him.” Later Jesus
would point to the importance of loving other people. He said, “A new commandment I give to
you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this
17 Jeffrey W. Barbeau,=Religion in Romantic England: An Anthology of Primary Sources=(Waco, TX:
Baylor University Press, 2018), 437.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
6
all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
He didn’t want to minister from a distance, he knew that he needed to be with the people in order
to learn the culture, language, and appreciate who they were.
As Carey began to act on his calling, perhaps the words from the Enquiry were fresh in
his mind. One of the principles stated in the pamphlet was that “missionaries must be on equal
footing, companions, of the people among whom they minister.”20 This thought of “equal
footing” can be seen as Carey entered the country. Working in the factory and moving about in
the various villages, Carey showed a respect and love for the people that was more than words.
He was doing “life” with them. George Smith pointed out that Carey wasn’t like the Jesuit
missionaries “whose idea of equality with the people was not that of brotherhood in Christ, but
that of dragging down Christian doctrine, worship and civilisation, to the level of idolatrous
heathenism, and deluding the ignorant into accepting the blasphemous compromise.”21 In this
show of respect towards the Indian people, Carey would be able to learn the language and build
relationships that could lead to gospel conversations.
Carey loved the Indian people and had “an immense respect for the Indian culture, and
saw the need for an indigenous Indian church. Instead of spending a lot of time condemning the
Hindu religion, he affirmed the death and resurrection of Christ.”22 Out of this time spent with
the people, not only would Carey learn the culture and language, but he would also be
sharpening his skills to later translate the entire Bible into the local languages. Being among the
nationals, he could begin to understand the languages and how they were spoken in everyday
20 Timothy George,=Faithful Witness: The Life and Mission of William Carey=(United States: Christian
History Institute in association with Samford University, 1998), 100.
21 George Smith,=The Life of William Carey: Shoemaker & Missionary=(Champaign, IL: Bookjungle.com,
2008), Chapter 4.
22 Timothy George,=Faithful Witness: The Life and Mission of William Carey=(United States: Christian
History Institute in association with Samford University, 1998), 100.
7
situations in preparation for translating the Bible. Using this respect for the people and their
culture, Carey displayed the heart and love that the Apostle Paul had for the people of Athens.
He took time to walk the streets, stroll through the market, get to know the people and
understand their culture before standing at the Areopagus and proclaiming that he knew their
unknown god (Acts 17:16-34). Most of the people that day put him off for further discussion,
“But some men joined him and believed” (Acts 17:34). This was the passion of William Carey.
He respected and loved the Indian people so much that he would persevere for five years until
the first Hindu came to a saving knowledge of Christ.
While through the years the name William Carey has spoken from the past as a
foundational figure in the modern mission’s movement, he certainly did not go at it alone. Smith
warns that modern day thinkers need to be careful to understand that he did not go at it alone. In
his words, he warns of that we need to avoid “undue Carey-centricity wherever possible.”23 He
further writes, “Without Joshua Marshman and William Ward, the godly shoemaker would never
have been writ large in Protestant mission history.”24 In 1799, Carey was compelled to relocate
from Bengal to then Danish community of Serampore, where he met up with Ward and
Marshman. The three latter would be dubbed "the Serampore Trio" by biographers.25 Bagchi
states that “recent historical work has shown that they were in fact a quartet. Hannah Marshman,
Joshua’s wife, was also a leading intellectual and executive figure in the mission at Serampore
and eventually spearheaded the move to educate girls.”26 This team effort would become
23 A. Christopher Smith, “A Tale of Many Models: The Missiological Significance of the Serampore Trio,”
Missiology: An International Review 20, no. 4 (1992): 479–500, https://doi.org/10.1177/009182969202000405, 482.
24 A. Christopher Smith, “A Tale of Many Models: The Missiological Significance of the Serampore Trio,”
Missiology: An International Review 20, no. 4 (1992): 479–500, https://doi.org/10.1177/009182969202000405, 482.
25 Ibid., 481.
26 Barnita Bagchi, Eckhardt Fuchs, and Kate Rousmaniere, Connecting Histories of Education (Berghahn
Books, 2014), 85.
8
essential as the mission moved forward. Smith was quick to state the importance of Ward and
Marshman: “Carey would have achieved much less than he actually did. Ward and the
Marshmans freed him up in a unique way to engage in a specialized ministry that gained public
acclaim.”27 This ensured that through their various callings, talents, and abilities, the Serampore
Trio could effectively reach the people of India with one sole purpose: bring the love of the one
true God to a country that was drowning in polytheism. In doing this, “Carey and his cohort
unselfconsciously demonstrated over and over again that they were pragmatiste who were ready
to employ all sorts of means, and were prepared to exploit all sorts of opportunities, to advance
"the Redeemer's cause" in British India and beyond.”28
As has been mentioned, The Marshmans added to this missionary team in education.
Joshua Marshman followed his love of education, along with his belief that the gospel needed to
be proclaimed in India. He did this by administering “various educational projects to render the
new Baptist mission self-supporting.”29 Smith add, “With an iron constitution and formidable
drive, he outlived his comrades and vigorously challenged young missionary recruits to exert
themselves in evangelizing India.”30 Just as the Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to stand firm in
the doctrine and faith in which he taught (1 Timothy 1:3-11), Joshua Marshman understood the
importance of advancing the gospel by those he trained, encouraged, and prepared for the
ministry and mission. Joshua would also co-found “the Serampore College (1818), was
responsible for most of its administration, and lectured on various historical and theological
27 A. Christopher Smith, “The Legacy of William Ward and Joshua and Hannah Marshman,” International
Bulletin of Missionary Research 23, no. 3 (1999): 120–129, https://doi.org/10.1177/239693939902300306, 120.
28 A. Christopher Smith, “A Tale of Many Models: The Missiological Significance of the Serampore Trio,”
Missiology: An International Review 20, no. 4 (1992): 479–500, https://doi.org/10.1177/009182969202000405, 485.
29 A. Christopher Smith, “The Legacy of William Ward and Joshua and Hannah Marshman,” International
Bulletin of Missionary Research 23, no. 3 (1999): 120–129, https://doi.org/10.1177/239693939902300306, 124.
30 Ibid.
9
subjects.”31 Along with his heart for training and the sending out of young missionaries to preach
the gospel, he played a key role in educating them theologically for the task ahead.
Hannah, Joshua’s wife, played an important role in the Serampore mission and outlasted
the “Trio” in serving for forty-seven years.32 Upon their arrival in 1799, “she promptly set up a
fee-paying boarding school in Serampore for Anglo-Indians. This would provide vital funds for
the welfare of the Baptist missionary community by the Hooghly.”33 While women were not
recognized as “missionaries” by the BMS, she would impact India by organizing and directing
elementary schools for girls and serving as a counselor for Bengali and British women.34
The effectiveness of Hannah in the Serampore mission were not expected and certainly not the
norm. Dutta summaries Carey thoughts on the missionaries wives prior to his arrival in India.
She writes, “Carey’s instructions indicated (1)=missionary activities were clearly a career choice
only for men, (2)=wives were to assist, provide, divide the toil and hardship and (3)=the value and
utility of such companions was equivalent to cattle.”35
While Proverbs 31 was not written as a standard for foreign missionary wives, it can be
gleened that the “virtuousness” of the woman was not solely encompassed in the idea of being
“cattle.” Although the chapter praises her for caring for her children and her husband, the author
is quick to acknowledge the love and care for people outside her home: the orphans and the
needy (Proverbs 31:20). Just as her husband had a calling for India, the calling was also placed
on Hannah. Here commitment to care for her own family and the culture in which she chose to
share the gospel made Hannah an essential member of the Serampore Trio as they carried out
31 Ibid., 125.
32 Ibid., 124.
33 Ibid., 122.
34 Ibid., 124.
35 Sutapa Dutta, British Women Missionaries in Bengal, 1793-1861 (London: Anthem Press, 2017), 60.
10
their calling to India. Ann Judson, an American missionary who visited in 1812 stated, “I hope
no missionary will ever come out here, without a wife, as she, in her sphere, can be equally
useful with her husband. I presume Mrs Marshman does more good in her school than half the
ministers in America.”36 Perhaps this is the reason she is called the mother of the Serampore
mission.37
There they proved to be
wide-open to adapting for mission purposes the techniques and technologies
that other Britishers had pioneered in the secular sphere, be it in translating,
printing, Oriental studies, education, manufacturing, or fund-raising. Pre-
Victorian Bengal simply abounded in all sorts of expatriate intellectual,
scientific, and capitalist initiatives. These sparked off a plethora of practical
ideas in the missionaries' minds and eventually issued in a wide range of
mission projects and ambitious schemes, the likes and boldness of which
must have surprised many parochial and quasi-sectarian souls in the British
"home" constituency.
36 Rosemary Seton, Western Daughters in Eastern Lands: British Missionary Women in Asia (Santa
Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2013), 7.
37 A. Christopher Smith, “The Legacy of William Ward and Joshua and Hannah Marshman,” International
Bulletin of Missionary Research 23, no. 3 (1999): 120–129, https://doi.org/10.1177/239693939902300306, 124.
11
And second, as soon as possible, a missionary must be able to support themselves.38
The second principle he leaned on from the beginning came true in 1794 when he no
longer needed support from the missionary society. He informed them in a letter that “he would
no longer need their monetary assistance; thanks to the business arrangement he had made.”39 At
first glance, this idea of being self-supportive goes against what Carey wrote in the Enquiry and
his statements about means. Section five points to “the Duty of Christians in general, and what
Means ought to be used, in order to promote this Work.” He concludes this section with a call to
give and support missionaries. He writes, “We must not be contented however with praying,
without exerting ourselves in the use of means for the obtaining of those things we pray for.”40
Carey continues, “If congregations were to open subscriptions of one penny, or more per week,
according to their circumstances, and deposit it as a fund for the propagation of the gospel, much
might be raised in this way.”41 But looking deeper into his words, Carey believed that financial
means were necessary as the mission began, but felt that the mission should eventually be self-
supporting so that money could be freed up at home to start new mission endeavors.42
To William Carey’s second principle of being self-supported, there are instances in the
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid., 106.
40 William Carey and Ernest A. Payne,=An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the
Conversion of the Heathens=(Rochester, NY: Scholar’s Choice, 2015), 81.
41 Ibid., 85.
42 Timothy George,=Faithful Witness: The Life and Mission of William Carey=(United States: Christian
History Institute in association with Samford University, 1998), 106.
12
Scripture through the life of Paul where he does support himself (Acts 18:1-4). But there are also
instances where Paul receives an offering from the Philippian church (Philippians 4:10-20). It
would seem that he is not against believers back home supporting the mission, but rather, for
some, there could be a point where they could reduce the amount they receive so that the monies
could be directed towards the beginning of another missionary outreach.
Contemporary Application of Carey’s Missiological Approach
13
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14
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