People who Changed the World
Going into all the world and making disciples of all nations does not mean that a missionary gives a salvation prayer to a people and leaves them to their selves. Jesus said go, baptize, and teach. Leaving people at salvation or baptism is insufficient for the new creation to be filled with knowledge and love. When a person emerges from darkness into the kingdom of light, many changes will occur, and they need leadership to help them in their new life.
What does it look like when a minister advances the kingdom of God and disciples a people group or nation? William Carey is an amazing example of what can be accomplished by a person dedicated to discipleship.
William Carey pioneered the modern Christian missionary movement, which has since reached every corner of the world. Although a man of simple origins, he used his God-given genius and every available means to serve his Creator and illuminate the dark corners of India with the light of the truth.[1]
Here is a list of what he accomplished for India as a man with a mission to evangelize and disciple a nation. I believe the list below is exactly what it means to disciple nations.
· Carey published the bible in 40 different Indian languages
· Carey was a translator and educator- He was the first man to translate and publish great Indian classics such as the Ramayana and philosophical treaties such as Samkhya into English. He wrote gospel ballads in Bengali to bring the Hindu love of musical recitations to the service of his Lord. He also wrote the first Sanskrit dictionary for scholars.
· Carey began dozens of schools for Indian children of all castes and launched the first college in Asia at Serampore, near Calcutta.
· Cary was the first Englishman to introduce the steam engine to India and the first to make Indigenous paper for the publishing industry
· Carey brought the English daisy to India and introduced the Linnaean system to gardening. Why Is the Linnaean System Important? The Linnaean system is crucial because it led to using binomial nomenclature to identify each species. Once the system was adopted, scientists could communicate without using misleading common names. A human being became a member of Homo sapiens, no matter what language a person spoke. [2]
· Carey published the first books on science and natural history in India, such as Flora Indica, because he believed the biblical view that nature is declared ‘good’ by God.
· Carey founded the Agri-Horticultural Society in the 1820s, thirty years before the Royal Agricultural Society was established in England. Carey did a systematic survey of agriculture in India and wrote about agricultural reform in the journal Asiatic Researches.
· Carey was the first man who led the campaign for humane treatment for leprosy patients. Until his time, they were sometimes buried or burned alive in India because of the belief that a violent end purified the body and ensured transmigration into a healthy new existence. Carey believed that Jesus’ love touched leprosy patients, so they should be cared for.
· Carey was the father of print technology in India. He brought the modern science of printing and publishing to India and taught and developed it. He built what was then the largest press in India. Most printers had to buy their fonts from his Mission Press at Serampore.
· Carey introduced the study of astronomy into the Subcontinent.
· Carey was the first man in India to write essays on forestry almost 50 years before the government made its first attempt at forest conservations in Malabar.
· Carey advocating for women’s rights. He was the first man to stand against both the ruthless murders and the widespread oppression of women, virtually synonymous with Hinduism in the 18th and 19th centuries. The males in India were crushing the females through polygamy, female infanticide, child marriage, widow-burning, euthanasia, and forced female illiteracy, all sanctioned by religion. Carey opened schools for girls. When widows converted to Christianity, he arranged marriages for them rather than allowing them to be burned alive. It was Carey’s persistent 25-year battle against sati that finally led to Lord Bentinck’s famous Edict in 1829 banning the most abominable of all religious practices in the world: widow burning.[3]
This information is from The Legacy of Willaim Carey: A Model for Transforming a Culture, 1993
Good News Publishers
Wheaton IL.
[1] https://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/william-carey
[2] https://www.thoughtco.com/linnaean-classification-system-4126641
[3] Quoted in Perspectives Fourth Editon Pages 568-571
William Carey Library
Pasadena California