The Holy Spirit in Missions

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN MISSIONS AND EVANGELISM



In times past God spoke with an audible voice through the prophets (Hebrews 1). In these last days, God has spoken to us by His own Son. This Son once walked the earth, God’s presence among men.

What could get better than that?

The Spirit! Now, believers possess the Spirit; and are also owned by that same Spirit. We are our Father’s prized possessions, kept and preserved by God Himself who gives us the Spirit as our seal – our arrabon – an earnest or pledge, an engagement ring for a wedding that can never be cancelled and for a marriage feast that will last forever (Ephesians 1:14; Revelation 19:7-10)!

We should not, therefore, long for some “good old days” when we could see Jesus with physical eyes and hear God’s voice with physical ears. Sight and hearing occur across distance. The Spirit, however, is too close for that. He indwells us (I Corinthians 3:16)!

Jesus Himself said that it was needful that He should go away so that the Spirit could come (John 14). The purposes of God did not take a step backward when the Spirit replaced Jesus’ ministry on earth. Jesus spoke of this as an advance. Jesus spoke of this as even a greater benefit than His very presence among men during His earthly ministry.

The Holy Spirit is the presence of God. The Spirit bears witness to Christ. The Spirit makes the work of Christ effectual. He applies it to us. The Spirit makes the Lord “our Lord.” He makes the historical Christ a living personal presence. The Holy Spirit makes the Gospel the Gospel for us.

We have no mere religion of facts or rituals. Our faith is not so much religion at all but relationship. And this relationship is so deep that is does not merely involve closeness; it involves actual indwelling! Not only is the Holy Spirit the presence of God among men; He is God’s presence living in men who believe! Whereas in times past, the Spirit fell “upon” men (Ezekiel 11:5; Judges 6:34; I Samuel 10:10) now the Spirit is “in” all who believe (Romans 8:1-11; Hebrews 10:16; John 14:17).



The basics we all agree on

Before we speak about the Holy Spirit’s role in missions, let’s cover the basics again:

We believe that the Holy Spirit is God of very God, and a personal one at that. He is not some impersonal force (Acts 5:3-4, 1 Cor. 3:16). He is omnipotent (Micah 3:8; Acts 1:8, Rom. 15:13,19), omniscient (Isaiah 40:13-14; 1 Cor. 2:10-11), and omnipresent (Psalm 139:7). He is not the privilege of some higher class of Christians, but inhabits all believers (Rom.8:9-16, Gal. 4:6, I Jn 3:24, I Jn 4:13).


In this article, I want to concisely speak of the Holy Spirit’s role in the great advance of the Gospel throughout the whole earth, the Holy Spirit’s role in missions and evangelism.


We need the Holy Spirit to bring us to salvation and then to lead us continually. We often forget, however, the role of the Spirit in missions, in bringing salvation to the ends of the earth. That, too, is His job. It is not as if Jesus died to bring some in and the Spirit is merely the mother that nurses her own.

The Holy Spirit, on the contrary is God’s great missionary. He is that “Lord of the harvest” in Matthew 9 that sends forth the labourers into the fields. He commissions, sets apart, equips and sends. Furthermore, once He sends people to do the work, He accompanies that work to make it effectual and is already there working in the hearts of the recipients once the Gospel is preached.

At all stages, beginning, progress, and end – missions belongs to the Holy Spirit. He saves. He calls. He sets apart. He sends. He directs. He is everywhere in the process and on both sides of the witness. He places words in the mouths of his sent out ones and He is already in the ears of the hearer, opening them to the truth. He commands us to go and yet He goes with us. If in our witness, we are dragged before heathen courts, the Spirit will even place the words in our mouths (Matthew 10:20). And when we arrive at our place of witness, the Spirit who has sent us has not only gone alongside of us (such as a paraclete would) but has also preceded us and is there waiting on us to announce those precious Words of Life.


A Concise biography the of Holy Spirit

From eternity past the Spirit fellowshipped in perfect harmony with the Father and the Son. At creation it was the Spirit that brooded over the face of the deep (Genesis 1:2) and gives life to all that live (Psalm 104:30). If the Spirit withdrew in all senses of the word, all life would cease (Job 34:14-15). Despite the Fall, sin and the Flood, the Spirit did not withdraw totally. The Spirit, instead, equipped those in the Old Testament for service (Numbers 27:18, Judges 3:10; I Samuel 16:13) and caused His prophets to speak of the Savior to come (II Peter 1:21).

It was the Holy Spirit that fell upon Jesus at His baptism, commissioning Him for service (Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22). The Spirit compelled Jesus into the wilderness for His divine conflict with Satan (Luke 4), and afterward Jesus emerged victorious in the power of the Spirit. The Spirit also empowered Jesus to perform miracles. In fact, the Spirit came and remained on Jesus “without measure” (John 3:34-25; John 1:32) throughout His earthly ministry.

As Jesus prepared to complete His task and go away, He promised the Spirit to his disciples. True to that promise, the Spirit came in power to those in Jerusalem with a view not to stop there but to go to the whole world. The Holy Spirit led the steps of these first ministers and directed their outreach. The Spirit authenticated His Word with signs and wonders (Mark 16:20; Acts 2:22; Acts 8:6).

The Holy Spirit even settled disputes; when conflict arose over whether one needed to adopt Jewish cultural forms in order to become Christians, the verdict that was handed down was one which “pleased the Holy Spirit” (Acts 15:28). As Paul and his apostolic ministry team aimed to minister in new unreached areas, the Spirit even diverted their travel trajectory west into Europe rather than east into Asia (Acts 16:6).

We read much of this work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament book called the Acts of the Apostles. This account of the “Acts of the Apostles” however, might more accurately be thought of as “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.” Peter and Paul, after all, are not the main characters at all! The Spirit is the hero. He moves, energizes, equips and enlarges the New Testament church and deserves all the credit.

From the very first verses of Scripture (Genesis 1:2) to the very last (Revelation 22:17), the Spirit is present and working. Below are some specific ways He works, with a focus on the spread of the Gospel to the whole world.



The Spirit is our missions mobilizer

The descent of the Holy Spirit was the causative factor in the first great movement towards the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8: " But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Thus, like the pistol shot signaling the beginning of a marathon, the descent of the Spirit precipitated a rush towards the ends of the earth, a race that has been ongoing now for two millennia. Not only did a mighty rush of wind signal the Spirit’s descent but a mighty rush of souls into the kingdom followed. The Spirit was poured out in order to gather in some from every corner of the earth.

In Acts 8:29, the Spirit initiates another new outreach – to an Ethiopian eunuch. The Spirit tells Philip, “Go!”...and Philip runs to the chariot. Oh, what obedience to the call! After Philip’s divine appointment is completed, (v. 39) Philip is then “caught away” by the Spirit for further witness.



The Spirit labors to make men labor

Active and energetic human effort is always involved in great movements of the Spirit. Look again at the example of Philip above. He trekked to the desert and then ran after a chariot in order to witness to someone.

We cannot sit idly by and hope for the Spirit’s work. When was the last time we chased any chariots! However, we also cannot merely stir up a lot of activity without prayer or due regard for Scripture and call this revival. We are not to be idle in the means, nor are we to make an idol out of the means.

God moves, and then we move. This could be called “cooperation,” but such terminology contains baggage. I prefer to call it “us working because God works in us” (Philippians 2) or “walking in the good works that God has already ordained for us” (Ephesians 2). God works so that we will work. The Spirit labors in us to make us labor in the Spirit. Let us therefore engage in some holy sweat!

Notice the interplay in Acts 13 between those called by God, the larger corporate body and the Holy Spirit:

Acts 13:1-4: As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.

From Acts 13, and also from Acts 15:22-28 we see that when the Spirit moves, His church moves. The Spirit approved. God’s sent ones approved, and the whole church approved such that this new effort “seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit” (Acts 15:28).


The Spirit equips and empowers

The Spirit fell on select individuals in the Old Testament for special service (Numbers 27:18, Judges 3:10; I Samuel 16:13). The anointing with oil was symbolic of this. In this New Testament “fullness of time” how much more this is true. The Holy Spirit gifts the whole church with power and anoints each one of us with individual giftings (Romans 12; I Corinthians 12-14; Ephesians 4; I Peter 4:10). The Spirit empowers each and every believer to grow in the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The church, indeed, is “charismatic” in that it possesses the charismata, the giftings of the Spirit. These gifts of the Spirit need not be loud and visible, but they are real nonetheless. Believers, full of the Spirit, have bellies full of not just springs but “rivers” of living water (John 7).

Some Christians are called to special tasks. Often when these are called, they are usually overwhelmed with self-doubt and fears of inadequacy. There is much comfort in the fact that the Spirit is the one who calls; and those whom He calls He will surely equip and empower.



The Spirit gives the message of missions

The Spirit not only calls and equips people to witness, the Spirit is the one who gives the message to preach. The Spirit thus gives not only the motivation but the meat of missions. The message of missions is given by the Spirit, who moved in holy men of old to pen the Scriptures (II Peter 1:21).



The Spirit directs missions

Again, already mentioned above are clear examples of how the Holy Spirit guides missions and even directs new initiatives. How does the Spirit guide? The Spirit leads us to do His will by the Scripture, by legitimate desires (“if a man desires the office of a bishop...” I Timothy 3:1), and by the corporate decision of his church (Acts 15:28, “it seemed good to us and the Holy Spirit”). During the era of the writing of the New Testament the Spirit also directed by vision and prophecy.


The Spirit gives the fruit of missions

Finally, the Spirit is the one who blesses and determines the yield of our labor. Some plant and some water, but it is the Lord that gives the increase (I Corinthians 3:6). If it is Spirit that applies the work of Christ for salvation... then it is the Spirit that applies the work of Christ for salvation (John 3:5). Full stop. The Holy Spirit is not merely an aid and an advantage to mission; but an absolute necessity. The Spirit is not one ingredient among many, but the main ingredient that has no substitutes.

The Holy Spirit is the one who births new souls into life by regeneration (Titus 3:5) and thus we are “born of the Spirit” when we are saved (John 3). Thus it is “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). How much we need the Spirit’s leading every day!




Conclusion


This article is nowhere near exhaustive. Reader, please search the Scriptures yourself. Use this article not as an authority but as a jumping off point to research the richness of the Biblical record concerning our “Lord of the Harvest”- the Holy Spirit.

Revelation chapter 22 is at the very end of the Scriptures and these last verses of this last chapter are appropriate to become my last words on this subject of the Holy Spirit’s role in missions and outreach.

In Revelation 22:17 we read: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

The Holy Spirit and the bride of Christ, the church itself, invites sinners to drink of the water of life. Being the Spirit-filled body of Christ that we are, let us now be true to this Scripture and invite the lost around us to drink deeply.

Paul Washer - Some Missions Conferences make me sick!

Missions Sending: America is Dying -- Piper

John Piper on Unreached People-Groups

Paul Washer Video

I'm Not worthy to serve as a missionary!

Of course you are not!

AND...


You are even more unworthy than you think.


SERVE ANYWAY!


Remember that: Whereas the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin for our good, The Accuser prods us with our sins to defeat us, make us hopeless and to deflate our boldness in serving God.


Has Satan deflated your boldness and crushed your spiritual ambitions?


Don't let him. Pray, prepare and serve.

A Particular Baptist Missionary Learns from William Carey

A PARTICULAR BAPTIST MISSIONARY LEARNS FROM WILLIAM CAREY

The Lord in His sovereign grace has saved me for service in His kingdom. For this I praise Him. I also praise God for the godly influence of others in my life. I would love to be able to mention all who have blessed me and taught me in the Word. Here, however, I want to more narrowly focus my thanksgiving on the impact of one man – the missionary William Carey.

William Carey, called the “Father of Modern Missions” was a Christian who believed both in the absolute sovereignty of God, and also baptistic principles. Carey was a Particular Baptist. As a believer in that same grand tradition, Carey has influenced me greatly.

Below, I desire to concisely list some of the lessons William Carey has taught me concerning missions.




William Carey taught me the importance of hard work and perseverance despite hardship:

“I can plod. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.”

William Carey was “God’s Plodder.” Raised in poverty, lacking any of the advantages that wealth and social status often bring, Carey persevered despite hardship. Carey knew that he was invested in eternal business, and this drove him on through crushing failures, agonizing hindrances, lack of support, opposition at home and local situations fraught with disease and discomfort.




William Carey taught me the centrality and the comfort of knowing the sovereignty of God:


Despite the charge that Calvinism leads to the death of missions, Carey was a five-point Calvinist, and his Serampore Compact of 1805 reflects this, as does this letter of advice to a young missionary:

Remember three things. First, that it is your duty to preach the Gospel to every creature; second, remember that God has declared that His word shall accomplish that for which it was sent; third, that He can easily remove the present seemingly formidable obstacles as we can move the smallest particles of dust.




Carey taught me that God’s sovereignty motivates us to action:

Carey grieves for this fallen world. Carey writes that even the “Christian lands” present, “a dreadful scene of ignorance, hypocrisy, and profligacy,” and that, “every method that the enemy can invent is employed to undermine the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And yet, this dire state of affairs is not an excuse for hunkering down on the defensive. Rather, Carey, in the face of adversity, urges even more vigorous Gospel endeavors. In “Section Three” of his famous tome (with the very long title), An Enquiry into the Obligations of. Christians to use means for the Conversion of the Heathens, Carey calls us to vigorous action despite hardship and obstacles: “All these things are loud calls to Christians, and especially to ministers, to exert themselves to the utmost.”

Carey’s writing throbs with urgency. One can feel the beat of his great heart. Examine, for instance, the Serampore Compact of 1805, which fixed the principles of action for Carey’s small missionary band:

We are firmly persuaded that Paul might plant and Apollos water, in vain, in any part of the world, did not God give the increase. We are sure that only those ordained to eternal life will believe, and that God alone can add to the church such as shall be saved. Nevertheless we cannot but observe with admiration that Paul, the great champion for the glorious doctrine of free and sovereign grace, was the most conspicuous for his personal zeal in the word of persuading men to be reconciled to God. In this respect he is a noble example for our imitation. Our Lord intimated to those of His apostles who were fishermen, that he would make them fishers of men, intimating that in all weathers, and amidst every disappointment they were to aim at drawing men to the shores of eternal life. Solomon says: "He that winneth souls is wise," implying, no doubt, that the work of gaining over men to the side of God, was to be done by winning methods, and that it required the greatest wisdom to do it with success.

Carey, above, is passionately pouring out his soul. Even while trusting in a Sovereign God who foreordains whatsoever comes to pass, Carey begs for action! And these two things are not in the least bit contradictory.

Here is a great reminder for us - the evangelization of the world is not a cause for detached stoicism. A trust in God’s sovereignty is no excuse for detached coldness of heart concerning the state of those who do not know Christ. The Apostle Paul wept for his kinsman. The Lord Jesus wept for Jerusalem. Are we too sophisticated and refined to be driven to tears by the desperate peril of the unsaved? If we truly ponder the state of the world and the condition of poor souls, and if these concerns were ever-present and heavy on our minds such that we would give up our former lives and go to them, not only out of compassion for the lost but out of love for the Saviour, is this then a mark of fanaticism, or rather a mark of very sane and logical priorities? William Carey has taught me the sober sanity of that strange compulsion called the missionary call.



William Carey taught me that I should have a vigorous theology regarding the use of means:

In Carey’s “Introduction” to his Enquiry, he urged his readers to “use every lawful method to spread the knowledge of his Name.” Carey was not a pragmatist, but he was a practical innovator within the limits of Scripture. Carey was not merely academic but activistic. He did not merely theorize and defend missions with his pen, he initiated new efforts. He urged “fervent and united prayer” and encouraged the continuation of the Concert of Prayer. He tabulated all the known people-groups of the world and their state of existence in “Section Three” of his Enquiry, so that he could both pray for them, and so that others might become aware of these teeming masses of unevangelized humanity and efforts could be made to reach them. This extraordinary effort in “people-group mapping” predated modern missiological efforts like the Joshua Project and Operation World by 200 years. He wrote extensively in an effort to promote missions and also advocated “penny subscriptions” to fund the work of mission societies.




Carey taught me not to fear missionary societies:

In “Section Five” of his Enquiry, Carey proposes the following:

Suppose a company of serious Christians, ministers and private persons, were to form themselves into a society, and make a number of rules respecting the regulation of the plan, and the persons who are to be employed as missionaries, the means of defraying the expense, &c.&c. This society must consist of persons whose hearts are in the work, men of serious religion, and possessing a spirit of perseverance; there must be a determination not to admit any person who is not of this description, or to retain him longer than he answers to it.
From such a society a committee might be appointed, whose business it should be to procure all the information they could upon the subject, to receive contributions, to enquire into the characters, tempers, abilities and religious views of the missionaries, and also to provide them with necessaries for their undertakings.

And then he concludes;

I would therefore propose that such a society and committee should be formed amongst the particular baptist denomination.


In 1792, The Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen was formed, and within the lifetime of Carey, dozens of missionary societies sprang into being, giving legs to local churches. An explosion of missionary sending resulted.

This formation of missionary societies should not be viewed as a totally new and unbiblical innovation. In the book of Acts we see the highly fluid advancement of the Gospel and the itinerant nature of many of the missionary bands, to include the Apostle Paul and his “fellow-workers.” We see churches forming, and yet we see these apostolic bands being sent out from the churches to plant new churches, voluntary associations of sent-out Christians laboring together in the specialized task of planting new churches and taking the Gospel to The Nations. Throughout the centuries, as the life and doctrine of the Church morphed into the corrupt Leviathan of Catholic Medieval Christianity, the content of the Gospel was corrupted, and yet something of the apostolic function of these early missionary bands was preserved in the Catholic missionary orders, and these orders acted as sending structures which spread Catholicism as far as India, China and Japan, long before William Carey was even born.


I want to ask you a question: Why is William Carey hailed as the “Father of Modern Missions?”


He was not even the first to go out. The Moravians went out many decades before Carey. Carey was not even the first missionary to India. And the Catholics, with the Holy Orders as their “legs” of proselytization, had already preceded the Protestants to India and China by hundreds of years and even used the lack of Protestant missionary sending as a proof of the spiritual bankruptcy of the Reformation. So what makes Carey distinctive?

William Carey is the “Father of Modern Missions” because he helped to promote the use of “means” in reaching the heathen. He helped put feet to the Gospel and helped revive a sending structure for missions. Carey did combat the Hyper-Calvinism of his day, that is true, but Carey went further than merely promoting a motivation for missions; Carey also advanced a methodology of missions, specialized bands of sent-out-ones, mirroring the example of the missionary bands found in the book of Acts in their outward expansion towards the Uttermost Parts of the World. Carey is the “Father of Modern Missions” because he restored the outward impulse of Christianity by advancing the idea that voluntary associations of missionaries could be sent out from local churches and then, once on the field, could work together for the advance of the Gospel in small and specialized teams.

If trading companies could organize to travel to far flung shores, Carey reasoned, surely our charter is much greater.




Carey exulted in Gospel success – no matter by whose hand the Lord wrought it:

The mark of Christian maturity is seen in one’s degree of love and charity towards others, especially to fellow Christians. William Carey was a Particular Baptist, and yet his close identification with this branch of Christianity in no way marred his happiness over the Gospel success of other Christians. From “Section Five” of the Enquiry, we see Carey’s generous spirit:

I wish with all my heart, that everyone who loves our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, would in some way or other engage in it [his proposed missions endeavors]…There is room enough for us all, without interfering with each other; and if no unfriendly interference took place, each denomination would bear good will to the other, and wish, and pray for its success, considering it as upon the whole friendly to the great cause of true religion...”

Carey was a well-wisher to all Christians who were engaged in world missions.




Carey taught me that needs at home should never become an excuse for the neglect of needs overseas:


In Section One of his Enquiry, Carey deals with this very common hindrance to missions:

It has been objected that there are multitudes in our own nation, and within our immediate spheres of action, who are as ignorant as the South-Sea savages, and that therefore we have work enough at home, without going into other countries.

Carey answers deftly:

That there are thousands in our own land as far from God as possible, I readily grant, and that this ought to excite us to ten-fold diligence in our work, And in attempts to spread divine knowledge amongst them is a certain fact; but that it ought to supersede all attempts to spread the gospel in foreign parts seems to want proof. Our own countrymen have the means of grace, and may attend on the word preached if they choose it. They have the means of knowing the truth, and faithful ministers are placed in almost every part of the land, whose spheres of action might be much extended if their congregations were but more hearty and active in the cause: but with them the case is widely different, who have no Bible, no written language, (which many of them have not,) no ministers, no good civil government, nor any of those advantages which we have. Pity therefore, humanity, and much more Christianity, call loudly for every possible exertion to introduce the gospel amongst them.

Oh, how I wish with William Carey that we could gain a “ten-fold diligence” both at home and abroad!




Carey taught me that we are never to separate Good Words from Good Works:

For Carey there was no dichotomy between preaching and humanitarian labors. Fear of the Social Gospel has led many Christians to falsely dichotomize preaching the Gospel versus doing good works. Yet the example of Christ was that he went to all the villages, teaching and healing the people (Matthew 9). This pattern of Christ was also reflected in the life of William Carey, who was a missionary, linguist, humanitarian, moral reformer, and educator. He not only preached and translated the Scriptures, but also helped to outlaw infanticide in 1802 and then end the horrible practice of Sati, widow burning, after 25 long years of struggle in 1829. Even before he reached the mission field, Carey also strongly supported the efforts of Wilberforce to end the evil slave trade, and once in India he helped establish schools for females. True religion entails proclaiming the Gospel, but also entails caring for the widow and orphan, opening your mouth for the helpless, and practicing justice and mercy.

Carey had a large heart and sought not only the best for all persons, and also desired the best for all aspects of that person, both body and soul.



Carey taught me to evaluate culture in light of Scripture, and to be free from race prejudice:

Carey was compelled to reach distant shores because of the overwhelmingly good news of the free grace of God, the only thing on earth which makes men to differ. Some of his countrymen, motivated by colonial gain, had a dim view regarding the innate intelligence and morality of indigenous peoples. Because they were more cunning in their pursuit of filthy lucre and trade, they often assessed the Indians as their inferiors. Carey, due to Scripture, could escape the trap of merely judging one culture by the standards of another fallible culture, and could shine the light of Scripture on all cultures.

Again, from his Enquiry:


Barbarous as these poor heathens are, they appear to be as capable of knowledge as we are; and in many places, at least, have discovered uncommon genius and tractableness; and I greatly question whether most of the barbarities practised by them, have not originated in some real or supposed affront, and are therefore, more properly, acts of self-defence, than proofs of inhuman and blood-thirsty dispositions.

Carey sympathized with local populations and even bemoaned the evils caused to them by his own Countrymen:

It is also a melancholy fact, that the vices of Europeans have been communicated wherever they themselves have been; so that the religious state of even heathens has been rendered worse by intercourse with them!

Carey was clearly not an agent of cultural oppression, nor a purveyor of mere Victorian values. He sought to elevate the dignity of all people, and he bemoaned the sins of all, especially the sins of those who would hinder the salvation of Indian souls by living a life in contradiction to their profession:
Nay, in general the heathen have showed a willingness to hear the word; and have principally expressed their hatred of Christianity on account of the vices of nominal Christians.

As we engage foreign cultures with the Gospel, we must be ever mindful of Carey’s words. Foreign sins can seem much more hideous than our own due to their “foreign-ness,” while our all-too-familiar local sins, which we hug to our bosoms, have become tame in appearance by comparison. We must remember that we are to be emissaries of a heavenly kingdom.



Carey taught me to be intellectually curious about even non-theological matters:

Carey was a never-tiring hunter of information about the world in which he lived. He was not afraid of science or the cultures around him. As a boy, and even now, I am captivated by reports on indigenous cultures and exotic landscapes; I love National Geographic. William Carey’s heart, likewise, thrilled at the accounts of Captain Cook’s voyage, just as my own heart thrilled as I read of remote Indonesian villages. Carey immersed himself in botany, languages, and in local Indian culture. He was a demographer, producing one of the first tables of statistics regarding world population, contained in “Section Three” of His Enquiry. He established lending libraries in India, wrote articles on forestry, introduced modern printing to India. His interests were wide-ranging. When Carey’s son Jabez visited the East Indies, Carey begged him by letter, “Send me…live birds…small quadrupeds, monkeys, etc. Beetles, lizards, frogs, serpents…" Here is a man to whom I can relate!

God has given us two books; the book of Nature and the Book of Scripture, and we should delight in both, never being too heavenly to consider the heavens, nor thinking it too earthy to delight in the creatures that God has created here below; the excellencies of God being manifest in that He would create such a world as ours, and that it is so wonderful even in its fallen state. How glorious will the renewal of all thing be when the Creation can finally cease from its groaning (Romans 8:22)!




William Carey taught me to be spiritually ambitious:

“Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”

Carey was ambitious for the Lord. Though some ridiculed him as an “enthusiast,” Carey would not be outdone by the zeal of the Papists, the greedy energies of the traders, or even the good example of the Moravians. His enthusiasm was godly, and can be seen even in the first section of his Enquiry.

Natural impossibility can never be pleaded so long as facts exist to prove the contrary. Have not the popish missionaries surmounted all those difficulties which we have generally thought to be insuperable? Have not the missionaries of the Unitas Fratrum, or Moravian Brethren, encountered the scorching heat of Abyssinia, and the frozen climes of Greenland, and Labrador, their difficult languages, and savage manners? Or have not English traders, for the sake of gain, surmounted all those things which have generally been counted insurmountable obstacles in the way of preaching the gospel? Witness the trade to Persia, the East-Indies, China, and Greenland, yea even the accursed Slave-Trade on the coasts of Africa. Men can insinuate themselves into the favour of the most barbarous clans, and uncultivated tribes, for the sake of gain; and how different soever the circumstances of trading and preaching are, yet this will prove the possibility of ministers being introduced there; and if this is but thought a sufficient reason to make the experiment, my point is gained.

Carey pointed to these exploits above and asked, “Why not us!” If traders can do all of this for greedy gain, and the Papists for a lie, why can’t our group of Particular Baptist Churches do the same?




As a Sovereign Grace Baptist believer in the theological tradition of Carey, I ask the same question, “Why not us! Why can’t we send even more than these?”




William Carey taught me that optimism is the correct attitude towards our missionary task:


“The future is as bright as the promises of God”

The Harvest is plenteous! When people ask whether I am amillenial, postmillennial or premillenial, I usually respond that my eschatological position is one of “optimism.” I heartily endorse Carey’s hopefulness when he writes, in “Section One” of the Enquiry, “God has promised the most glorious things to the heathen world by sending his gospel to them.”



Hear Carey’s enthusiasm one more time as we close:



“Though the superstitions of the heathen were a thousand times stronger than they are, and the example of the Europeans a thousand times worse; though I were deserted by all and persecuted by all, yet my faith, fixed on that sure Word, would rise above all obstructions and overcome every trial. God’s cause will triumph!”