Writing and World Missions
What does writing have to do with world missions? You could say the modern missionary movement started with a little book that bore a very long name. The young man who wrote that little book was William Carey.More than two hundred years ago, William Carey was reading books about Captain Cook’s voyages around the world. As he read these books he became stirred by the spiritual condition of the peoples Cook had visited. Later at a ministers’ meeting in Nottingham, England, young Carey asked why Christians weren’t spreading the gospel among heathen nations. The leader of the ministers’ meeting interrupted him, saying, "Young man, sit down. When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine."
Fortunately, William Carey didn’t listen to that church leader. Instead, he and some friends started the English Baptist Missionary Society. Before sailing for India in 1793, Carey wrote a little book with a very long title:
An Inquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen In Which the Religious State of the Different Nations of the World, the Success of Former Undertakings, and the Practicability of Further Undertakings are Considered.
It was only 80 some pages... some might say the title was longer than the book! It was a controversial book because it said all believers were responsible to reach the world with the gospel.
Meanwhile in America, it was a time of revival and spiritual awakening... especially among college students. Five young people at Williams College in Massachusetts were part of this spiritual awakening. They met on a hot Saturday afternoon in August in 1806, in an open field, to pray and discuss William Carey’s little book with the very long title. They were so intent on their discussion they failed to notice a powerful thunderstorm approaching.
They ran for cover but were unable to make it to the barn. Instead, they huddled under a haystack as a ferocious storm bore down on them. They maintained their discussion and started to pray over the wail of the storm. Something galvanized in all five. Samuel Loomis cried, “We can do this if we will!”
This led to the establishing of the first American mission board. “The Haystack Movement” became known all over New England, especially among college students. It led eventually to the largest missionary force in history which moved out during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But it all started with a little book with a long title, written by a man who was by then far away in India.