William Carey

Transcription

[intro music]

Narrator 1:  He was simply a shoe cobbler. With scraps of leather, he made a map of the world and hung it on the wall. One day as he looked at the map, he burst into tears and cried...

Narrator 2:  The people living in these areas are pagans. They're lost. Hundreds of millions of them, not knowing the blessed savior.

Narrator 1:  William Carey, known as the father of modern missions, had a heart that was burdened for souls. He was considered to be the first Baptist missionary in India and served there for over 41 years. Expect great things. Attempt great things.

Carey began his journey from England to India on June 19th, 1793 at the age of 32. It took five months to reach India. And during that time he spent much of it learning the Bengali language. Carey, William Ward and Joshua Marshman started the Serampore Mission and Mission Press. They immediately began translating scripture portions. Carey wrote to a friend and said...

Narrator 2:  The work of translations is moving on and I hope that the new testament and the final books of Moses may be completed before this reaches you. It is a pleasant work and rich rewarded and I trust whenever it's published, it will soon prevail and put down the Shastras of the Hindus.

Narrator 1:  After much tedious work, the Bengali New Testament was printed, as well as various scripture portions in several other languages. Carey faced many months and years of difficulties. The government of India warned Carey against preaching and handing out literature too often. They were afraid he would become a political danger if he became overzealous.

Late one evening, the mission printing office caught fire...

[blaze noise]

And destroyed everything. The building proofed papers and worst of all, the Bible translations were gone in minutes. Despite all, when many of us would have given up, Carey pressed on and continued to stay faithful in the work of the Lord.

Narrator 2 (as William Carey):  I comply. I can persevere and give you definite pursuit to this I know everything.

Narrator 1:  After seven long years, Carey saw his first convert, Chris Nepal. On December 28, 1800, Chris Nepal along with Carey's son Felix, were baptized. Chris became a devoted helper to Carey and his work. During Carey's 41 years of ministry and managing of the mission press, the entire Bible was translated into six languages, the New Testament into 24 languages, and the Four Gospels into 34 languages.

In addition to scripture, Carey also translated and printed grammar books, dictionaries and elementary books in many languages, including Sand Script, Hindi, Punjabi, Talinga and many more. Because of Carey work at the mission and the press, the Bible was made available to over 300 million people.

At the break of dawn, June 9, 1834, Carey finally saw the Lord whom he had served so faithfully, face to face. Carey's life and mission work influenced other great pioneer missionaries such as, Hudson Taylor, Adoniram Judson and David Livingston and others. Carey once said...

Narrator 2 (as William Carey):  There is nothing remarkable in what I have done. It is only required patience and perseverance.

[outro music]