MISSIOLOGY
LECTURE 42
THE FIRST YEAR ON THE FIELD
William Carey’s first year in Calcutta
While waiting for a new ship from Denmark that would take them to India, Mrs. Carey gave birth to their 6th child, Jabez. William had just enough time to return home to see the baby before the new ship set sail. During that short visit, he and Dr. Thomas were able to convince Dolly to join them on the voyage to India. Dolly’s sister Kitty also joined the team.
They finally set sail in June of 1793.
On board William learned as much of the Bengali language as he could from Dr. Thomas. They even started their translation of the book of Genesis during the voyage.
However, the trip did not go well for Dolly and added to her hesitation to travel to India. One of their fellow passengers got sick and died on the trip. They also encountered a storm in late August that cause 50′ sea swells and shredded all of their sails while destroying some of their masts.
They arrived in the Bay of Bengal in October, but still had to sail 200 miles to the north in unfavorable winds. It took them another month to cover this distance. They finally anchored in India on November 9, 1793.
When the missionaries arrived in a small village along the river where they had to wait for the tide, they began preaching to a crowd which gathered around them. Dr. Thomas preached for 3 hours. The villagers genuinely seemed to understand and asked intelligent questions based on what they heard, but none accepted the Lord. However they urged the missionaries to return in the future. They were able to preach in four villages before they reached Calcutta.
When they finally arrived in Calcutta they were reunited with Mrs. Thomas who had traveled back to India before them. They also were introduced to a man who formed an integral part of the missionary team, Ram Boshu. Ram became William’s language teacher and, eventually, an evangelist for the missionary effort.
William and Ram set straight to work in his language training. Within a week William had learned enough Bengali to preach to the crowds of up to 300 people who gathered in the nearby villages to hear him.
They were struggling financially and had to move to Calcutta after spending a couple of months in a smaller village. One of Carey’s philosophies for missionary service was that the missionary would work on the field to earn the money he needed to live. But since they had not been given permission by the East India Company to even be in India, they were not able to get a job that paid well enough to sustain them.
William Carey and Family were starving. He had already struck out with the local bankers. Finally, Dr. Thomas appeared at the Carey home with 150 rupees he had borrowed in his own name to get the family moved to the new property. When they arrived at the new property there was a neighboring house. In an effort to properly introduce themselves they found a very kind and generous Charles Short, an Englishman who welcomed them to live and eat with him until they could get a place established.
Mr. Short informed them that many of the locals had moved away because of a tiger infestation in the area. While William worked to build his home and compound, many of the locals returned because William was able to protect them with his rifle. This opened up new opportunity for the people to trust William and listen to his teaching.
When William was on a trip during this time, he saw first-hand a religious practice that sickened him. A man was suspended from a rope with 2 large metal hooks jammed into his back. This was in worship to a Hindu god. William’s burden for educating the people with the Bible increased. The Indian people had many sacred books that they read and followed. William knew that the translation of the Bible must be completed so that they could read about his God.
Before he could get his home built, William had been offered a job as an overseer at an indigo dye factory. He was given a house and a salary 5 times greater than what he had previously ever earned. There would be 90 workers with whom he could share the Gospel. The job was basically a 3 month a year project. The rest of the time he would be free to work on his translations and missionary work.
Towards the end of the first dye making season their 5 year old son Peter got dysentery and died within a few hours. Dolly never recovered from the sadness and depression.
William was starting to feel the strain and loneliness of being in India 14 months and never once hearing from the missionary society. Because of the French pirates neither the societies letters to him, nor his letters to them were arriving at their destination.
Initial arrival:
1. Have a fellow Missionary pick you up at the airport, if possible. They can help calm initial tensions and
answer the myriads of questions and confusions that will flood the first day. It would be ideal to stay with
them for a week or so, to help cushion the transition.
2. Transportation needs to be obtained: rental, borrow, buy, walk or use public transportation.
3. Lodging: friend, motel, rental, buy, or rough it.
4. Job: a source of money (other than other churches’) needs to be obtained, if possible.
5. There will need to be a fair amount of money saved up for this initial arrival: the vehicle and lodging are
possibly going to cost a fair amount of money. Just prior to arrival, a great amount of
money was spent for shipping the ‘container’ and for airline tickets and entrance visas.
Hopefully there is money left over for the Missionary (and family) to survive. It could
easily cost $1000 per month for living expenses. It would be wise to have a whole year’s
living expenses set aside in savings (i.e. $12,000 or more). Don’t get too comfortable
relying on support monies; they often only come in at about 70-80% and every year a few
may ‘drop you’.
It might be prudent to follow Jesus Christ’s instructions to His Missionaries:
Matt 10:9-14 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. And when ye come into an house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
It’s important to find ‘home’…a house to live in. While some men have arrived in a rental truck and started the church the next Sunday, it is usually best to settle your family first. If they are happy, then they willsupport you in planting the church. The author laughs when he remembers a man who arrived in arental truck and left his wife in the cab at the curb while he went door to door inviting people to hischurch. While we may admire his zeal, we surely think less of his common sense. By the way, hischurch failed.
Visit door to door. When Jerry Falwell began ThomasRoadBaptistChurch, he first went door to door in a six block area surrounding the church. As that area was canvassed, then heexpanded his efforts until eventually he had visited the entire town several times. Today he advisesyoung pastors to do the same when starting their churches. Falwell did not spend a great deal of timein any one home. He made a friendly call, informing the people of the church, then invited them to theservice of the church. He left literature, and when he found interest in his church, he made a note andreturned to call on them again.
The main work to be done the first year or so in an unevangelized area is daily evangelism. There is not going to be an avenue for obtaining members any other way. You can to win them…one by one. There’s no ‘rotation of the saints’.
Initially, the newly arriving Missionary should find a village or city that is basically ‘unevangelized’; it doesn’t make much sense to start in an area that has 1 or more gospel preaching churches. Some might say, well they aren’t an independent Fundamental, KJV-only, narrow is the way, soulwinning, standards keeping, separated, sold out Baptist church! Maybe this is true, but look at the need aspect; which is the most neediest area? The unevangelized areas. Preach the gospel to these areas and then the Lord should direct you where to officially begin the church.
One of the biggest ‘culture changes’ might be ‘learning the language’. My strong conviction is to have studied it a lot prior to coming to the field (you’ve had up to 8 ½ years to study it!); and then meet people in the community every day and talk, talk, talk. It is by far the best and fastest way to learn a language. Also, you can do this as you ‘evangelize’!
Church meeting place: own home (rental); member’s home; office space; stand alone building; covered area
Advertising: handouts, bulletin boards, word of mouth, street preaching
The old adage is still true, "You never get a second opportunity to make a good first impression." The brochure should be first rate, becauseprospects will judge the new church by their first impression. That first impression will be thebrochure. Prospects will not have a church building to tell them what type of church the new one willbe, there has not been a church service by which they will make a judgment. So make the brochurecolorful, exciting, yet informative.
When you get those first converts, teach them about tithing-offerings. Expect them to give to help support your work there. Start right from the start teaching the newly saved their responsibility in supporting their preacher. Don’t have them rely on American support monies every month. Don’t even tell them about these monies (at first).
Full or limited ministry at first?
Most will begin a ‘limited ministry’ the first year or two while they are building faithful members. They typically will just have a Sunday morning (or afternoon) preaching service (no S.S. or pm service). I guess they want to take it easy on the ‘newbies’…and maybe take it easy on the newbie Missionary. Sadly, this methodology is training the new members to become use to one service a week ‘Christianity’; just think what happens when you try to start adding the whole complement of other services and events!
Why not start a full ministry right off the bat?! Out of your own convictions, and to set the standard from the get-go, have all the standard church services and events that more established American churches might have: Sunday School, Sunday morning preaching, Sunday evening preaching, Wednesday evening preaching, weekly Bible Study, Bible College, Evangelism, Prayer time, etc., etc.!
If coming over initially alone, or 2 x 2, when should the rest of the family be brought? Well, as soon as possible. Probably it is reasonable once the home is set up, transportation is obtained, and everything financially is running smoothly. This might take a year or so, though.
Stop delaying!
Fully answer the call of God in your life! Actually get to the field He has called you to and start what it is He has called you to do; the ‘it’ that you have been telling churches across America about; evangelizing and planting a church in such and such a place.
Upon landing in the country of your mission field, how long should it be before you actually begin doing the work that God has called you to? Within 2 yrs?... 1 yr?.... 6 mo.?.... 3 mo.?.... 4 wks?..... 7 days?....
There is typically delay after delay; so why not stop the delays?!
1 year delay with preparing for Deputation
2 to 3 year delay with Deputation
3 month delay in preparing to leave America
1 to 2 year delay with language studies
1 to 2 year delay with working with an established church in country
3 month delay in setting up new home and church meeting place in ‘your field’…
That’s up to 8 ½ years of delaying!!!! And who knows how much delaying was going on prior to preparing for Deputation? How long did you ‘run from the Lord’…ignore His call….drag your feet in getting trained…?!
Would to God every Missionary would within 1 year of being trained and knowing where God has called him, start doing the actual call of God on that mission field!
1