What William Carey can Teach us About Global Missions

William Carey, who is considered to be the father of the modern missions movement, faced significant criticism for his love for global missions and his desire to see the gospel go to foreign lands. Yet as William Carey read his Bible, it became increasingly clear to him that reaching the nations with the gospel was not merely a task for the Apostle Paul or for some far-off church—it was a task God had given to him.

This passion for God’s mission compelled Carey to write An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. In this pamphlet, Carey responded to a widespread belief among the Christians of his day: “If God wants to save the nations, He will do it without human effort.” Carey challenged this thinking and argued that God sovereignly uses human means, like organized missionary effort, to accomplish the Great Commission.

As Carey surveyed the world, he was moved with deep compassion. It was said of him that “his statistics were his grief.” [1] Through careful research and study, Carey was able to locate even the smallest islands—some only two or three miles across—and identify the religious composition of nearly every region of the world.[2] Yet this knowledge did not lead him to pride, but to sorrow. As Carey recorded information about peoples and religions across the globe, he grieved their lostness. This was not mere emotional sorrow, but a gospel-driven compassion for those outside of Christ. Carey cared for people everywhere, not only for those who lived near him.

One of the objections William Carey faced (one that we still face today) was this: “But have we not task enough to engage us with the heathen at home?” Translation: Why do mission work around the world when there’s lots of need here? Carey recorded his response in The Enquiry:

“Forsooth, there are thousands of our fellow-countrymen living as far from God as possible. We ought to be tenfold more eager than we are to win them to Christ. But the news is at least within their hearing, and in almost every part of the land there are faithful ministers. If the home church wakened, the home heathen could be won. But pagan lands have neither true Bible nor true ministers… Pity, not less than Christianity, should constrain our instant help.” [3]

What does all of this mean for us today?

1. We must let the Bible shape our view of mission.

Carey’s passion for global missions did not come from new ideas or trends, but from reading Scripture carefully. As he studied the Bible, he became convinced that the Great Commission was not only for the apostles or the early church, but for every generation of Christians. In the same way, we must allow God’s Word—not comfort, tradition, or even our own experiences—to shape how we think about mission. From the opening pages of Scripture to the very end, God is on a mission to make himself known among the nations so that he might be worshipped in spirit and in truth. This reality gives responsibility to both the individual believer and the local church. We all play a role in God’s mission.

2. We must let what we know about the world move our hearts.

Carey’s research into the nations did not make him proud or distant—it made him grieve. The more he learned about people without Christ, the more compassion he felt for them. Knowledge alone is not enough; it must lead to love. As we learn about the world and the needs around us, our response should not be indifference, but prayer, generosity, and a willingness to act for the sake of the gospel. If Carey was moved to sorrow by what he could piece together in his day, how much more should we be moved now? Carey knew only in part what we now know much more fully today: there are still 7,244 unreached people groups, representing 3.43 billion people who do not know Christ.[4] We must not become numb to the lostness in our world.

3. We must care about the lost both near and far.

Carey rejected the idea that caring for people at home meant ignoring the nations and vice versa. He believed the church could—and must—do both. Local ministry is not at odds with global missions. In other words, faithfulness locally does not cancel obedience globally. When the church is spiritually awake, it will share the gospel with neighbors and support the spread of the gospel to places where Christ is not yet known. Praise God for the many faithful churches laboring here (in America)—but even if every person in the United States were reached, that would still account for only about 4% of the world’s population.

The hope we have in participating in God’s global mission is that He will accomplish it through His Church. Revelation 7:9–10 serves as both promise and motivation—a reminder of the “not yet” and the “will be.” This heavenly vision is not yet our present reality, but it is the certain future God has promised. And because it is certain, the Church is called to labor faithfully now, confident that our obedience is caught up in God’s unstoppable mission.

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, [10] and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Revelation 7:9-10