London Missionary Society

English and Scottish foreign missions

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William Carey, called “the father of modern missions,” was born in Paulersbury, England to a poor weaver. As a young man, he worked as an apprentice to a shoemaker but spent his spare time studying for the ministry. Amazingly, while still a teenager, he was able to read the Bible in six languages. This gift for languages would serve him well as a missionary. In 1787 he became pastor of a Baptist church where, in 1792, he preached a sermon with the famous line, “Expect Great Things from God, Attempt Great Things for God.” He helped organize the Baptist Missionary Society and became one of the group’s first members to go abroad when he went to India in 1793. He suffered greatly during the early years of his ministry due to financial setbacks, the death of his children, and the mental illness of his wife. In 1799 he was able to purchase a small indigo plantation and it was from here that he started his first successful mission. Opposition from the East India Company forced him to shut down his operation, however, so in 1800 he moved to Serampore where he and other missionaries preached, taught, and started Serampore Press to distribute Christian literature. In 1831 Carey was appointed professor of Oriental languages at Fort William College in Calcutta, a position he held for 30 years until his death. During this time he was largely responsible for translating the Bible into 36 dialects, making the Scriptures available to over 300 million people. In addition to Carey, the London Missionary Society sent its first missionaries into the islands of the Pacific Ocean, where they had remarkable success among the islanders, though they had to contend with cruel and greedy traders and sailors. The Wesleyan Missionary Society brought Christianity to the Pacific islands, Africa, and the Far East. The Scotch Presbyterians sent out pioneer missionaries to West Africa as early as 1796. Both the Established Church and the Free Church organized foreign mission committees. Among well-known Scotch missionaries were Alexander Duff, who established Presbyterian schools in India; John Paton, who spent the bulk of his life working in the New Hebrides; Robert Moffat, who started a mission station in South Africa in about 1820; and David Livingstone, who explored the Zambesi and the great lakes of the interior and who helped to destroy the African slave trade in the mid-nineteenth century.

Impact: English and Scottish missions in the late eighteenth and early to mid-nineteenth centuries not only brought the Gospel message, they were also instrumental in fomenting social reforms, bringing medical care, and ending pagan practices that destroyed the lives of women and children.

Morrison, Robert

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Robert Morrison (1782-1834) was the first Protestant missionary to China. He began studying Chinese along with theology and medicine as a student in Northumbria, England. In 1807 the London Missionary Society sent him to Canton, China. He spent his early years on the mission field in near seclusion as he attempted to master the language. His proficiency grew to the point that he became an interpreter for the British East India Company. He worked on a number of printed translations including a collection of hymns, prayers from the Book of Common Prayer, and, eventually, a translation of the entire Bible – a mammoth project he completed in 1823. He went to England for a short time in 1824 but returned to China within two years where he spent the remainder of his life. He saw very few converts during his lifetime but his translation work and the establishment of a mission school laid a solid foundation for the missionaries who followed him.

Livingstone, David

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David Livingstone (1813-1873) was a renowned missionary and explorer. He grew up in Glasgow, Scotland in a poor family. He studied on his own and was able to enter the University of Glasgow in 1830 where he earned degrees in theology and medicine. His desire was to become a missionary to China; however, due to the dangerous conditions in that country at the time, the London Missionary Society sent him to Africa in 1840. He began at the missionary station of Robert Moffat in South Africa, whose daughter he later married, and began pushing steadily northward, building stations along the way. Believing that exploration and missions went hand in hand, he became a renowned explorer, discovering Lake N’gami in 1849 and Victoria Falls in 1853. He sent his family home to England and continued his trek deeper into uncharted territory, traveling nearly 1,400 miles on foot and by boat and preaching the Gospel along the way. He went to England in 1856 where he was hailed as a national hero. When he returned to Africa a year later he had resigned from the Mission Society and worked directly for the British government. His goals were national, ethical, and spiritual: to find the source of the Nile, to end the slave trade, and to share the message of Christ. He was lost for a time from the world, which led to a search in 1870 by journalist Henry Stanley, whose line upon discovering him “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” has become famous. He died three years later, found on his knees in the position of prayer by his native guides. He opened the African frontier to missions and his diligent efforts to end the slave trade were largely successful.

Judson, Adoniram

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Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) was born near Malden, Massachusetts. He was the son of a Congregational minister. He graduated from Brown University and studied for a time at Andover Theological Seminary. In  1810 he was licensed to preach in the Congregational church and joined with several others to petition the General Association of Ministers for a missionary commission to China. He was sent to England to secure the cooperation of the London Missionary Society but failed to gain their approval. He returned to America where the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, a Congregational association, sent him to India in 1812. Accompanied by his wife, Anne, Judson arrived in Calcutta but soon got into trouble with the Board after his views on baptism changed to the conviction that full immersion was necessary. He joined the Baptist church and the couple moved to Burma where they lived in the English Baptist mission home. He began an earnest study of the Burmese language, although it took him nearly six years to gain the necessary linguistic skills to preach in the native tongue. It was another six years before he led the first person to Christ. In 1824 the Anglo-Burmese war broke out and Judson was imprisoned for two years. Shortly after his release Anne died. Judson continued his work and in 1833 he completed a translation of the Bible into Burmese. During this time he married Sarah Hall Boardman, returning to America in 1845 due to her failing health. Sadly she died on the voyage. He went back to Burma in 1846 and spent the rest of his life working on a Burmese dictionary. Like his second wife, he also died at sea while sailing to Martinique where he hoped to recuperate from an illness. He is considered by historians as the greatest American missionary.