This week in Christian history: William Carey sails for India; Spurgeon's last sermon; St. Columba dies

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, June 07, 2020

William Carey sails to India – June 13, 1793

William Carey (1761-1834), British missionary to Indian, educator, and founder of the English Baptist Missionary Society. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when William Carey, a Baptist evangelist credited with revitalizing global missions work, set sail with his family from England to India.

Carey took with him his wife, Dorothy, and four children, including one that was still an infant, and sailed on a Danish ship. While in India, he engaged in both religious and secular labors.

“He spent the rest of his life in India as a pastor, teacher, linguist, agriculturalist, journalist, botanist, social activist, and statesman of the world Christian movement,” wrote Timothy George in a blog post for The Gospel Coalition.

“He poured his life into mastering the difficult languages of India and the East until he had either translated or personally supervised the translation of the Bible into some 40 distinct tongues.”