By Matthew Kuruvilla
When we think about the Great Commission and missions in the Far East two great names come to our mind, William Cary and Mother Teresa. Both of them spent their life in Calcutta India. William Carey (17 August 1761–9 June 1834) was a British-India Christian Missionary, a Particular Baptist minister, translator, social reformer and a cultural anthropologist.
Mother Teresa, known in the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu; Albanian. 26 August 1910–5 September 1997), was an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun and missionary.
I have been asked by many people, what is a Christian missionary and a Christian mission? A Christian missionary is commissioned by the Lord to make disciples of Christ. Jesus commands all Christians to share the Gospel, which is the message of His death and resurrection that paid the penalty and conquered the power of sin. A Christian mission is an organized effort to fulfill the Great Commission.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20).
A Christian mission should function on the platform of evangelism. An evangelism platform must be Culturally Appropriate, Biblically Faithful, Theologically Sound, and Morally Ethical.
William Carey translated the complete Bible into 6 Indian languages, and portions into 29 others, yet he never attended the equivalent of high school or college. His work was so impressive, that in 1807, Brown University conferred a Doctor of Divinity degree on him posthumously. Also, he translated the Hindu Epic Poem 'Ramayana' into English. He and his family lived in India, died in India and were buried in India. Mother Teresa, too, is famous, because she was a person who was faithful to her profession of faith in Christ. In other words, she was a faithful and dedicated Christian. She spent her whole life among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta India. She worked with lepers, outcasts and the homeless. She was a walking Bible and a walking testimony. She lived among them, died among them and also was buried among them.
As well, I would love to introduce one more person to you through this blog. His name is Sadhu Sundar Singh. He was born into a Sikh family in the village of Rampur Kataania, Punjab, India on September 3rd 1889.
In his teenage life Sundar felt that his religious pursuits in Sikhism, and the questioning of Christian and Hindu priests, had left him without ultimate meaning. Sundar resolved to commit suicide by jumping in front of a train. He asked that whosoever is the 'True God' would please come before him, otherwise he would commit suicide. In that very night he had a vision of Christ Jesus who introduced the truth to Sundar. Sundar told his father, Sher Singh, that he was experiencing a transformation in his soul, and from this point on he committed his life to Christ and to His missionary work. His father denounced him at that point.
Many people said, "He not only looks like Jesus, he talks like Jesus must have talked." He was a walking Bible. His speeches were informed by his habitual early morning meditation on the Bible. In 1918 he made a long tour of the Southern part of India, Sri Lanka, and the following year he was invited to Burma, Malaya, China and Japan to preach the Gospel.
Some of the incidents from these tours were very miraculous, especially his Tibetan tour. He claimed power over wild animals and King Cobras. He had power over disease and illness, though he never allowed his healing gifts to be publicized.
However, the government of India which was British, and the Church of England, did not recognized his salvation experience and his ministry work because he looked different, dressed different, and talked different. This put Indian Christianity at least one hundred years behind. Still it is an epidemic in many parts of the world.
He continued his Culturally Appropriate, Biblically Faithful, Theologically Sound and Morley Ethical work of Savior Christ Jesus. Before he died Buckingham Palace invited him for a special tea with her royal highness. Following his example, let us together come to Know the God of Abraham and Make Him known to rest of the world.