This week in Christian history: Karl Barth born, American Tract Society, Missionary pamphlet

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, May 10, 2020

William Carey publishes influential pamphlet – May 12, 1792

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, the founder of the English Baptist Missionary Society, published an influential missionary pamphlet.

Titled “An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians, to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. In Which the Religious State of the Different Nations of the World, the Success of Former Undertakings and the Practicability of the Further Undertakings Considered,” the pamphlet helped to inspire a wave of mission work.

“Carey’s pamphlet and missionary endeavors caused many Protestants to rethink God’s call and command to make disciples of all nations, and it became a manifesto for Protestants and Evangelicals since that time,” wrote Greg Strand of the Evangelical Free Church of America in 2017.