This week in Christian history: Old Fashioned Revival Hour, Reformation dispute, Missionary Society formed

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, September 29, 2019

Baptist Missionary Society founded – October 2, 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 the Baptist Missionary Society was founded by a small group of people that included English missionary William Carey.

Carey spurred the creation of the Society when he published a pamphlet calling on Christians to become more involved in overseas missions.

Originally called the “Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Amongst the Heathen,” the Society is presently known as BMS World Mission and is based in Didcot, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.

“The following year, William Carey and John Thomas were sent to India to begin the mission work, and their departure was a turning point in the history of Christian mission,” noted BMS.

“They were the first English non-conformists to travel to India with the sole purpose of mission, and they pioneered a pattern of missionary activity that quickly became widespread.”