In the 18th century Protestant missionaries were few and missionary societies fewer. In some Baptist circles, mission itself was not even thought to be very theologically sound.
But by the end of the century, this was beginning to change. In 1792 shoemaker and pastor William Carey published his pamphlet, ‘An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens’, a survey of the world’s countries and people groups and a call to Christians to engage in mission.
Challenged that it was now time to do more than just pray about those without the gospel, a group of ministers in Northamptonshire decided to act together – and on 2 October 1792 they gathered to form
“a Society among the Baptists for propagating the gospel among the heathen”. The Baptist Missionary Society, as it soon became known, was born.
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. 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.