At the end of the 18th century mission work was not welcomed by the East India Company in control of Bengal – they mistrusted anything that could interfere with its commercial activity.
After his arrival in 1793, Carey worked as foreman in an indigo factory in Bengal as well as working on Bible translations, preaching and setting up schools.
In 1800 new missionaries arrived from England and settled in the Danish colony of Serampore just north of Kolkata, which soon became the hub of Baptist activity in India.
The early years of mission in India were difficult and it was only after several years that the first convert under Baptist mission work – Krishna Pal – came to faith. However, the work was characterised by pioneering methods of evangelism and the driving urge to spread the gospel.
In the course of the nineteenth century, BMS work in India, and what is now known as Bangladesh, spread far and wide beyond Serampore and Kolkata:
first within Bengal; later to Orissa and to the tribal peoples of the Kond Hills in that state; across North India and to Vellore in the south; and to the Lushai Hills in north east India (now
Mizoram). At the zenith of BMS’ mission in India, in around 1920, there were almost 250 European missionaries and up to 1,000 Indian workers.