1792年──威廉‧克理与大使命的重新发现

1792－William Carey and the Rediscovery of the Great Commission

Brian STANLEY

The English Baptist missionary in Bengal, William Carey (1761-1834), should be remembered, not so much as 'the father of modern missions', but more as a voice who called Christians of his day to remember that the task of bringing the gospel to all sections of humanity was one that was well founded in scripture and well supported by precedents throughout the history of the church. His famous pamphlet, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens (1792), grounded missionary obligation in the purpose of God for the world, and not simply in the so-called “Great Commission” of Christ. He reminds us of some important principles: that Christian mission derives its basis from the Trinitarian being of God; that Christianity cannot be confined within the limits of what was once Western Christendom; and that fruitful mission depends on bringing the serious study of the Bible into engagement with an informed study of the world in all its diversity.