This was a good look into the man who really started modern missions. I really enjoyed it’s historical background to shed some light on Carey’s life. I want to read the rest of the books in the series, now! I will say the section on friends read quite choppy to me due to so many names all over the place. I had difficulty keeping track of who was who. After that it was a very interesting book!

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. My opinions of the book are entirely my own.

Love Christian history, especially of fully committed saints of years ago. A worthwhile read for any chrwho hears his master’s call.

The Missionary Fellowship of William Carey
by Michael A.G. Haykin
Reformation Trust Publishing
Christian
Pub Date 14 Nov 2018


I am reviewing a copy of The Missionary Fellowship of William Carey Through Reformation Trust Publishing and Netgalley:


The eighteenth century had been a remarkable time for Missionary activity. As the British Empire was expanding around the world, missionaries followed in their wake to bring the gospels to places where Christ was not known.


William Carey was at the heart of this global Missionary movement. William journeyed from his humble beginnings I’m England to places half way across the world to preach the gospels. Carey is known as the founder of modern missions and was a trailblazer.


I give The Missionary Fellowship of William Carey five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

We stand on the shoulders of great giants. These figures often remain hidden from our eyes but their hard work, faithfulness, suffering and prayer continue to shape us today in many remarkable ways. The gospel-centred evangelical world in general, and the modern mission movement, in particular, are indebted to the eighteenth century which gave birth to servant-hearted folk like William Carey.

This remarkable man is rightly known as “the father of modern missions”. He had a humble beginning in England. But his love, passion and zeal for mission compelled him out of England to travel thousands of miles for the sake of declaring the good news to the people of India. He dedicated his entire life to bringing the fragrance of Christ to different language groups in India. Amidst all the suffering, hardship and discomfort, he zealously persisted and toiled until the end of his life. His life is filled with God-glorifying lessons for us.

In The Missionary Fellowship of William Carey, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin does an excellent job of unveiling William Carey’s life. Undoubtedly, one of the great strengths of this work is its clarity and readability. The author’s burden is to lay bare the enormous impact of Carey’s friends on his life and mission. Haykin repeatedly rejects the idea that Carey was a ‘solo’ missionary. He persuasively demonstrates that Carey was supported by strong pillars of friendship. This is encouraging for us today because we can see how God uses Christian friendship as a means of grace in ministry.

This short book is not meant to be an exhaustive biography of Carey but it can serve as a good introduction to his life.

So, would I recommend this book? Yes, without any doubt. This book has been a great encouragement to me.

I thank Reformation Trust Publishing for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book.

One of the most common accusations from non-Calvinists is that Calvinists are against missions. Granted we have people are called Calvinists who are have been called Hyper-Calvinists, but Jesus does give the command to preach the gospel to all peoples. The book of Acts shows us that the church was on a mission to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth.

One of person in church history who had a heart from missions, who was also a Calvinist, was William Carey. Carey was the founder of the modern missions movement and has been the inspiration for many missionaries ever since. He is also known for not doing missions alone. He had a fellowship that was dear to him and assisted him in his missionary work. Michael A.G. Haykin has written about Carey and this fellowship in the newest book in the "Long Line of Godly Men" series, which is titled, The Missionary Fellowship of William Carey.

This book begins with a look at Carey's life and all what was happening during that time in the life of the church. The rest of the book deals with Carey's rise in the work of missions and the friends that came along side him as he was beginning the work God had called him to do. Haykin does an excellent job in communicating to the reader Carey's passion for missions and how show that missions is not the work of one man. It needs to be a corporate thing. One thing that Haykin shows is that Carey puts to rest the Calvinists, especially Reformed Baptists, are not anti-missions.

This is the fourth book in the "Long Line of Godly Men" books that I have read and have enjoyed them immensely. I am delight to recommend Haykin's biography of Carey to this list of growing books.

In my experience books about the lives of Christian missionaries tend to fall into three camps. There are those that thrill and inspire with tales of daring but are less academic, and those that tend towards more academic with many names and dates which although interesting in themselves can interrupt the flow, and there are those that fall somewhere in the middle. This book falls in the last category, for me anyway, it's somewhere between inspiring and academic, probably verging towards the academic.

The main stated aim of the book is I think to correct the view of William Carey as effectively a solo missionary blazing a trail by himself (a view I admit I had) and to highlight the role his friends and family played in his missionary endeavours. It certainly succeeds in this, presenting Carey's missionary life as the product of the prayers, sacrifices and efforts of a group of close friends rather than with little or no help.

The author (Michael Haykin) provides much evidence from source material and there are plenty of end notes to each chapter should you wish to examine this further yourself. It's obvious (to me) that a lot of effort has gone into the research for this book.

Haykin also seeks to correct a view of Carey's wife as unhelpful to his mission endeavours and although this doesn't form a big part of the book it is intriguing in its own right and would I think be a topic worth pursuing itself. Again there are end notes which will help for further reading.

One thing I found curious was that the book ends with Carey providing details for how he would like to be remembered when he dies, rather than with his actual death. We only learn of his death in the first Appendix on the timeline of his life after the final chapter. It's not a big issue just a curious one.

There are three Appendixes: one with a timeline (as mentioned above), a second with a transcript of The Leicester Covenant of 1790, and a third a transcript of The Serampore Form of Agreement 1805. Sections of the latter two are quoted in the book itself and while they are an interesting study in themselves I wouldn't say it's necessary to read through them (although I did) if you've already read the book (presumably why they are included as Appendixes!).

All in all the book is a worthwhile overview of William Carey's life both before and during his missionary endeavours in India with a focus on his achievements being the product of the input of a group of lifelong friends rather than a solo endeavour.

Review via NetGalley/Reformation Trust Publishing ARC.