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Baptist history in India

Context and Background

By the 18th century British was firmly establish in Bengal, Bihar and Bombay. The British East India
Company did not welcome any missionaries in their settlements for they were afraid that educational
progress and the opening up of new lines of thought would lead to general unrest and create difficulties
for the British administration in India.

The condition of the Bengal was filled with evil practices. Caste system and polygamy were part of their
religion. Each village had its own deity. Child marriage, Sati, untouchability and low status of women
were the practices. Foreigners were living their irresponsibility lives (keeping native concubines). The
foreigners were exploiting them in their economic life. Raw materials were exported to England and sold
the manufactured goods to the people at expensive price. By the same period, modern missionary
movement began in England. In 1792, William Carey challenged the hyper-Calvinistic view
(predestination), prevalent among the British Baptised, that god would bring the nations to Christ without
human assistance. He published, “An enquiry into the obligation of Christians to use means for the
conversion of the heathens”. This motivated the Christians to undertake evangelistic mission overseas.

The founding of the mission at Serampore

At this time the Baptist Missionary Society sent a team of missionary from England to India. In this
missionary group there were Joshua Marshman (1760-1837), William Ward (1769-18330, John
Brunsdon, William Grant and their families. Since this group of immigrants did not have passports from
the East India Company they could not disembark in Calcutta. So they descended from the ship reaching
the Danish colony of Serampore by the side of the Hooghly river, on Oct 13, 1799. When news of the
arrival of this party from England reached carey, he sent Fountain to Serampore to welcome them. On
December 25, 1799, Carey left behind all his properties in kidderpur village in malda distyrict, and took
onlky the printing machine and the manuscripot of the Bible translated into Bengali and went to
Seramp[ore.

Although the baptish mission was established in Serampore only in 1800 this was not the first time
missionaryies had been active there. In 1777, a group of Moravian missionaries under the leadership of
karl Friedrich and Johnannes Grassman had establish a Moravian mission in serampore. But for various
reasons this mission at serampore was closed in 1792.

Activities of the mission

On January 10, 1800, the serampore mission under the leadership of William Carey was founded. The
very next day the Serampore mission started work from a rented house and within a very short period a
big building was purchased in the name of the Baptist missionary Society. One of the greatest
achievements of Wilklaim Carey was to spread Christianity in the Indian sub-continent through the
establishment of the Sereampore Mission and the activities of the mission.

These are some of the list it can well be understood what great force Carey’s missionary venture provided
in organising different societies:

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1792: The particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathens (BMS)

1795: the Baptist Itinerant Society (later Baptist Home missionary Society)

1803: The Sunday Schood Union

1808: The Baptist and Foreign Bible Society

1814: The American Baptist Union

1815: The Baptist Evangeliucal Missionary Society

1816: The American Bible Society

1816: The General Baptist Missionary Society

The Serampore Trio

William Carey, often known as the Father of Mordern mission, sowed the seed for Bengal renaissance
He was born on 17th August, 1761. At the age of 14, he became a shoemaker. At the age of 18, he joined
the Baptist church. He married in 1787 and was ordained to the ministry of the Baptist church in 1787. In
1792 he preached a sermon on Isaiah 54:2,3, with two points: Expect great Things for God. It led some
people to form the Baptist missionary Society in the same year. Carey was appointed as the first
missionary of the society. Carey landed at Calcutta on 11 th November 1793. He moves to madriabati,
where he worked as an indigo planter till 1799. Buring these six years, he engaged in evangelistic and
educational works, and started translated the Bible.

Serampore Mission

History of Baptist Mision In NEI

Till 13th century North east India was not much known to the outside world. The people lived in their own
world without much interference from the outside world as well as even among themselves as they rarely
had any contact with on each other outside their own village or tribe. There were occasional feeds
between the hilly race and the plains inhabitants.

Serampore Mission

The first missionary to preach the Gospel in NEI was an Indian Christian of the Baptist denomination, by
the name Krishna Pal who was sent by the Serampore Mission. He preached for several months at Pandua
at the foot of the Khasi Hills. He also converted seven persons and baptized them. After working for 8
months he went back to serampore without establishing any regular mission centre in that area.

Early mission

1. Plain Assam

In 1835 Britist commissioner, francis Jenkins extended invitation to the American Baptist union working
in Burma to come to NEI to undertake a mission work among the Khamti and Singpho tribes. The
American Baptist Mission sent the first missionary to NEI not for the khamti and Singphos but for the

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purpose to reach china and to evengelize the Shan tribes while they make NEI as strategic place for their
China and Shan tribes’s mission. According, Mr. & Mrs Nathan Brown and Mr & Mrs. Oliver Cutter
were chosen for these mission. In 1836, a mission center in Sadiya was established and the missionaries
had mastered the Assamese language and in 1838 they began to treanslate the Gosple of Matthew. As a
result, the first Assameses covert took place in 1841 by the name Nidhiram and the first Baptist church in
Assam was organised.

2. Mission among the Karbis

In the late 1850s the American Baptist began their work among the Karbi tribe. It was not successful as
the people were so much influenced by Hinduism. The karbi Anglong Baptist Convention was formed in
1980 and now they have 13 Association with 311 churches and 2867 baptized members.

3. Mission among Garo Hills

In the 1860s the American Baptist also began their work among the Garos. A school was started by a
political officer among the Garos at Goalpura in 1847. Though the school did not last for very long, there
was a brighter side to it as the first two converts namely omed and Ramkhe of wat