William Carey, 1792, 85 pages, 4 of 5 stars
Every Christian interested in missions should read William Carey’s An Enquiry. The word “enquiry” means investigation. In this book, Carey examines missions in a way never done before. The full name of the book is An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens.
The book has five sections. Section One is the Argument, where he answers over a dozen objections to cross-cultural missions. Section Two is the Review, where he surveys the history of missions up to that point. Not a whole lot there. Section Three is the Statistical Survey. Map-making was a hobby of Carey’s. At the time of writing, the world population was just north of 700 million. Today it is 7.8 billion. Section Four is the Challenge, the part of the book I enjoyed the most. Section Five is the Program, where Carey gives practical ways the church can move forward in missions.
Four Reasons to Read the Book
First, William Carey is the GOAT. Many agree Carey is the greatest missionary of all time. He’s the father of modern missions. He kicked off the greatest missions movement the world has ever seen. God used this book to stir missionary zeal among pastors and parishioners. Carey has more ethos than any other missionary author. Loving missions but never having read An Enquiry is like being a student of the violin but having never heard Itzhak Perlman play. Continue reading
I’d much rather eat a cheesecake baked by a great cook than a Black Forest gateau baked by PhD-holder in cuisine. And I’d much rather read a missions book by a missionary than a missions book by a missiologist. Missiologists are often armchair missionaries. They write from a comfortable desk in their homeland.
Between Two Cultures 