🌍 Misheni ya Ulimwengu — Sehemu ya 7: William Carey na Vuguvugu la Kisasa🌍 World Missions — Unit 7: William Carey and the Modern Movement

Utangulizi: Fundi Viatu Aliyelifungua Tena Agizo KuuIntroduction: The Shoemaker Who Reopened the Commission

Kwa karibu karne mbili baada ya Matengenezo ya Kanisa, makanisa ya Kiprotestanti yalituma karibu hakuna wamisionari wa nchi za nje. Kisha, mwishoni mwa karne ya kumi na nane, Mungu alimwinua fundi viatu Mwingereza asiyejulikana ambaye angelifungua tena Agizo Kuu kwa ajili ya kanisa zima na kuanzisha kile ambacho wanahistoria huita vuguvugu la kisasa la umisionari — kipindi kikuu kuliko vyote vya kuenea kwa injili ambacho ulimwengu ulikuwa umewahi kuona. Jina lake lilikuwa William Carey, naye anakumbukwa kwa haki kama baba wa misheni ya kisasa.For nearly two centuries after the Reformation, the Protestant churches sent almost no foreign missionaries. Then, at the close of the eighteenth century, God raised up an obscure English shoemaker who would reopen the Great Commission for the whole church and set in motion what historians call the modern missionary movement — the greatest era of gospel expansion the world had ever seen. His name was William Carey, and he is rightly remembered as the father of modern missions.

I. Fundi Viatu Mwenye Ramani UkutaniI. The Shoemaker with a Map on His Wall

William Carey (1761–1834) alikuwa fundi viatu maskini kutoka jimbo la Northamptonshire nchini Uingereza. Alipata elimu rasmi kidogo sana, lakini alizaliwa akiwa mwanafunzi: kwa kiasi kikubwa alijifundisha mwenyewe, na kufikia umri wa miaka ishirini na kitu aliweza kusoma Agano Jipya kwa Kigiriki, Kilatini, Kiebrania, Kifaransa, na Kiholanzi. Alipokuwa ameketi akishona viatu kwenye benchi lake, aliweka ramani ya ulimwengu aliyoitengeneza mwenyewe ikiwa imebandikwa ukutani, pamoja na maelezo kuhusu watu na nchi alizokuwa amesoma habari zake. Na alipokuwa akifanya kazi, aliwalilia mamilioni katika nchi hizo ambao hawakuwahi hata mara moja kulisikia jina la Kristo. Mungu alikuwa ameweka mzigo kwa ajili ya ulimwengu mzima moyoni mwa fundi wa kijijini.William Carey (1761–1834) was a poor shoemaker from the English county of Northamptonshire. He had little formal schooling, yet he was a born student: largely self-taught, by his early twenties he could read the New Testament in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, and Dutch. As he sat mending shoes at his bench, he kept a homemade map of the world pinned to the wall, with notes on the peoples and lands he had read about. And as he worked, he wept over the millions in those lands who had never once heard the name of Christ. God had placed a burden for the whole world on the heart of a village tradesman.

II. Hoja Aliyopaswa KuijibuII. The Argument He Had to Answer

Wabaptisti wa siku za Carey walikuwa imara katika mafundisho lakini dhaifu katika wajibu wa umisionari. Mtazamo uliotawala fikra zao ulishikilia kwamba Agizo Kuu lilikuwa limetolewa kwa mitume peke yao, na kwamba ikiwa Mungu alikusudia kuwaokoa wapagani, angefanya hivyo kwa njia yake mwenyewe, bila msaada wa njia za kibinadamu. Kulingana na simulizi inayojulikana sana, kijana Carey alipothubutu kuuliza swali la misheni miongoni mwa wachungaji wenzake, mzee mmoja alimwambia, "Keti chini, kijana; Mungu atakapopenda kuwaongoa wapagani, atafanya hivyo bila msaada wako wala wangu." Hili ndilo kosa la Ukalvini uliokithiri (hyper-Calvinism) — kosa la kuchanganya enzi ya Mungu na uvivu wa mwanadamu.The Baptists of Carey's day were strong on doctrine but weak on missionary obligation. The view that dominated their thinking held that the Great Commission had been given to the apostles only, and that if God intended to save the heathen, He would do it in His own way, without the help of human means. According to the well-known account, when the young Carey dared to raise the question of missions among his fellow ministers, an older man told him, "Sit down, young man; when God is pleased to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine." This is the hyper-Calvinist error — the mistake of confusing the sovereignty of God with the idleness of man.

III. Uchunguzi (The Enquiry)III. The Enquiry

Mwaka 1792 Carey aliijibu hoja hiyo kwa maandishi. Kijitabu chake kikuu kilikuwa na kichwa kirefu na chenye kulenga: An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens (Uchunguzi wa Wajibu wa Wakristo Kutumia Njia kwa Ajili ya Kuongoka kwa Wapagani). Kichwa chenyewe kilibeba hoja — Wakristo wana wajibu wa kutumia njia. Kutoka katika Maandiko, katika historia, na katika jiografia ya siku zake, Carey alionyesha kwamba Agizo Kuu bado lilimfunga kila Mkristo, na kwamba kwa kawaida Mungu hufanya kazi kupitia njia: kupitia wajumbe wanaotumwa, kusaidiwa, na kutegemezwa. Ni mojawapo ya nyaraka muhimu zaidi katika historia nzima ya misheni.In 1792 Carey answered that argument in print. His great pamphlet bore a long and pointed title: An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. The very title carried the argument — Christians are under obligation to use means. From Scripture, from history, and from the geography of his own day, Carey showed that the Great Commission still bound every Christian, and that God ordinarily works through means: through messengers who are sent, supported, and sustained. It stands among the most important documents in the whole history of missions.

IV. Tarajia Mambo Makuu; Jaribu Mambo MakuuIV. Expect Great Things; Attempt Great Things

Mwezi Mei 1792 Carey alihubiri mahubiri huko Nottingham juu ya maneno ya Isaya 54: "Panua mahali pa hema yako... Kwa maana utaenea upande wa kuume na upande wa kushoto; na wazao wako watayamiliki mataifa" (Isaya 54:2–3, SUV). Kutoka katika mahubiri hayo yalitoka maneno ambayo yangekuwa kauli mbiu ya vuguvugu la kisasa la umisionari: "Tarajia mambo makuu kutoka kwa Mungu; jaribu mambo makuu kwa ajili ya Mungu." Ndugu zake Carey waliguswa, na ndani ya miezi michache kikundi kidogo chao kilianzisha Chama cha Kimisionari cha Kibaptisti (Baptist Missionary Society) ili kumtuma — cha kwanza kati ya vyama vikuu vya kimisionari ambavyo vingeipeleka injili duniani kote.In May of 1792 Carey preached a sermon at Nottingham on the words of Isaiah 54: "Enlarge the place of your tent... for you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations" (Isaiah 54:2–3, NKJV). From that sermon came the words that would become the motto of the modern missionary movement: "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God." Carey's brethren were stirred, and within months a small band of them founded the Baptist Missionary Society to send him out — the first of the great mission societies that would carry the gospel around the world.

V. Miaka Arobaini na Mmoja Nchini IndiaV. Forty-One Years in India

Mwaka 1793 Carey alisafiri kwa meli kwenda India, na hakuiona Uingereza tena kamwe. Alifanya kazi huko kwa miaka arobaini na mmoja bila hata likizo moja ya kurudi nyumbani. Pamoja na wenzake Joshua Marshman na William Ward — "Watatu wa Serampore" (Serampore Trio) maarufu — alitafsiri Biblia, yote au sehemu zake, katika lugha zaidi ya thelathini za India. Alianzisha Chuo cha Serampore mwaka 1818, taasisi ya kwanza ya Kikristo ya elimu ya juu barani Asia. Alisubiri miaka saba mirefu kumpata mwongofu wake wa kwanza Mhindi, alimzika mtoto, na aliona afya ya mkewe ikivunjika akiwa kazini, na bado hakukubali kuacha. Fundi viatu alikuwa amekuwa baba wa misheni ya kisasa.In 1793 Carey sailed for India, and he never saw England again. He labored there for forty-one years without a single furlough home. With his colleagues Joshua Marshman and William Ward — the famous "Serampore Trio" — he translated the Bible, in whole or in part, into more than thirty Indian languages. He founded Serampore College in 1818, the first Christian institution of higher learning in Asia. He waited seven long years for his first Indian convert, buried a child and saw his wife's health break on the field, and still he would not quit. The shoemaker had become the father of modern missions.

VI. Karne AliyoifunguaVI. The Century He Opened

Carey hakufanya kazi peke yake kwa muda mrefu. Vuguvugu alilolianzisha lilienea katika miaka mia moja iliyofuata, hata karne ya kumi na tisa ikawa karne moja kuu kuliko zote ya kuenea kwa Ukristo tangu Pentekoste. Katika mwaka 1800, labda Mkristo mmoja kati ya mia moja duniani aliishi nje ya Ulaya na Amerika ya Kaskazini; kufikia 1900 injili ilikuwa imefika kila bara, imepanda makanisa katika mamia ya lugha, na imeinua waamini wenyeji katika kila pwani. Fundi viatu mmoja mtiifu, aliyekataa tu kuamini kwamba Agizo Kuu lilikuwa limepitwa na wakati, aliufungua mlango kwa ajili yao wote.Carey did not labor alone for long. The movement he set in motion swept across the next hundred years, until the nineteenth century became the greatest single century of Christian expansion since Pentecost. In the year 1800, perhaps one in a hundred of the world's Christians lived outside Europe and North America; by 1900 the gospel had reached every continent, planted churches in hundreds of languages, and raised up native believers on every shore. One obedient shoemaker, who simply refused to believe that the Great Commission had expired, opened the door for them all.

Hitimisho: Mambo Makuu Kutoka kwa Mungu MkuuConclusion: Great Things from a Great God

Carey anatufundisha kwamba Mungu hufurahia kuwatumia wasiojulikana na watu wa kawaida. Hakuwa na mali, hakuwa na umaarufu, wala faida yoyote ya kidunia — alikuwa na mzigo kwa ajili ya waliopotea tu, tumaini thabiti katika ahadi za Mungu, na ujasiri wa kutenda kwa kuzitegemea. "Tarajia mambo makuu kutoka kwa Mungu; jaribu mambo makuu kwa ajili ya Mungu." Mungu yule yule aliyemtuma fundi viatu wa kijijini kwenda India ndiye Mungu anayeita na kutuma leo, na bado anawatafuta wanaume na wanawake wa kawaida watakaojaribu mambo makuu kwa jina lake.Carey teaches us that God delights to use the obscure and the ordinary. He had no wealth, no fame, and no earthly advantage — only a burden for the lost, a settled confidence in the promises of God, and the courage to act upon them. "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God." The same God who sent a village shoemaker to India is the God who calls and sends today, and He is still looking for ordinary men and women who will attempt great things in His name.

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