William Carey: The Team

William Carey, a series in three parts. Part 1: The Shoemaker · Part 2: The Team · Part 3: The Long Work

The moment

The first years in India were hard in every way. Carey supported his family by managing an indigo plantation in the interior of Bengal. In 1795 his wife, Dorothy, began to suffer delusions, and she did not recover. He worked for seven years without a single Indian convert.

In 1799 new colleagues arrived from England, among them the schoolmaster Joshua Marshman, his wife Hannah, and the printer William Ward. In January 1800 Carey joined them at Serampore, a small Danish settlement up the river from Calcutta, beyond the reach of the East India Company.

What they did

They divided the work by gift. Carey translated and taught. Ward set up the first mission press in North India and ran the printing. Joshua and Hannah Marshman opened boarding schools and a free school for Indian children. Hannah also ran the large common household.

They pooled what they earned. In 1801 Carey was appointed to teach Bengali at Fort William College in Calcutta, a well-paid post. The income from his teaching, the Marshmans’ schools, and the press went to the mission. The schools alone made the work largely independent of money from England.

They wrote down how they would live. In 1805 the missionaries set out their shared principles in a document known as the Form of Agreement, covering how they would treat the people of India, one another, and their own money.

They saw first fruit. In December 1800 Carey baptized Krishna Pal, the first Indian convert, together with his own son Felix. In February 1801 the press produced the first Bengali New Testament.

What leaders can take from this part

Seven years alone, then a team. The work changed when the team arrived. One gifted person had not been enough.

Assign by gift and trust the owner. The translator did not run the press. The printer did not run the schools. Each had a domain and the authority to lead in that domain.

Shared money builds shared trust. Carey earned the largest salary and kept none of the surplus. Nobody could say the leader was working for himself.

Write the agreement. They did not rely on good feeling. They put their commitments on paper and returned to them.

The household carried a cost. Dorothy Carey had not wanted to go to India, and her illness shadowed the family until her death in 1807. Hannah Marshman and William Ward took the Carey boys in hand when their father did not. A mission can succeed while a family pays.

Next, Part 3: The Long Work →