Amy Carmichael
Encyclopedia
Amy Wilson Carmichael was a Protestant Christian
missionary
in India
, who opened an orphanage
and founded a mission in Dohnavur
. She served in India for 55 years without furlough
and wrote many books about the missionary work there.
, County Down
, Northern Ireland
to David and Catherine Carmichael. Her parents were devout Presbyterians and she was the eldest of seven siblings. One story of Carmichael's early life tells that as a child, she wished that she had blue eyes rather than brown. She often prayed that Jesus would change her eye color and was disappointed when it never happened. She loved to pinch her brother's cheeks to make the prettiest colour blue in his eyes. But she always repented afterwards for hurting her brother. As an adult, however, she realized that, because people from India have brown eyes, she would have had a much more difficult time gaining their acceptance if her eyes had been blue.
Amy's father died when she was 18. Carmichael was the founder of the Welcome Evangelical Church in Belfast. The Welcome’s story begins with Carmichael in the mid 1880’s starting a Sunday morning class for the ‘Shawlies’, i.e. the mill girls who wore shawls instead of hats, in the church hall of Rosemary Street Presbyterian which proved to be very successful. Amy’s work among the shawlies grew and grew until they needed a hall to seat 500 people. At this time Amy saw an advertisement in The Christian, by which an iron hall could be erected for £500 that would seat 500 people.
A donation of £500 from Miss Kate Mitchell, and a donation of a plot of land from one of the mill owners saw the erection of the first "Welcome Hall" on the corner of Cambrai Street and Heather Street in 1887. Amy continued at the Welcome until she received a call to work among the mill girls of Manchester in 1889 before moving onto missionary work. In many ways she was an unlikely candidate for missionary work. She suffered neuralgia
, a disease of the nerves that made her whole body weak and achy and often put her in bed for weeks on end. It was at the Keswick Convention of 1887 that she heard Hudson Taylor
, founder of the China Inland Mission
speak about missionary life. Soon afterwards, she became convinced of her calling to missionary work.
She applied to the China Inland Mission and lived in London at the training house for women, where she met author and missionary to China
, Mary Geraldine Guinness
, who encouraged her to pursue missionary work. She was ready to sail for Asia at one point, when it was determined that her health made her unfit for the work. She postponed her missionary career with the CIM and decided later to join the Church Missionary Society.
Initially Carmichael traveled to Japan
for fifteen months, but after a brief period of service in Lanka, she found her lifelong vocation in India. She was commissioned by the Church of England Zenana Mission
. Hindu temple
children were young girls dedicated to the gods and forced into prostitution to earn money for the priests i.e Devadasi
. Much of her work was with young ladies, some of whom were saved from forced prostitution. The organization she founded was known as the Dohnavur Fellowship. Dohnavur is situated in Tamil Nadu
, thirty miles from the southern tip of India. The fellowship would become a sanctuary for over one thousand children who would otherwise have faced a bleak future.
In an effort to respect Indian culture, members of the organization wore Indian dress and the children were given Indian names. She herself dressed in Indian clothes, dyed her skin with dark coffee, and often travelled long distances on India's hot, dusty roads to save just one child from suffering.
While serving in India, Amy received a letter from a young lady who was considering life as a missionary. She asked Amy, "What is missionary life like?" Amy wrote back saying simply,
Carmichael's work also extended to the printed page. She was a prolific writer, producing thirty-five published books including Things as They Are: Mission Work in Southern India (1903), His Thoughts Said . . . His Father Said (1951), If (1953), Edges of His Ways (1955) and God's Missionary (1957).
over it with the single inscription "Amma", which means mother in the Tamil
.
Her biography quotes her as saying:
Her example as a missionary inspired others (including Jim Elliot
and his wife Elisabeth Elliot
) to pursue a similar vocation.
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, who opened an orphanage
Orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them...
and founded a mission in Dohnavur
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
. She served in India for 55 years without furlough
Furlough
In the United States a furlough is a temporary unpaid leave of some employees due to special needs of a company, which may be due to economic conditions at the specific employer or in the economy as a whole...
and wrote many books about the missionary work there.
Early life
Amy Wilson Carmichael was born in the small village of MillisleMillisle
Millisle or Mill Isle is a village on the Ards Peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is mostly within the townland of Ballymacruise, about south of Donaghadee. It had a population of 1,800 in the 2001 Census...
, County Down
County Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
to David and Catherine Carmichael. Her parents were devout Presbyterians and she was the eldest of seven siblings. One story of Carmichael's early life tells that as a child, she wished that she had blue eyes rather than brown. She often prayed that Jesus would change her eye color and was disappointed when it never happened. She loved to pinch her brother's cheeks to make the prettiest colour blue in his eyes. But she always repented afterwards for hurting her brother. As an adult, however, she realized that, because people from India have brown eyes, she would have had a much more difficult time gaining their acceptance if her eyes had been blue.
Amy's father died when she was 18. Carmichael was the founder of the Welcome Evangelical Church in Belfast. The Welcome’s story begins with Carmichael in the mid 1880’s starting a Sunday morning class for the ‘Shawlies’, i.e. the mill girls who wore shawls instead of hats, in the church hall of Rosemary Street Presbyterian which proved to be very successful. Amy’s work among the shawlies grew and grew until they needed a hall to seat 500 people. At this time Amy saw an advertisement in The Christian, by which an iron hall could be erected for £500 that would seat 500 people.
A donation of £500 from Miss Kate Mitchell, and a donation of a plot of land from one of the mill owners saw the erection of the first "Welcome Hall" on the corner of Cambrai Street and Heather Street in 1887. Amy continued at the Welcome until she received a call to work among the mill girls of Manchester in 1889 before moving onto missionary work. In many ways she was an unlikely candidate for missionary work. She suffered neuralgia
Neuralgia
Neuralgia is pain in one or more nerves that occurs without stimulation of pain receptor cells. Neuralgia pain is produced by a change in neurological structure or function rather than by the excitation of pain receptors that causes nociceptive pain. Neuralgia falls into two categories: central...
, a disease of the nerves that made her whole body weak and achy and often put her in bed for weeks on end. It was at the Keswick Convention of 1887 that she heard Hudson Taylor
Hudson Taylor
James Hudson Taylor , was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China, and founder of the China Inland Mission . Taylor spent 51 years in China...
, founder of the China Inland Mission
China Inland Mission
OMF International is an interdenominational Protestant Christian missionary society, founded in Britain by Hudson Taylor on 25 June 1865.-Overview:...
speak about missionary life. Soon afterwards, she became convinced of her calling to missionary work.
She applied to the China Inland Mission and lived in London at the training house for women, where she met author and missionary to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Mary Geraldine Guinness
Mary Geraldine Guinness
Mary Geraldine Guinness a.k.a. Mrs. Howard Taylor 金樂婷, was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China, and author of many missionary biographies regarding the history of the China Inland Mission Mary Geraldine Guinness a.k.a. Mrs. Howard Taylor 金樂婷(25 December 1865 – 6 June 1949), was...
, who encouraged her to pursue missionary work. She was ready to sail for Asia at one point, when it was determined that her health made her unfit for the work. She postponed her missionary career with the CIM and decided later to join the Church Missionary Society.
Work in India
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
for fifteen months, but after a brief period of service in Lanka, she found her lifelong vocation in India. She was commissioned by the Church of England Zenana Mission
Church of England Zenana Mission
Church of England Zenana Mission was a British Anglican Christian missionary society that was involved in sending workers to countries such as China during the late Qing Dynasty....
. Hindu temple
Hindu temple
A Mandir, Devalayam, Devasthanam, or a Hindu temple is a place of worship for followers of Hinduism...
children were young girls dedicated to the gods and forced into prostitution to earn money for the priests i.e Devadasi
Devadasi
In Hinduism, the devadasi tradition is a religious tradition in which girls are "married" and dedicated to a deity or to a temple and includes performance aspects such as those that take place in the temple as well as in the courtly and mujuvani [telegu] or home context. Dance and music were...
. Much of her work was with young ladies, some of whom were saved from forced prostitution. The organization she founded was known as the Dohnavur Fellowship. Dohnavur is situated in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, thirty miles from the southern tip of India. The fellowship would become a sanctuary for over one thousand children who would otherwise have faced a bleak future.
In an effort to respect Indian culture, members of the organization wore Indian dress and the children were given Indian names. She herself dressed in Indian clothes, dyed her skin with dark coffee, and often travelled long distances on India's hot, dusty roads to save just one child from suffering.
While serving in India, Amy received a letter from a young lady who was considering life as a missionary. She asked Amy, "What is missionary life like?" Amy wrote back saying simply,
Carmichael's work also extended to the printed page. She was a prolific writer, producing thirty-five published books including Things as They Are: Mission Work in Southern India (1903), His Thoughts Said . . . His Father Said (1951), If (1953), Edges of His Ways (1955) and God's Missionary (1957).
Final days and legacy
In 1931, Carmichael was badly injured in a fall, which left her bedridden much of the time until her death. She died in India in 1951 at the age of 83. She asked that no stone be put over her grave; instead, the children she had cared for put a bird bathBird bath
A bird bath is an artificial "puddle" or small shallow pond, created with a water- filled basin, for birds to bathe and 'cool off' in, and drink from...
over it with the single inscription "Amma", which means mother in the Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
.
Her biography quotes her as saying:
Her example as a missionary inspired others (including Jim Elliot
Jim Elliot
Philip James Elliot was an evangelical Christian who was one of five missionaries killed while participating in Operation Auca, an attempt to evangelize the Waodani people of Ecuador.-Early life:...
and his wife Elisabeth Elliot
Elisabeth Elliot
Elisabeth Elliot is a Christian author and speaker. Her first husband, Jim Elliot, was killed in 1956 while attempting to make missionary contact with the Auca of eastern Ecuador. She later spent two years as a missionary to the tribe members who killed her husband...
) to pursue a similar vocation.
Works
(Partial List)- From Sunrise Land: Letters from Japan, Marshall 1895
- Things as they are; mission work in southern India, London: Morgan and Scott (1905)
- Lotus Buds, London: Morgan and Scott (1912)
- Ragland, pioneer, Madras: S.P.C.K. Depository (1922) (biography of Thomas Gajetan Ragland)
- Walker of Tinnevelly, London: Morgan & Scott (1916) (biography of Thomas WalkerThomas WalkerThomas or Tom Walker may refer to:*Thomas Walker , English academic at Oxford University*Thomas Walker , American explorer*Thomas Walker , English ancestor of Bush family...
) - Candles in the Dark, Christian Literature Crusade (June 1982)
- Rose from Brier, Christian Literature Crusade (June 1972)
- Mimosa: A True Story, CLC Publications (September 2005)
- If, Christian Literature Crusade (June 1999)
- Gold Cord, Christian Literature Crusade (June 1957)
- Edges of His Ways, Fort Washington: Christian Literature Crusade (1955)
- Mountain Breezes: The Collected Poems of Amy Carmichael, Christian Literature Crusade (August 1999)
- Whispers of His Power, CLC Publications (June 1993)
- Thou Givest They Gather, CLC Publications (June 1970)
- Ploughed Under : The Story of a Little Lover, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) (1934)
- Kohila: The Shaping of an Indian Nurse, CLC Publications (July 2002)