This Week - 1901
Amy Carmichael
On March 6, 1901, Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), known as “God’s Kidnapper,” rescues (kidnaps) her first girl, Preena, who was being held as a temple prostitute in southern India. Priests would often pay parents for their young girls to use them as prostitutes in the temples to earn money. Her ministry eventually provided shelter and protection for over one thousand children over five decades.
As a young adult, she heard Hudson Taylor speak of China missions and applied for the China Inland Mission work. Due to poor health, she did not move to Asia until a few years later. Sent by the Church of England, she had a short stay in Japan and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and then went to Bangalore, India, for health reasons.
Amy arrived in India in 1896 as a single missionary at the age of 29. She adopted native dress, dyed her hair black, and stained her skin brown to blend into the local population. Amy became one of the best known missionaries from Britain. She wrote 35 books about her 55 years serving in India. For the final 20 years of her life in India, she was an invalid due to a tragic fall. She continued to write books and influence Indian ladies to continue her work. She died in India in 1951 at the age of 83. A fellow missionary who worked with her in India stated, “Amy Carmichael had the most Christ-like character of anyone I have ever met. Her life was the most fragrant and the most joyfully sacrificial that I have ever known.”
Prayer Points:
1. Pray for young girls and boys who are trafficked as sexual workers throughout the world.
2. Pray for the Christian servants seeking to rescue sexual workers and provide security and protection to them in a lifestyle that would honor God.
3. Pray for Hindus to see the light of the Gospel of Jesus.
Source: Barkey, Paul E. On This Day in Church Mission History. Manhattan, Kansas: Ag Press, 2016.
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