Amy Carmichael

Amy Wilson Carmichael ( born December 16, 1867 in Millisle, County Down, Northern Ireland, † January 18, 1951 ) was an India missionary and author. She opened an orphanage and founded a mission station in Dohnavur. For 55 years, she worked in India without furlough and wrote many books about their missionary work.

Early life

Amy Wilson Carmichael was in the small village of Millisle, County Down in Northern Ireland, was born as the eldest child of seven siblings. Her parents were David and Catherine Carmichael, devout Presbyterians. From her childhood was told that she often prayed, Jesus may give her blue instead of her brown eyes. She was very disappointed when they did not get any blue eyes. As an adult, however, she realized that she was much better accepted by the Indians, because they had their eye color, and that it would become her much harder with blue eyes, remaining there. Amy's father died when she was 18.

Carmichael was the founder of the Welcome Evangelical Church in Belfast. The history of the church began when they have a Sunday morning class for ' Shawlies ', collected mid-1880s. These were girls who wore hats scarves instead ( Mill girls ). They met in the parish hall of the Presbyterian Rosemary Street Church. This work proved to be very successful. The meetings of the ' Shawlies ' grew so much that Amy finally needed a hall with capacity for 500 people. Just at this time, she saw an ad in the magazine "The Christian ," where a hall was offered from an iron construction, which could hold 500 people and cost £ 500.

A donation of £ 500 from Miss Kate Mitchell, plus the donation of land by one of the mill owners made ​​the construction of the first "Welcome Hall " at the corner of Cambrai Street - Heather Street in Belfast in 1887, Amy worked in the. Welcome Church until 1889, a call from Manchester reached. She was asked, "Girls Mill " also work there under the before finally going to the mission work. In many ways it was unsuitable for this work. She suffered neuralgia, a nerve disorder, which she constantly had feelings of weakness and pain. Often she was bedridden for weeks. It was at the Keswick Convention in 1887, when she heard speak Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission about missionary life. Soon after, she was aware of her appointment to the missionary work safely. She applied to the China Inland Mission, and then prepared himself in London on the mission before. There she met the writer and China missionary Mary Geraldine Guinness, who encouraged her to go on mission. She was willing to travel to Asia in a mission area, but was found guilty of her health for disabled. She shifted her Missionaris career at the China Inland Mission and decided to join the Church Missionary Society.

Labour in India

Initially Carmichael traveled for 15 months after Japan, but after a brief stint in Lanka they found her lifelong vocation in India. She was commissioned by the Church of England Zenana Mission. She experienced temple prostitution and child trafficking: There were temple - children, young girls who were forced into prostitution to earn money for the Hindu priest ( Devadasi, actually temple dancers ). Carmichael dealt with them and could use some of the forced prostitution rescue. The organization, which she founded, has been called " Dohnavur Fellowship " known ( Dohnavur located in Tamil Nadu, 30 miles from the southern tip of India ). The organization was a refuge for more than a thousand children.

In an effort to respect Indian culture, members of the organization wore Indian dress and the children were given Indian names. Carmichael himself also wore Indian dress, and colored her skin with dark coffee. So they often traveled long distances, sometimes to save only one child.

During her time in India, Amy received a letter from a young woman who was considering to go into their own mission. This Amy asked, "What makes missionary life " Amy simply wrote back: " Missionary life is simply a way to die."

Carmichael was also a prolific author; She published 35 books, among others: 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).

Last time and legacy

In 1931, Carmichael was tied after a fall to the bed. At the violation and its consequences, she had to suffer until her death. She died in India in 1951 at the age of 83 years; and asked them not to get a grave, but a bird bath with the inscription " Amma " - in Tamil "mother". Your example as a missionary inspired example Jim Elliot and his wife.

Selection of their works

  • From Sunrise Country: 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 Walker)
  • 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)

Biographies

  • Elisabeth Elliot: A Chance to Die: the Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael. Fleming H. Revell Company, Old Tappan, NJ, 1987, ISBN 0-8007-1535-7.
  • Sam Wellman: Amy Carmichael: A Life Abandoned to God. Barbour Publishing, Uhrichville, Ohio 1998, ISBN 1-57748-364-2.
  • Derick Bingham: The Wild -Bird Child: A Life of Amy Carmichael. Ambassador -Emerald International, 2004, ISBN 1-84030-144-9
  • Frank Houghton: Amy Carmichael The story of a great woman. R. Brockhaus Verlag, Wuppertal, 1990, ISBN 3-417-20830-0.
  • Protestant missionary
  • Author
  • Briton
  • Born in 1867
  • Died in 1951
  • Woman
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