The Missionary Mindset series looks into the lives of notable missionaries to provide valuable insights and inspiration. Read the last post in the Missionary Mindset series here.
Amy Carmichael is an accomplished missionary and author who poured her life out rescuing children from Hindu temple prostitution in Tamil Nadu, India. Her life and legacy can be summed up by one powerful word: love.
Amy’s Background
Amy was the eldest of seven children born into the Presbyterian home of David and Catherine Carmichael. When she was 17 years old, her parents moved the family from Millisle to Belfast, Ireland to found the Welcome Evangelical Church.
In Belfast, Amy led a Sunday Bible study for mill girls living in the slums that quickly surpassed 500 weekly attendees. A few years later, she continued this ministry among mill workers enduring harsh factory life in Manchester, England.
Sensing a desire to spend her life in ministry, Amy attended the Keswick Convention in England where she heard Hudson Taylor—a Chinese missionary—speak.
Soon after, Amy realized her life was to be spent in the mission field, even though that would require her to overcome a constant battle with neuralgia—a nerve disease that attacked her body with weakness and fatigue and often left her bedridden.
Her first major mission journey to Japan ended after 15 months due to illness. Once mended, Amy served a short stint in Sri Lanka before landing in India where her ministry thrived.
In India, Amy learned about traditional Hindu practices, including temple prostitution. It was common for young girls and boys to be dedicated to Hindu gods and goddesses and forced to trade their dignity to earn wages for the temple priests.
To combat this form of early 20th century sex trafficking, Amy started rescuing children from forced prostitution.
After meeting a young girl named Preena who escaped temple prostitution, Amy founded the Dohnavur Fellowship in 1901 to provide a safe haven for the thousands of children caught in the same disturbing practices.
Despite threats from many who opposed her work and constant kidnapping accusations, the fellowship flourished. By 1920, a school, hospital, and homes for the children were built on site.
In 1931, a debilitating injury from a fall limited Amy’s mobility, but did not stunt her ability to speak love and wisdom to many. She spent a majority of the last two decades of her life putting pen to paper, writing books to inspire people in their faith and missionary work.
After 56 years of ministry in India, Amy died in 1951 at 83 years old.
Amy’s Legacy
Someone considering a life in missions once asked Amy what missionary life was like. She replied, “Missionary life is simply a chance to die.”
She understood the real threats that accompany a life lived radically for Christ and boldly embraced Paul’s mantra, “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
Her commitment to serving the oppressed in India continues to influence many today. Some of Amy’s accomplishments and experiences include:
- Founding the Dohnavur Fellowship that still operates in India
- Witnessing the passing of Indian laws prohibiting temple prostitution in 1948
- Writing 35 books that inspire many missionaries, including Jim and Elisabeth Elliot
Before her death, Amy requested to be buried without a tombstone to mark her resting place. The children at Dohnavur instead placed a birdbath with the inscription “Amma,”—Indian for mother—near her gravesite, a clear marker of the legacy of love she left with the children and missionaries touched by her ministry.
More Inspiration from Amy
Amy’s personal and published writings are still revered today. Here are some of our favorite quotes from a kind, yet tenacious Christ follower:
- “You can always give without loving, but you can never love without giving.”
- “All along, let us remember we are not asked to understand, but simply obey.”
- “God hold us to that which drew us first, when the Cross was the attraction, and we wanted nothing else.”
- “He said ‘Love … as I have loved you.’ We cannot love too much.”
- “I think God wants to make me pure gold, so He is burning out the dross, teaching me the meaning of the fire, the burnt offering, the death of the self-part of me.”