Amy Carmichael

Irish-born Amy Beatrice Carmichael was a Christian missionary in India who lived from December 16, 1867, until January 18, 1951. She spent her 55 years in Dohnavur, where she founded a mission and an orphanage. After serving as a missionary, Amy authored 35 books on her experiences. Her unique life and activities are explored in her biography. She was a Protestant Christian missionary in India who was committed to serving others.

Early Years

In 1867, Amy Beatrice Carmichael—the eldest of seven siblings—was born in Millisle, County Down, Ireland. A devout Christian couple, David and Catherine were her parents. During her childhood, Amy spent four years as a student at Harrogate Ladies College. An affluent Irish family welcomed Amy Carmichael into the world. She lived in luxury, attended the greatest boarding schools, and was blessed with many wonderful things since her father had a grain mill.

Nevertheless, when her father's company began to lose money and ultimately dissolved, everything was altered. Her father was quite stressed out by this, and as a result, he became ill and died. Due to their declining financial condition, the family was unable to maintain their previous standard of living. Following her forced school absence, Amy worked with her mother to raise her younger siblings for the following 10 years.

Amy's mother, brothers, and she saw an elderly lady in tattered clothing who was begging as they were leaving church one cold day. Amy assisted her along the alley since she needed assistance. Her face was covered when she encountered believers; however, she felt ashamed.

Walking with him, Amy heard someone discussing experimental work with fire and saw a fountain. Amy became aware that she wanted to act in a way that would please God rather than merely look beautiful, even though she was blind.

Amy had once seen a young beggar girl peering in from the exterior of the café where she was eating tea and cookies with her mother. Because of how much this affected Amy, she made a self-promise to donate money to the underprivileged when she grew up.

In Belfast, where they established the Welcome Evangelical Church, Amy's family relocated when she was sixteen years old. During the mid-1880s, Amy started a Sunday morning class at Rosemary Street Presbyterian Church for mill girls known as "Shawlies." With contributions, the first "Welcome Hall" was constructed in 1887 as this ministry rapidly expanded.

Before feeling called to serve among the Manchester mill girls in 1889, Amy kept on her job at the Welcome. Eventually, despite having neuralgia, she began serving as a missionary abroad. Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM), gave a speech on missionary life at the Keswick Convention in 1887. Her calling to serve as a missionary was confirmed by this event. Amy had to postpone her plans after applying to the CIM owing to health issues. Later, she became a member of the Church Missionary Society. She was prepared to set up a ship for Asia, but her health issue caused her missionary career to be delayed.

Work in India

Amy Carmichael came home for health reasons after a fifteen-month stint in Japan. After a brief stint of service in Ceylon, Sri Lanka, she traveled to Bangalore, India, where she made the decision to remain and carry out missionary work. In his work with girls and young women, some of whom had been saved from conditions that amounted to forced prostitution, Carmichael was commissioned by the Church of England Zenana Mission.

Approximately thirty miles from India's southernmost point, in Tamil Nadu, she established the Dohnavur in 1901. Started in the early 1800s as a project supported by Count Dohna, Carmichael's fellowship turned the location into a haven for more than a thousand kids. It was Preena, a girl who had run away from being a temple worker, who came to Carmichael for safety, and thus the ministry of mercy started. The quest by Carmichael to save temple children began with this incident.

The Dohnavur group gave the rescued youngsters Indian names, and its members dressed in traditional Indian garb as a sign of respect for Indian culture. Wearing Indian attire, Carmichael used dark coffee to color her complexion. Carmichael once called missionary life "simply a chance to die" in a letter he sent in response to a young woman who was thinking about pursuing it.

A hospital was being built in Dohnavur with the aid of personnel and money by 1912, and 130 girls were receiving care from the Fellowship by 1913. 1918 also saw the creation of a shelter for young boys, many of them the offspring of former temple prostitutes. A Protestant religious order known as the sisters of the Common Life was founded by Carmichael in 1916.

Legacy

Throughout her time as a missionary in India, Amy Carmichael penned several books and essays. The 83-year-old woman asked for no burial marker in Dohnavur when she died in India in 1951.

She is an inspiration to many other Christian missionaries. Amy Carmichael's Dohnavur Fellowship nonetheless continues. With a hospital and sixteen nurseries, it now provides housing for around 500 people on 400 acres. Presently, the 1896-founded C.S.I. Tirunelveli Diocese, which Indians lead, oversees the foundation.

New policies following Indian law require all children born or brought to Dohnavur to be sent out for education by the 6th grade. Boys who are too young to live in the community were adopted out as of 1982.

In the Church of England, January 18 is dedicated to honoring Amy Carmichael. Additionally, a college was named after her Carmichael College in Morayfield, City of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia, known as Carmichael College. She wrote and published 16 additional novels despite her infirmities. Just a few of her novels are still in print today, despite other sources claiming she wrote up to 72 volumes.

Amy Carmichael's Cause of Death

In 1951, at the age of 83, Amy Carmichael died in India. The kids who had looked after her asked for a plain burial without a monument; instead, they covered it with a bird bath that said "Amma," which sounds like mother in Tamil. Jim Elliot and Elisabeth Elliot were among the people who were motivated to become missionaries by her life.