A Biography of Amy Carmichael

Missionary to India

Amy 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.

Early Life

Amy Beatrice Carmichael was born in the small village of Millisle, County Down, Ireland in 1867.


One possibly apocryphal story claims that as a child, Amy wished that she had blue eyes rather than brown, and 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 color blue in his eyes. But she always repented afterwards for hurting her brother. As an adult, however, she realized that her brown eye color probably helped her gain acceptance in India.

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Amy attended Harrogate Ladies College for four years in her youth. It was there she converted to Christianity.

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In the mid-1880s, Carmichael started a Sunday-morning class for the ‘Shawlies’ (mill girls who wore shawls instead of hats) in the church hall of Rosemary Street Presbyterian. This mission grew and grew until they needed a hall to seat 500 people.

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At this time Amy saw an advertisement in The Christian, for an iron hall that could be erected for £500 and would seat 500 people. Two donations, £500 from Miss Kate Mitchell and one plot of land from a mill owner, led to the erection of the first "Welcome Hall" on the corner of Cambrai Street and Heather Street in 1887.

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Amy continued at the Welcome until she received a call to work among the mill girls of Manchester in 1889, from which she moved on to missionary work.

Going to India

In many ways Amy seemed an unlikely candidate for missionary work, suffering as she did from neuralgia, a disease of the nerves that made her whole body weak and achy and often put her in bed for weeks on end.


But at the Keswick Convention of 1887, 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 fell ill and returned home.[3] After a brief period of service in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), she went to Bangalore, India for her health and found her lifelong vocation.

Life in India

Carmichael's most notable work was with girls and young women, some of whom were saved from customs that amounted to forced prostitution. Hindu temple children were primarily young girls dedicated to the gods, then usually forced into prostitution to earn money for the priests (i.e., Devadasi).


Carmichael founded the Dohnavur Fellowship in 1901 to continue her work, as she later wrote in The Gold Cord (1932). Dohnavur is situated in Tamil Nadu, thirty miles from India's southern tip. Carmichael's fellowship transformed Dohnavur into a sanctuary for over one thousand children who would otherwise have faced a bleak future.[4]


Carmichael often said that her Ministry of rescuing temple children started with a girl named Preena. Having become a temple servant against her wishes, Preena managed to escape. Amy Carmichael provided her shelter and withstood the threats of those who insisted that the girl be returned either to the temple directly to continue her sexual assignments, or to her family for more indirect return to the temple.


The number of such incidents soon grew, thus beginning Amy Carmichael's new Ministry.[5] When the children were asked what drew them to Amy, they most often replied "It was love. Amma (They’re refferring to Amy as their mother; Amma means mother) loved us."[6]


Respecting Indian culture, members of the organization wore Indian dress and gave the rescued children Indian names. Carmichael herself dressed in Indian clothes, dyed her skin with dark coffee, and often traveled 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, "Missionary life is simply a chance to die."


Nonetheless, in 1912 Queen Mary recognized the missionary's work, and helped fund a hospital at Dohnavur.[7] By 1913, the Dohnavur Fellowship was serving 130 girls. In 1918, Dohnavur added a home for young boys, many born to the former temple prostitutes. Meanwhile, in 1916 Carmichael formed a Protestant religious order called Sisters of the Common Life.

How Amy Carmichael Died

In 1931, a fall severely injured Carmichael, was hurt and she remained bedridden for much of her final two decades. However, it did not stop her from continuing her inspirational writing, for she published 16 additional books (including His Thoughts Said . . . His Father Said (1951), If (1953), Edges of His Ways (1955) and God's Missionary (1957)), as well as revised others she had previously published. Biographers differ on the number of her published works, which may have reached 35 or as many as six dozen, although only a few remain in print today.


Carmichael died in India in 1951 at the age of 83. She asked that no stone be put over her grave at Dohnavur.[8] Instead, the children she had cared for put a bird bath over it with the single inscription "Amma", which means mother in the Tamil language.


Her example as a missionary inspired others (including Jim Elliot and his wife Elisabeth Elliot) to pursue a similar vocation.

Amy Carmichael's Family

Parents:

David Carmichael

Catherine Carmichael

Siblings:

6

Recommended Resources on Amy Carmichael

  1. A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael by Elisabeth Elliot
  2. Amy Carmichael: Mother to the Motherless, starring Elisabeth Elliot, Jonathan Clarke, Margaret Holland.
  3. Amy Carmichael: Beauty for Ashes by Iain H. Murray

Amy Carmichael Movies

  1. The Story of Amy Carmichael, directed by J. Steven Anderson
  2. Amy Carmichael: Mother to the Motherless, starring Elisabeth Elliot, Jonathan Clarke, Margaret Holland.
  3. Torchlighters: Amy Carmichael (Kids DVD)

Amy Carmichael Books

  1. A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael by Elisabeth Elliot
  2. Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur by Frank L. Houghton
  3. Amy Carmichael: Rescuer of Precious Gems by Janet and Geoff Benge (Christian Heroes: Then & Now)
  4. Amy Carmichael: Beauty for Ashes by Iain H. Murray
  5. Amy Carmichael: A Life Abandoned to God by Sam Wellman
  6. Amy Carmichael: Let the Little Children Come by Lois Hoadley Dick
  7. Amy Carmichael: Rescuing the Children by Renee Meloche (Heroes for Young Readers)
  8. Amy Carmichael: Rescuer By Night by Kay Walsh (Trail Blazers)
  9. Amy Carmichael: Can brown eyes be made blue? by Catherine MacKenzie (Little Lights)
  10. The Wild-Bird Child: A Life of Amy Carmichael by Derick Bingham

Works by Amy Carmichael

  1. From Sunrise Land: Letters from Japan, Marshall (1895)
  2. Things as They Are; Mission Work in Southern India, London: Morgan and Scott (1905)
  3. Overweights of Joy. London: Morgan and Scott (1905)
  4. Lotus Buds, London: Morgan and Scott (1912)
  5. The Continuation of a Story. London: Dohnavur Fellowship (1914)
  6. Ragland, Pioneer, Madras: S.P.C.K. Depository (1922) (biography of Thomas Gajetan Ragland)
  7. Walker of Tinnevelly, London: Morgan & Scott (1916) (biography of Thomas Walker)
  8. Though the Mountains Shake, Madras: Diocesan Press (1943)
  9. Candles in the Dark, Christian Literature Crusade (June 1982)
  10. Rose from Brier, Christian Literature Crusade (June 1972)
  11. Mimosa: A True Story, CLC Publications (September 2005)
  12. If: What do I Know of Calvary Love? (June 1999)
  13. Gold Cord, Christian Literature Crusade (June 1957)
  14. Edges of His Ways, Fort Washington: Christian Literature Crusade (1955)
  15. Mountain Breezes: The Collected Poems of Amy Carmichael, Christian Literature Crusade (August 1999)
  16. Whispers of His Power, CLC Publications (June 1993)
  17. Thou Givest They Gather, CLC Publications (June 1970)
  18. Ploughed Under : The Story of a Little Lover, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) (1934)
  19. Kohila: The Shaping of an Indian Nurse, CLC Publications (July 2002)
  20. In This Generation: Looking to the Past to Reach the Present, Todd Ahrend (2010)

Amy Carmichael Quotes

  1. It is a safe thing to trust Him to fulfill the desire that He creates.
  2. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.
  3. He said "Love...as I have loved you." We cannot love too much.
  4. There is only one way of victory over the bitterness and rage that comes naturally to us--To will what God wills brings peace.
  5. Give me the Love that leads the way
    The Faith that nothing can dismay
    The Hope no disappointments tire
    The Passion that'll burn like fire
    Let me not sink to be a clod
    Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God
  1. Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace. If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. In that stillness you will know what His will is.
  2. All along, let us remember we are not asked to understand, but simply to obey…
  3. Let us not be surprised when we have to face difficulties. When the wind blows hard on a tree, the roots stretch and grow the stronger, Let it be so with us. Let us not be weaklings, yielding to every wind that blows, but strong in spirit to resist.
  4. When I consider the cross of Christ, how can anything that I do be called sacrifice?
  5. Let nothing be said about anyone unless it passes through the three sieves: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?
  6. If the praise of others elates me and their blame depresses me; if I cannot rest under misunderstandin g without defending myself; if I love to be loved more than to love, to be served more than to serve, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

Fun Facts About Amy Carmichael

  1. In Belfast, her family founded the Welcome Evangelical Church.
  2. Amy Carmichael was the oldest of seven children.
  3. When Amy was eighteen, her father died. As such, she had to help take care of her brothers and sisters.
  4. Amy served in India for 55 years without leaving the country.

Sources

  1. "Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur". Home History | The Heartbeat of the Remnant. Ephrata ministries. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  2. "Amy Carmichael". Welcome church. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  3. "A Living Legacy:: Amy Carmichael and the Origin of the Dohnavur Fellowship". Mission Frontiers. 1999-01-01. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  4. "Welcome to Dohnavur - Home". Dohnavur.weebly.com. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  5. "Amy Carmichael:Rescuer of Children". atgsociety. Archived from the original on 1 May 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  6. Introduction, by Elisabeth Elliot, The Collected Poems of Amy Carmichael CLC, Fort Washington, USA ISBN 0-87508-790-6
  7. "Amy Carmichael - Welcome". Welcomechurch.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  8. "Dohnavur Fellowship". Find A Grave. 1951-01-18. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  9. Elisabeth Elliot, A Chance to Die: the Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael.
  10. "Some quotes from one of my heroines-Amy Carmichael | Simply Church: A House Church Perspective". Simply Church. 2013-12-11. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  11. "Amy Carmichael Quotes". Christian-quotes.ochristian.com. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
  12. Ahrend, Todd (July 9, 2011). In This Generation: Looking to the Past to Reach the Present. Book Villages.
This information is provided under the Wikipedia Creative Common License.
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