Carey argued that the commission given by Jesus to the apostles in Matthew 28:18–20 “laid them under obligation to disperse themselves into every country of the habitable globe, and to preach to all the inhabitants, without exception, or limitation.”

On October 7, 1805, nine men signed their names to a document that would govern their lives and efforts to proclaim the gospel throughout India. The document became known as the Serampore Form of Agreement (sometimes inaccurately called the Serampore Covenant). The signers, many of them pioneers in the history of baptist missions, included William Carey, Joshua Marshman, William Ward, John Chamberlain, Richard Mardon, John Biss, William Moore, Joshua Rowe, and Felix Carey (William Carey’s son). In the Agreement, the signers accepted eleven principles that would henceforth guide the mission work in India, with the “hope that multitudes of converted souls will have reason to bless God to all eternity for sending His Gospel into this country.”

Reading the Agreement today, we might be surprised by the number of themes that continue to prevail among missionaries and missiologists: an emphasis on cultural anthropology, the desire for self-supporting churches, the priority of Bible translation and education, and more. So, although originally written to guide missionary work two centuries ago, this document remains profoundly relevant today, not only for missionary service but for every disciple of Christ seeking to make him known in an increasingly globalized world.

Wherever we need to remember our priorities as pilgrims in this present world—at home, school, or work, or while traveling, running errands, or hosting neighbors—the Serampore Agreement serves as a timeless teacher.

Serampore Priorities

William Carey arrived in India in 1793, sent out by the recently formed Baptist Missionary Society. After first establishing work in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Carey relocated to Danish-controlled Serampore in West Bengal in 1800, where he ministered until he died in 1834. There he joined Joshua Marshman and William Ward, and together they formed a new church, with Carey as the pastor and Marshman and Ward as deacons.

Five years later, with an increasing number of new missionary recruits arriving and new converts being added to the fellowship, they agreed to review the church-leadership structure and recent progress of the work and establish parameters for future ministry. It was in this missional-ecclesial context that the Agreement was formed.

The document consists of eleven convictions that set forth “the Great Principles upon which the Brethren of the Mission at Serampore think it their duty to act in the work of instructing the Heathen.” The Agreement calls the missionaries to fix their “serious and abiding attention” on these principles. Recognizing that the Lord, in his sovereignty, had planted them at Serampore and given them difficult work to do, they wanted to put their hands to the plow with diligence and perseverance under his own mighty hand.

In what follows, I do not summarize every article in the Agreement (though I encourage you to read the short document yourself). Instead, I aim to highlight three priorities expressed in the document that characterized these early missionaries and that remain priorities for Christians today.

“May Our Hearts Bleed”

What drew Carey and others to India in the first place? In his Enquiry, published about thirteen years prior to the Agreement, Carey argued that the commission given by Jesus to the apostles in Matthew 28:18–20 “laid them under obligation to disperse themselves into every country of the habitable globe, and to preach to all the inhabitants, without exception, or limitation” (An Enquiry, 7). Carey’s claim did not fall on deaf ears. Fired by zeal to see people from across the globe yield to Christ, scores of missionaries were sent out by churches to the far reaches of the world.

This same zeal sets the tone for the whole Serampore Agreement. Article 1 states,

In order to be prepared for our great and solemn work, it is absolutely necessary that we set an infinite value upon immortal souls; that we often endeavor to affect our minds with the dreadful loss sustained by an unconverted soul launched into eternity…If we have not this awful sense of the value of souls, it is impossible that we can feel aright in any other part of our work.
(Article 1)

Remembering that many millions of people lay under the power of darkness was indispensable for the multiform work of missions in West Bengal. Though the missionaries engaged not only in evangelism but also in education, cultivation, business, translation, and much more, the lost state of souls and the danger of eternal damnation was the raison d’être for their labors. Forgetfulness of such an awe-full reality would result in work that focused merely on temporal needs—perhaps improving the conditions of unbelievers but failing to hold forth salvation.

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