Luther Rice was one of the first foreign missionaries from the United States. Along with Adoniram Judson and three others, he was ordained a Congregationalist missionary in 1812. In India he and the Judsons accepted the Baptist view of Baptism, joined a Baptist church, and consequently resigned as Congregationalist missionary. Rice returned to America to solicit support for himself and the Judsons from the Baptists.
Rice has been called the Father of American Baptist Foreign Missions. His consuming desire was to bring the Kingdom of God on Earth. He gave himself untiringly to informing Baptists of their mission opportunities and responsibilities, Rice so inspired his listeners to missionary concern that Baptist missionary societies were formed almost everywhere he spoke.
He was among the first to envision a national convention of Baptists composed of representatives of many bodies associating themselves in behalf of missions. This vision achieved substance when the General Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States for foreign missions — the so-called "Triennial Convention" — was formed in 1814.
Both Rice and Judson were appointed missionaries by the Board of the Triennial Convention. However, Rice was asked to remain temporarily in this country and continue his outstanding
work in promoting missions. Rice never returned to India, though he dreamed for years of rejoining Judson.
Until his death in 1836, Rice challenged Baptists in America to give and pray for missions, both foreign and "domestic," and to provide adequate training for those who felt called to God to become missionaries.
Presented by
Woman's Baptist Missionary Organization
Washington, D.C.
Comments 0 comments