Birth: 25.03.1783
Death: 25.09.1836
Native Place: Northborough,
Place of Vision: United States
While some missionaries set out to proclaim the Gospel, others toil behind the scenes to support those who evangelize worldwide. Though the calling may be different, they all served their Master with utmost dedication. Luther Rice belonged to the latter category who sounded the trumpet call of missions and awakened the Baptists to their responsibilities to a world of need. When William Carey founded the modern missionary movement, many became advocates of global missions, including Rice.
Inspired by John Newton’s testimony, Rice was drawn towards the missionary work at a very young age. He went to Williams College to prepare for the ministry and became an active member of the mission society. Supported by the Congregationalists, Rice, Adoniram Judson, and a few other set sailed to India, where they met Carey. However, they had to abort their mission in India due to insufficient financial backing from the Congregationalist board. Rice decided to return to the United States with a vision to remind the church about the responsibility of sharing in the work of worldwide evangelism
Back in his country, Rice traveled thousands of miles on horseback or a stagecoach to make his plea to Baptist churches to support mission work. He unified the churches interested in missions that resulted in forming the ‘General Missionary Convention’ for Foreign Missions (also known as the Triennial Convention). The convention not only supports foreign missions but also sends missionaries to domestic and foreign countries. The itinerant missionary also established mission societies, Sunday schools, and Bible societies and emphasized the need for Christian education and ministerial training.
Rice also had his share of distress and opposition during his ministry. Yet his passion for promoting the cause for mission helped open mission doors in many Asian countries, including India. His twenty-three years of fruitful ministry among the Baptists in the US resulted in the transformation of scattered disorganized churches into a proper denomination.
