Saints CVs – Amy Carmichael 1867-1951

Amy Beatrice Carmichael was born into a prosperous Victorian family in Millisle, County Down, Northern Ireland. She was the eldest of seven children. Amy trusted the Lord at an early age.

She was always sympathetic to people in need. As a teenager, she encountered the ‘shawlies’ - rough, working-class girls in Belfast who could only afford cheap woollen shawls rather than proper hats. She was instrumental in setting up and running the Welcome Hall, an outreach mission to these girls where they could hear the gospel message and see the love of God in action through the kindness of believers.

Amy moved to Manchester, England, with her mother and younger sisters when the family fell into poverty, shortly after the death of her father. Here she became involved with the Keswick movement, meeting influential leaders like Hudson Taylor and F. B. Meyer. Amy felt an urgent call to missionary service. In 1893, she sailed for Japan as the first missionary to be supported directly by the Keswick Convention. However, poor health forced her to return after little more than one year.

Following a brief visit home, she left for the South of India in 1895 and remained in that country for the next half a century. Amy learned to speak and read the Tamil language fluently. She observed, humorously, that if God could make a donkey speak, then He could teach her another language.¹ Following the example of Hudson Taylor, she integrated with the community by adopting their local dress and food.

Amy travelled around villages teaching women and children about the Bible. The biggest problem she encountered was the prevalence of idol temples, where young girls would be ‘married to the gods’, effectively sold into immorality, similar to first-century pagan practices.

Amy began rescuing temple children, protecting them from this terrible life of abuse and slavery. She encountered severe persecution, including atone stage being accused by the authorities of kidnapping children. Eventually, Amy set up a residential centre for young people in Dohnavur, Tamil Nadu state. The Dohnavur mission which she founded remains in operation today.² Children affectionately called her ‘Amma’, which means mother in the Tamil language. Although she had left her family behind in Britain, Amy enjoyed the friendship and loyalty of many children at Dohnavur.

She was a prolific author, publishing over thirty books. Many of these were written after a serious accident in 1931 which left her with limited mobility. Her primary audience was back home in Britain, as she informed them about the remarkable spiritual need in India. However, she never solicited funds directly; like Müller and others, she always looked in faith to the Lord for provision of her needs. The Dohnavur Fellowship runs on identical principles today.

Carmichael was a gifted poet, producing many striking devotional works. Some of these have been set to music as hymns, such as Make me Thy fuel. Flame of God.³

From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified;
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire;
Let me not sink to be a clod;
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.

She also wrote a meditative commentary on 1 Corinthians chapter 13, entitled If: What Do I Know Of Calvary Love?⁴Some of her challenging statements are shown below.

• ‘If I can easily discuss the shortcomings and the sins of any; if I can speak in a casual way even of a child’s misdoings, then I know nothing of Calvary love’.
• ‘If my interest in the work of others is cool; if I think in terms of my own special work; if the burdens of others are not my burdens too, and their joys mine, then I know nothing of Calvary love’.
• ‘If I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the Cross, then I know nothing of Calvary love’.

Amy Carmichael is buried at Dohnavur in India; by her own request, there is no headstone to mark her grave. There is a statue of Carmichael in Belfast, as well as a blue plaque in her birthplace of Millisle. However, her powerful legacy consists of the many children rescued from temple slavery and her stirring devotional writings.