The phrase describes the geographical area comprising Northamptonshire and the surrounding counties in which the Nations Team at Wellingborough is based and from which the gospel was launched to the ends of the earth with a fresh emphasis through William Carey just over 200 years ago.
Roots and Shoots is the theme of this series of simple leaflets that have been prepared to further strengthen the rising tide of prayer and action in Carey’s Patch.
Today, we are praying in faith for a move of God in our communities and churches tomorrow! How many of us realise or know of the ways and the people through whom God has moved in this areas yesterdays?
“Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham” Gen 26:18
What God has done before, He can do again.
We want to celebrate our heritage in Him by reflecting on the impact made on society in past generations through the translators, hymn-writers, teachers and emancipators raised up in this area.
Just over two hundred years ago, a major move of prayer in churches across Northamptonshire and the surrounding areas resulted in a deepening concern for the un-reached “ends of the earth”, the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society and the departure of William Carey and others for India. From this platform, the great Protestant mission movement from the UK and other western countries would develop.
The team, now based in Wellingborough, within the area that we refer to as “Carey’s Patch”, have felt that with the passage of time the “wells” of prayer and missionary vision in the local church have become somewhat blocked. Equally strongly, we feel that their unblocking could in some way help facilitate the growth of the new mission movements now emerging in India and the other nations originally evangelised by Carey and those who came after him.
Much of our activity has been aimed at the re-opening of these spiritual wells locally, and within the last few years we have been involved with people from different churches particularly in helping develop new prayer groups and movements across the county.
Our desire is to see Carey’s Patch revived with a fresh passion for the un-reached, at home and abroad. We are pursuing two main goals: firstly to play our part in the spiritual revival of this area and secondly for its ‘live’ connection with the ends of the earth to be renewed.
“That day Isaac’s servants came to him and told him about the well they had dug. They said: “We’ve found water!” He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.” Gen 26:32-33
The account in Genesis 26 of how Isaac re-opened the wells dug by his father Abraham, in the face of enemy opposition, was a foundation scripture when the Nations team was first formed in Earls Barton.
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