John and Mary Williams: Polynesia's Messengers of Peace
John and Mary Williams: Polynesia's Messengers of Peace
If one takes the A10 road north from London, and drives through Stoke Newington, Stamford Hall, and Seven Sisters, one will come next to Tottenham, which was a tiny village in the late 18th century and home to the Williams family. John was born in June of 1796 to parents devoted to God. He was a good student in grade-school and, in 1810 at fourteen years old, was apprenticed for seven years to Enoch Tonkin, a furnishing ironmonger in the City Road, London. He set himself to learn his trade, and showed so much ability that Tonkin entrusted him with his most delicate precision work.
Early 1814, John heard a sermon by Timothy East of Birmingham, at the Tabernacle in Moorfields, that changed his life. That day, he sensed a call to missions. In September, he became a member of the Tabernacle congregation, where Matthew Wilks was minister, and began to take an active part in church work. The congregation was much interested in partnering with the London Missionary Society, founded in 1795, which was requesting new volunteers for missions. John resolved to offer himself as a candidate. In July of 1816 he applied to the directors and, after passing an examination, was accepted. The islands of the Pacific were assigned to him. Tonkin released him from his last year of guild service, and on 30 September, John and several others were set apart at a commissioning service held in Surrey Chapel. A few days later, in October, John married Mary Maidmeet, who had a similar call, and in the next spring of 1817 they sailed for Sydney, Australia, aboard the Harriet schooner in the company of fellow missionaries William and Mary Mercy Ellis, and John and Mary Orsmond.
On board, the missionaries trained hard. Until the voyages of Captain Cook in the 1770s, the western world had not been aware of the multiple islands of the South Pacific. The task for the new missionaries was daunting for three reasons. First, there were 30,000 islands in the Pacific, so the field was vast. In fact, the fifteen million islanders were scattered across more than twenty million square miles of ocean! Next, the tropical beauty of the surroundings contrasted sharply with the wretchedness of the islanders practices. Sacrificing their children was common, as was drunkenness, and violence and bloodshed against other islanders. They worshiped demons, birds, stone idols, and religions, customs, and languages varied widely from island to island. Last, cannibalistic feasts were also part of the religion of these islands.
More than any other man, John Williams would be the instrument of God to open the islands of the South Pacific to mission work. The first island where the Williams labored was the beautiful Tahiti. It was here that a small mission plant had already been founded, and Williams and Mary learned how to operate a mission station among the cannibals. The next island where they began a pioneer work was Raiatea in the Society island group, invited there by their monarch, King Tamatoa, who had sought them out. He had been looking for someone to come and give them the message of salvation. The Williams served on Raiatea for five years. In this short period of time, they saw remarkable results! The congregation grew to more than 2,000 people. Hundreds were baptized and were discipled by teachers of their own people, trained by John.
Permanent communities were built and farms were cultivated for the first time. Animals like goats, horses, and cattle were brought from Australia to help with diet and labor. King Tamatoa prospered as he ruled in the fear of God, using the Ten Commandments as his guide. John Williams reduced the language to writing and translated the Bible into Raiatean. Soon, indigenous workers began to lead the work. Williams wrote back to his parents in Wales, “I am engaged in the best of services, for the best of masters, and upon the best of terms.”
John next turned his attention to an island in the Cook group, called Raratonga. Here he experienced similar success, although the mission work was not without its troubles. Several times there were violent plots upon his life. Malaria and other tropical diseases took their tolls on the Williams family. Mary Williams lost several babies to illnesses.
After Raratonga was evangelized and a church was thriving there, John turned his attention again eastward, toward the Samoan group. It was during these years that he planned better mission strategies for the South Pacific mission. He knew that white missionaries could not do the work needed. Indigenous teachers who understood the culture, knew the languages, and were familiar with the seas were critical to the success of this missionary endeavor.
Williams took his example from Jesus, who sent out disciples two by two to preach and teach in the rural villages of Galilee. Following this pattern, Williams commissioned a ship to be built that would serve as a mobile base of operations. The ship was called The Messenger of Peace. As the missionary team sailed, Williams would stop on various islands and meet with the chiefs. If the chiefs were willing, Williams would leave native teachers from Tahiti, from Raiatea, or from Raratonga to open pioneer stations and schools. Islands like Aitutaki, Upolu, Apia, Savai’i, Futuna, and many other smaller islands were reached in this way over a period of about ten years.
In 1833, John and Mary returned to England for the first and only time. He preached all across the country and many Christians began to support this work. Young adults also heard and responded to the call to become missionaries. Williams wrote a short description of the South Sea islands, and 38,000 copies sold within five short years.
On April 11, 1838, John and Mary Williams set sail from London, bound for the other side of the world. The wharves, docks, and bridges were lined with people who came to see them off. Only one year later, soon after he had arrived back in the South Pacific, John Williams set his sights upon the New Hebrides islands, even though it was known that the inhabitants were among the fiercest cannibals in the Pacific. Leaving his wife at the mission station on Upolu, Williams and his friend William Ellis sailed toward the New Hebrides.
In the morning of November 20, 1839, John and William prepared to land on the island of Erromango from Dillon's Bay. Little did they know that, days before, godless traders had treated the people with ruthless disdain and killed some of their tribesmen. So, when John and William stepped ashore, they were both attacked and brutally beaten with war clubs. Their corpses were dragged into the dense vegetation to be cooked and eaten. The grief-stricken native workers, the faithful fellow-laborers of John and William, watched in horror from the boat and later wrote down what they had witnessed. When Mary heard the news, she received it with grace and strength. Later, their eldest son, John, continued his father’s work in Samoa. Samuel, the youngest boy, also became a messenger of the Gospel, carrying the middle name of Tamatoa in respect for the Island King who had first welcomed his father to Raiatea.
The surprise ending to this story is that in 2009, 170 years after John's death, descendants of those responsible for the killings invited the family of John Williams to Erromango, part of the nation of Vanuatu, to a special event. Eighteen members of the Williams Family traveled from across the world to this small island. In a day full of ceremony and sorrow, the now mostly Christian community reenacted the killing of John Williams. Then, dozens of its members lined up humbly to ask the Family for forgiveness. In turn, the Williams Family agreed to take on the responsibility for the education of a seven-year-old girl, who was ceremonially handed over to them in exchange for the loss of John Williams.
A sixty-five year old great-great-grandson of John and Mary said that, having expected to be dispassionate after 170 years, the overall event was "just raw emotion and that the genuine contrition and heart-rending sorrow of the islanders was hugely moving." As a final act of contrition and concern for the Williams Family, the islanders announced that, in future, the bay where the atrocities occurred, up to that time known as Dillons Bay, was now to be renamed Williams Bay as a mark of respect and reconciliation.
Peace-making is a powerful part of this story on many levels. John and Mary sought to make the Prince of Peace known to those who had never heard. They went in peace, and their ministry required all they had to give. Thousands found the Peace of Christ. And, in God's good time, peace came in the form of reconciliation to an entire people. What a story! And what a God!
-Karen O'Dell Bullock
Early 1814, John heard a sermon by Timothy East of Birmingham, at the Tabernacle in Moorfields, that changed his life. That day, he sensed a call to missions. In September, he became a member of the Tabernacle congregation, where Matthew Wilks was minister, and began to take an active part in church work. The congregation was much interested in partnering with the London Missionary Society, founded in 1795, which was requesting new volunteers for missions. John resolved to offer himself as a candidate. In July of 1816 he applied to the directors and, after passing an examination, was accepted. The islands of the Pacific were assigned to him. Tonkin released him from his last year of guild service, and on 30 September, John and several others were set apart at a commissioning service held in Surrey Chapel. A few days later, in October, John married Mary Maidmeet, who had a similar call, and in the next spring of 1817 they sailed for Sydney, Australia, aboard the Harriet schooner in the company of fellow missionaries William and Mary Mercy Ellis, and John and Mary Orsmond.
On board, the missionaries trained hard. Until the voyages of Captain Cook in the 1770s, the western world had not been aware of the multiple islands of the South Pacific. The task for the new missionaries was daunting for three reasons. First, there were 30,000 islands in the Pacific, so the field was vast. In fact, the fifteen million islanders were scattered across more than twenty million square miles of ocean! Next, the tropical beauty of the surroundings contrasted sharply with the wretchedness of the islanders practices. Sacrificing their children was common, as was drunkenness, and violence and bloodshed against other islanders. They worshiped demons, birds, stone idols, and religions, customs, and languages varied widely from island to island. Last, cannibalistic feasts were also part of the religion of these islands.
More than any other man, John Williams would be the instrument of God to open the islands of the South Pacific to mission work. The first island where the Williams labored was the beautiful Tahiti. It was here that a small mission plant had already been founded, and Williams and Mary learned how to operate a mission station among the cannibals. The next island where they began a pioneer work was Raiatea in the Society island group, invited there by their monarch, King Tamatoa, who had sought them out. He had been looking for someone to come and give them the message of salvation. The Williams served on Raiatea for five years. In this short period of time, they saw remarkable results! The congregation grew to more than 2,000 people. Hundreds were baptized and were discipled by teachers of their own people, trained by John.
Permanent communities were built and farms were cultivated for the first time. Animals like goats, horses, and cattle were brought from Australia to help with diet and labor. King Tamatoa prospered as he ruled in the fear of God, using the Ten Commandments as his guide. John Williams reduced the language to writing and translated the Bible into Raiatean. Soon, indigenous workers began to lead the work. Williams wrote back to his parents in Wales, “I am engaged in the best of services, for the best of masters, and upon the best of terms.”
John next turned his attention to an island in the Cook group, called Raratonga. Here he experienced similar success, although the mission work was not without its troubles. Several times there were violent plots upon his life. Malaria and other tropical diseases took their tolls on the Williams family. Mary Williams lost several babies to illnesses.
After Raratonga was evangelized and a church was thriving there, John turned his attention again eastward, toward the Samoan group. It was during these years that he planned better mission strategies for the South Pacific mission. He knew that white missionaries could not do the work needed. Indigenous teachers who understood the culture, knew the languages, and were familiar with the seas were critical to the success of this missionary endeavor.
Williams took his example from Jesus, who sent out disciples two by two to preach and teach in the rural villages of Galilee. Following this pattern, Williams commissioned a ship to be built that would serve as a mobile base of operations. The ship was called The Messenger of Peace. As the missionary team sailed, Williams would stop on various islands and meet with the chiefs. If the chiefs were willing, Williams would leave native teachers from Tahiti, from Raiatea, or from Raratonga to open pioneer stations and schools. Islands like Aitutaki, Upolu, Apia, Savai’i, Futuna, and many other smaller islands were reached in this way over a period of about ten years.
In 1833, John and Mary returned to England for the first and only time. He preached all across the country and many Christians began to support this work. Young adults also heard and responded to the call to become missionaries. Williams wrote a short description of the South Sea islands, and 38,000 copies sold within five short years.
On April 11, 1838, John and Mary Williams set sail from London, bound for the other side of the world. The wharves, docks, and bridges were lined with people who came to see them off. Only one year later, soon after he had arrived back in the South Pacific, John Williams set his sights upon the New Hebrides islands, even though it was known that the inhabitants were among the fiercest cannibals in the Pacific. Leaving his wife at the mission station on Upolu, Williams and his friend William Ellis sailed toward the New Hebrides.
In the morning of November 20, 1839, John and William prepared to land on the island of Erromango from Dillon's Bay. Little did they know that, days before, godless traders had treated the people with ruthless disdain and killed some of their tribesmen. So, when John and William stepped ashore, they were both attacked and brutally beaten with war clubs. Their corpses were dragged into the dense vegetation to be cooked and eaten. The grief-stricken native workers, the faithful fellow-laborers of John and William, watched in horror from the boat and later wrote down what they had witnessed. When Mary heard the news, she received it with grace and strength. Later, their eldest son, John, continued his father’s work in Samoa. Samuel, the youngest boy, also became a messenger of the Gospel, carrying the middle name of Tamatoa in respect for the Island King who had first welcomed his father to Raiatea.
The surprise ending to this story is that in 2009, 170 years after John's death, descendants of those responsible for the killings invited the family of John Williams to Erromango, part of the nation of Vanuatu, to a special event. Eighteen members of the Williams Family traveled from across the world to this small island. In a day full of ceremony and sorrow, the now mostly Christian community reenacted the killing of John Williams. Then, dozens of its members lined up humbly to ask the Family for forgiveness. In turn, the Williams Family agreed to take on the responsibility for the education of a seven-year-old girl, who was ceremonially handed over to them in exchange for the loss of John Williams.
A sixty-five year old great-great-grandson of John and Mary said that, having expected to be dispassionate after 170 years, the overall event was "just raw emotion and that the genuine contrition and heart-rending sorrow of the islanders was hugely moving." As a final act of contrition and concern for the Williams Family, the islanders announced that, in future, the bay where the atrocities occurred, up to that time known as Dillons Bay, was now to be renamed Williams Bay as a mark of respect and reconciliation.
Peace-making is a powerful part of this story on many levels. John and Mary sought to make the Prince of Peace known to those who had never heard. They went in peace, and their ministry required all they had to give. Thousands found the Peace of Christ. And, in God's good time, peace came in the form of reconciliation to an entire people. What a story! And what a God!
-Karen O'Dell Bullock
Posted in PeaceWeavers