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 Aboard ship, they converted from the Congregational to the Baptist position; as a result, they had to severe ties with their sending mission organization.
In 1812, Adoniram and Ann Judson, along with four other Congregational missionaries, set out for India. Because they expected to meet with the Baptists when they arrived, they prepared by studying baptism during the trip.
Their study, however, had the opposite effect than what they expected. Instead of preparing them to confront the Baptists with their error concerning adult baptism, it actually convinced them of the truth of the Baptist position. In response to their new understanding, they received baptism by immersion and left the Congregational Church. Upon arrival in India, they joined William Carey and the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society.
However, the British East India Company forbade the Judson’s to stay in India because the Company opposed the preaching of the gospel to the native population. So they relocated to Rangoon, the capital of Burma (present-day Myanmar). Adoniram mastered the Burmese language and literature for the first six years. He then opened a public meeting place and started a church.
They experienced much hardship in this new territory (Ann lost a child and then died of smallpox after not many years). The Burmese imprisoned Adoniram for two years during the First Burmese War with Britain and subjected him to extreme torture. Ann’s heroism became a legend during this time. When she died shortly after Adoniram was released from prison, he fell into a deep depression and contemplated suicide. But he survived, married two more times, and outlived all his wives and several of his children.
Judson opened schools and seminaries to train native ministers. He became an accomplished linguist and translated the Bible into Burmese. Through his efforts and the work of his successors, a Baptist community of almost 500,000 developed in Burma.
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