Leader’s guide · 13 weeks
Leader’s guide: Amy Carmichael (For Teens)
Using this guide with a class? See Ochorus for schools or homeschool families
This guide helps you lead thirteen weekly sessions on Amy Carmichael (For Teens), the true story of a strong-willed girl from the coast of County Down who went to South India in 1895, never came home, and built the Dohnavur Fellowship, a home for hundreds of children, beginning with one seven-year-old who walked through the dark to find her. It is written for teens aged about 13 to 18, and works well for a youth group, a homeschool or a small group. The book tells her story honestly, faults and all, and gives teens plenty to think about: unanswered prayer, calling, faithfulness without results, cost, grief and how strong people lead.
Each session takes about 30 to 40 minutes. Open by saying the memory verse together (3 minutes). Read the chapter, either aloud together or at home beforehand (5–10 minutes). Talk through the chapter’s three questions, which come with answers to help you (10–15 minutes). Do the activity (about 10 minutes). Then close by praying the chapter’s prayer, or one of your own (2 minutes).
To prepare, read the chapter yourself beforehand, and look over the questions and the activity so you know what you’ll need; most weeks need only paper and pens. Some chapters need extra care. Chapter 9 deals with girls dedicated to temples and drawn into sexual exploitation; it is written without lurid detail, but read it first, keep the talk on the book’s own words, and make sure your group knows who they can go to if they or someone they know is unsafe. Other chapters tell of converts cast out by their families, of young believers and children who died, of Amy’s chronic pain and of deep grief, so never press anyone to share their own family story or losses in front of the group. The book is careful to be fair to Hindu families and Indian culture, and to name the Indians who led the fight against temple dedication; help your group speak about Hinduism with the same respect, and welcome honest disagreement about Amy’s faults as well as her faith.
Week 1 — Brown Eyes
Amy Carmichael grows up the eldest of seven in a Presbyterian family in Millisle, Ireland, a lively, strong-willed girl who expects God to answer prayer. When she prays for blue eyes and wakes to find them still brown, she learns that no is an answer too, and the chapter is careful not to give every unanswered prayer a neat explanation. At fifteen, at a children’s mission in Harrogate, she understands that God’s love is meant for her personally and receives it. The big idea: God is free, his refusals can be trusted, and the faith we grew up around has to become our own.
“I will give thanks unto thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Wonderful are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well.” — Psalm 139:14 (ASV)
Memory verse
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Psalm 139:14
Talk together
What did Amy learn when her eyes were still brown in the morning?
That God hears every prayer and is free to say no, and that his no can be trusted even when it comes with no explanation.
Why should we be careful with the blue-eyes story?
It comes from her own memory, told late in life; the ages given for it vary, and the link with her later disguise in India may have been drawn afterwards by others.
What happened to Amy at the children’s mission in Harrogate?
At fifteen she understood that the love of Christ she had always known about was meant for her personally, and she received it. Her parents’ faith became her own.
Activity
When God Says No
You will need: Paper and pens
- Ask the group to call out reasons people give for why God doesn’t answer some prayers, and write them on one sheet without comment.
- Go through the list together and sort each reason into “helpful,” “unhelpful” or “not sure.”
- Read aloud the chapter’s line that God “is not a vending machine” and ask which reasons on the list treat him like one.
- Give each person a moment to write down privately, for themselves, one prayer where the answer was no, and whether they still trust God with it.
Week 2 — Gold or Stubble
After her father’s death leaves the family in debt, seventeen-year-old Amy helps an old woman carry her bundle home from church and, hot with embarrassment, is struck by Paul’s words about gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and stubble. She settles something with God that day and begins a Sunday class for the shawlies, mill girls who felt unwelcome among the church hats. The class grows until a hall called the Welcome is built for them. The big idea: what lasts is not what looks respectable but the love that bends down to serve the people others overlook.
“But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; each man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man’s work of what sort it is.” — 1 Corinthians 3:12-13 (ASV)
Memory verse
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
1 Corinthians 3:12–13
Talk together
What did the words by the fountain teach Amy?
That what we build with our lives will be tested by God’s fire. Respectability was stubble; the love that carried an old woman’s bundle was gold.
Who were the shawlies, and what did Amy do for them?
Belfast mill girls too poor to wear hats, who rarely went to church. She started a Sunday class for them, and when it grew she prayed for, and was given, an iron hall called the Welcome.
What did Amy take from the Glasgow meeting?
That Christ “is able to guard you from stumbling.” She didn’t have to strain after holiness in her own strength; he would keep her.
Activity
Gold or Stubble?
You will need: Paper and pens
- Write two headings on a sheet: “Gold” (lasts) and “Stubble” (burns up).
- Read out a list of things teens spend energy on, such as likes on a post, a good grade, helping a sibling, a reputation, a friendship with someone left out, and let the group decide where each one goes.
- Talk about the ones that are hard to place, and what would make the same activity gold or stubble.
- Ask everyone to write down privately one “shawlie” in their world, someone left out, and one small way to welcome them this week.
Week 3 — “Go Ye”
Amy wears herself out living among mill workers in Manchester and is taken in by Robert Wilson, a Keswick founder who treats her as a daughter. In January 1892 the words “Go ye” come to her with force; her widowed mother gives her freely to God, while Wilson and some friends struggle with her going. The China Inland Mission turns her down on medical grounds, but the Keswick Convention sends her to Japan in 1893. The big idea: God’s call is to go and tell, not to be successful, and our going nearly always costs someone else something too.
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation.” — Mark 16:15 (ASV)
Memory verse
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”
Mark 16:15
Talk together
What happened on 13 January 1892?
Alone in her room at Broughton Grange, Amy became convinced that Christ’s command “Go ye” was addressed to her personally, as a call to go overseas.
Why did some friends think she should stay?
Robert Wilson was old, loved her and needed her, and they thought her duty was to care for him. Amy saw it was a choice between two good things, not between good and bad.
What happened when she applied to the China Inland Mission?
She failed the medical because of her neuralgia. She believed one door had shut, not that the call was withdrawn, and the Keswick Convention sent her to Japan instead.
Activity
Two Good Things
You will need: Nothing
- Explain that Amy had to choose between two good things: caring for Robert Wilson and obeying the call to go.
- Split the group into two sides. One side argues for Amy staying with the Dear Old Man; the other argues for her going.
- Give each side two minutes to make its best case, then swap sides and argue the other view.
- Finish by asking: what made this choice hard, and who in your life has made room for you to do something hard?
Week 4 — False Starts
In Japan Amy depends on Japanese Christians to interpret, decides her English clothes are getting in the way and starts wearing Japanese dress, and battles illness and slow results. She says that in a cave in the hills God gave her a promise against loneliness. When her health breaks, she leaves for Shanghai and Ceylon without consulting the committee that sent her, then is called home when Wilson has a stroke, before finally being accepted for India in 1895. The big idea: God directs our paths even through false starts, but feeling guided doesn’t excuse us from talking to the people responsible for us.
“Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart, And lean not upon thine own understanding: In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy paths.” — Proverbs 3:5-6 (ASV)
Memory verse
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:5–6
Talk together
What did the fur gloves teach Amy?
That foreign habits can distract people from the gospel. From then on she wore Japanese dress, and later a sari in India.
What promise did she hold on to after praying in the cave?
Psalm 34’s “none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” She was still often lonely, but she said the promise held.
What was fair about the criticism when she left Japan?
She left without consulting the committee that had sent her. Feeling guided by God doesn’t remove the duty to talk with the people responsible for you.
Activity
Map the Zigzag
You will need: Paper and pens
- Draw Amy’s route together as a zigzag line: Belfast, Manchester, China (closed), Japan, Ceylon, home, India.
- At each turn, write one word for how it might have felt to her at the time.
- Talk about where she listened to others and where she skipped that step.
- Ask each person to sketch privately a zigzag from their own life, a plan that fell through, and to note one older person they could talk to before their next big decision.
Week 5 — Faithful, Not Successful
In India Amy is uneasy with missionaries who live apart from Indian people, though the chapter notes she was not always fair. Under Thomas Walker she learns Tamil and travels the villages by bullock cart with a band of Indian Christian women led by Ponnammal. Day after day they see few results, and she clings to the text that stewards must be faithful, rejoicing that it doesn’t say “successful.” The big idea: God doesn’t ask us to be impressive; he asks us to be faithful in ordinary, unseen work.
“Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” — 1 Corinthians 4:2 (ASV)
Memory verse
Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
1 Corinthians 4:2
Talk together
Who was Thomas Walker?
A missionary and Tamil scholar in the Tinnevelly district who taught Amy Tamil and worked beside her for sixteen years, from 1896 until his death in 1912.
What was the Starry Cluster?
The band of Indian Christian women, led by the young widow Ponnammal, who travelled with Amy from village to village telling the story of Jesus.
Why did Amy thank God that the text said “faithful” and not “successful”?
Because most days in the villages ended exactly as they began. God asked her to be faithful, not to produce results, and she found joy in simply obeying.
Activity
Highlight Reel or Real Day?
You will need: Paper and pens
- Ask everyone to write a three-line “highlight reel” version of last week, the way it might look online.
- Now ask them to write three honest lines about what most of the week was really like.
- Without sharing details, talk about why we prefer the first version, and why Amy refused to write that way.
- Have each person choose one ordinary, faithful habit to keep every day this week and write it where they will see it.
Week 6 — Was It Worth It?
As young people begin to show interest in the gospel, their families push back: a boy is hastily married off, a girl Amy calls Treasure cannot be protected because her age cannot be proved, and a son is flogged and offered his inheritance to return. The chapter asks readers to see these families fairly, as people acting out of love and fear. Two boys are baptised and die of cholera weeks later, and Amy asks whether it was worth it, believing they would say Jesus’ welcome made it so. The big idea: Jesus promises a hundredfold, but “with persecutions,” and for many believers faith still costs family, home and safety.
“Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or lands, for my sake, and for the gospel’s sake, but he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” — Mark 10:29-30 (ASV)
Memory verse
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Mark 10:29–30
Talk together
Why did Hindu families try so hard to stop their children becoming Christians?
Because conversion meant losing caste, which brought disgrace on the whole family and could ruin brothers’ and sisters’ marriages. Many acted out of love and fear, not just hostility.
Why couldn’t Amy protect Treasure?
The law said a minor must stay with her family, and without birth registers Treasure couldn’t prove she was old enough to choose. Coming and being sent back would have been worse.
How did Amy answer her own question, “Was it worth the pain it cost?”
Not with an argument but with faith: each boy had found one other boy, and she believed they would say Jesus’ welcome made it “far more than worth while.”
Activity
Praying for the Persecuted
You will need: A world map or phone to look up information
- In pairs, look up one country where becoming a Christian is dangerous today.
- Have each pair share two or three facts with the group about what believers there face.
- Discuss: why does the chapter ask us to read the families in Amy’s stories fairly, rather than as villains?
- Pray together for believers in the countries you found, and for their families too.
Week 7 — Pearl-Eyes
In March 1901 a seven-year-old girl who had been given to temple women as a baby runs away and finds Amy, saying, “I have come to stay.” She had been punished cruelly and was afraid of being “married to the god.” When the temple women come to take her back, she refuses, and Amy and the Walkers decide to keep her and face the legal risk; the only debt claimed against her turns out to be fourpence halfpenny. The big idea: God cares for the helpless, and everything Amy is remembered for began with one child.
“Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: The helpless committeth himself unto thee; Thou hast been the helper of the fatherless.” — Psalm 10:14 (ASV)
Memory verse
But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless.
Psalm 10:14
Talk together
Why did the little girl run away from the temple house?
She was unloved, had been punished cruelly, and had overheard that she was soon to be “married to the god,” dedicated to the temple for life.
How did she know where to find Amy?
The temple women, trying to frighten her, had pointed out a woman of Amy’s band as “the child-stealing Ammal.” Instead of scaring her, it told her where to go.
What risk did Amy and the Walkers take by keeping her?
Under the law the child belonged to her mother, so they could be accused of taking a minor from her guardians, and the truth about the dedication would be almost impossible to prove.
Activity
Who Protects Children?
You will need: Phones or paper and pens
- Ask the group to list people and places that exist to keep children safe today, from teachers to helplines to charities.
- In pairs, look up one organisation that protects children at risk, near you or abroad.
- Have each pair tell the group what it does and one practical way young people can support it.
- Close by praying for those organisations by name.
Week 8 — Things as They Are
The household settles at Dohnavur, and Amy gives up her village travelling to care for the children who keep arriving. Her book Things as They Are (1903) refuses to dress up the mission and names hard realities, and Eugene Stock’s preface says it is the truth but not the whole truth. The chapter also asks how the book would read to a Hindu, noting that Amy was sometimes unfair to Hinduism even as she wrote warmly of Hindu people. The big idea: tell the truth without polishing it, and tell it fairly about others too.
“but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” — 2 Corinthians 4:2 (ASV)
Memory verse
But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
2 Corinthians 4:2
Talk together
Why did some people think Amy was wasting her gifts at Dohnavur?
She had come to India as an evangelist, and they thought caring for small children was a nursemaid’s job. She came to believe it was as spiritual a work as preaching.
What did Eugene Stock mean by “not the whole truth”?
That everything in the book was true, but the worst of what Amy knew was left out, because if she wrote it, it could not be printed, and if printed, it could not be read.
Why might a Hindu reader have objected to the book?
Because it sometimes blamed the whole religion for abuses most Hindus had nothing to do with and would have condemned, and it described their gods in harsh, contemptuous terms.
Activity
Fair Description Test
You will need: Paper and pens
- Ask each person to write two sentences describing their own church or youth group honestly, including one hard part.
- Next, ask them to write two sentences describing another faith or group they know a little about.
- Read the second sentences aloud anonymously and ask: would a person who belongs to that faith or group recognise this as fair?
- Talk about how Amy could be both truthful and unfair, and how we can avoid that.
Week 9 — Servants of the Gods
This chapter tells honestly how the old tradition of temple dedication, once honoured and artistic, had changed so that many young girls were given to temples and later exploited. Amy met it through children, never published what she learned, and took girls in one at a time. The campaign that ended it was led by Indians such as Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy and Moovalur Ramamirtham, and the 1947 law should be remembered as theirs; the chapter also notes that not everyone in those communities welcomed the reform. The big idea: once we know about an evil, we are responsible, and we can oppose it without despising the people around it.
“Deliver them that are carried away unto death, And those that are ready to be slain see that thou hold back. If thou sayest, Behold, we knew not this; Doth not he that weigheth the hearts consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? And shall not he render to every man according to his work?” — Proverbs 24:11-12 (ASV)
Memory verse
Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
Proverbs 24:11
Talk together
Who were the devadasis?
Women dedicated to the service of a temple god in a ceremony called a marriage to the god. The tradition had an honoured history in dance and music, but by Amy’s day many girls were dedicated as small children and drawn into exploitation.
Who led the campaign that ended temple dedication in Madras?
Indian reformers, above all Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy and Moovalur Ramamirtham. The Madras Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act was passed in October 1947.
Why do some historians criticise reform writing, including Amy’s?
They argue it painted the women of the hereditary temple communities as nothing but victims, which stigmatised them and harmed their descendants, while their art was taken over by others.
Activity
Who Can I Tell?
You will need: Paper and pens
- Read Proverbs 24:11–12 aloud and ask what excuse the passage takes away.
- As a group, list trusted adults and helplines in your area someone could go to if a young person were unsafe, and write them on a sheet everyone can copy.
- Discuss the chapter’s point that telling a trusted adult about exploitation is not gossip.
- Give everyone a moment to save or write down one name or number privately, for themselves or a friend.
Week 10 — The Elf
Preena, nicknamed the Elf, fills the household with life: she sings to keep Satan away, counts sins and blessings on her fingers, argues that Ruth shows love matters more than obedience, and asks why she was naughty when she prayed to be good. Babies begin to arrive, nurseries are built, and the children grow up as Indian Christians with Tamil names, calling Amy “Amma,” with high and low castes living as sisters. Amy is strict and sometimes exacting, but Dohnavur is mostly a happy place. The big idea: children are people, not cases or trophies, and strength needs to learn gentleness.
“He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and will gently lead those that have their young.” — Isaiah 40:11 (ASV)
Memory verse
He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
Isaiah 40:11
Talk together
What did the Elf and her friends decide about Ruth and Orpah?
That Orpah obeyed and went home, but Ruth refused to go because she loved Naomi, and God blessed Ruth more, “so obedience is not so important as love.”
How was Dohnavur different from many mission orphanages?
The children kept Tamil names, Indian dress, Indian food and the Tamil language, so they grew up as Indian Christians rather than strangers in their own country. And caste was not allowed.
What were Amy’s faults as the head of the household?
She could be severe and exacting, and she didn’t always tell the difference between disagreeing with her and being disloyal to the work.
Activity
The Elf’s Questions
You will need: Paper and pens
- Read out the Elf’s question: “How was it I was naughty when I wanted to be good? So what is the use of praying?”
- In small groups, write the best answer you could give a seven-year-old in two or three simple sentences.
- Share the answers and compare them with Paul’s struggle in Romans 7.
- Challenge everyone to spend real time this week listening to a younger child’s questions about God.
Week 11 — Understand Hereafter
Between 1912 and 1915 Amy loses Thomas Walker, her mother, and her closest friend Ponnammal, whose healing she prayed for and did not receive, while the household lives under the threat of court cases and war. Amy chooses acceptance, taking from God’s hand what she cannot understand. For six years she prays about boys exploited through temples and drama companies, and in 1918 a baby boy is brought to Dohnavur and the boys’ work begins. The big idea: waiting and grieving without understanding is not failing at faith; it is where faith lives.
“Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt understand hereafter.” — John 13:7 (ASV)
Memory verse
Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
John 13:7
Talk together
Whom did Amy lose between 1912 and 1915?
Thomas Walker in 1912, her mother in 1913 and Ponnammal in 1915, besides facing a legal dispute over a wall and, according to her biographers, a kidnapping charge.
What did Amy mean by acceptance?
Not giving up, but deliberately receiving from God’s hand what she couldn’t understand, and going on trusting him.
How long did Amy pray about the boys, and what happened?
About six years, from around 1912. In January 1918 a baby boy was brought to Dohnavur without anyone looking for him, and she took it as God’s answer.
Activity
Not Now, But Afterward
You will need: Paper and pens
- Give everyone a sheet and ask them to fold it in half, labelling one side “Now” and the other “Afterward.”
- On the “Now” side, have them write privately one thing they are waiting on God for or don’t understand.
- On the “Afterward” side, have them copy out John 13:7.
- Discuss together: what is the difference between giving up and the acceptance Amy chose? Then let people keep their sheets.
Week 12 — Lording It
Amy founds the Sisters of the Common Life, and the work becomes the independent Dohnavur Fellowship, which takes no salaries and makes no appeals. Her bitter parting with the gifted young Stephen Neill, who later became a bishop and historian, shows her difficulty sharing authority and telling disagreement from disloyalty, and some wondered whether Dohnavur’s walls stayed too high. At the same time the Fellowship builds a hospital serving Hindus and Christians alike. The big idea: leaders are called to be examples, not to lord it over others, and being sure you’re right is not the same as being right.
“neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.” — 1 Peter 5:3 (ASV)
Memory verse
Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
1 Peter 5:3
Talk together
Who were the Sisters of the Common Life?
Indian women at Dohnavur who, from 1916, committed themselves to simplicity, prayer and service, and to staying unmarried for as long as they felt called, so they could care for the children.
Why did Stephen Neill leave Dohnavur?
He and Amy seem to have clashed over how the boys should be brought up and over her authority. Both had faults, and the parting in 1925 was bitter.
What is the danger in a community that prizes unity, as Dohnavur did?
That unity turns into uniformity, and the leader’s will is mistaken for God’s will, so people who disagree aren’t heard.
Activity
Lead or Lord It?
You will need: Paper and pens
- Read out short scenarios: a group project captain, a team leader, an older sibling, a worship band leader, each facing someone who disagrees.
- For each one, have the group suggest a “lording it” response and an “example” response.
- Discuss which is easier and why the chapter says strong people find this especially hard.
- Ask everyone to think privately of one person who recently disagreed with them and plan to ask them to explain their view again.
Week 13 — Amma
In 1931 Amy falls into an uncovered pit and is left mostly bedridden for almost twenty years, writing books like Gold Cord, Rose from Brier and If, and growing in gentleness while learning to let go of control. She lives to see Indian independence and the Madras Act, dies at Dohnavur in 1951, and is buried under a bird-bath marked “Amma.” The chapter weighs her life honestly: hundreds of children given a home and faith, alongside real faults. The big idea: like a grain of wheat, what we let go of for Christ can bear much fruit.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit.” — John 12:24 (ASV)
Memory verse
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
John 12:24
Talk together
What happened to Amy on 24 October 1931?
She fell into an uncovered pit in a building being prepared for the work, breaking her leg, dislocating her ankle and injuring her spine. She was largely confined to one room for the rest of her life.
What good came out of her twenty years in one room?
Many of her best-known books, a daily ministry of notes and letters, a deeper gentleness, and a Fellowship that learned to lead itself.
Why does her grave say only “Amma”?
Because the name that mattered most to her, and to the children, was the one they gave her: mother. She didn’t want a monument.
Activity
One Word
You will need: Paper and pens
- Recall that Amy’s grave carries a single word: Amma.
- Ask each person to write down privately one word they would want written over their life.
- As a group, look back over the thirteen weeks and list the things Amy let go of, and what grew from each.
- Invite everyone to write, for themselves, one thing they are holding tightly that God may be asking them to loosen, and one small step toward it.