He was on the faculty of Asbury College when he was called to missionary service in India in 1907 under the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He began his work among the members of the very low castes and the outcastes. He did not attack Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, or any Indian religion. He presented the Gospel of Jesus Christ, disentangled from western systems and cultures, and their sometimes non-Christian expressions. The way of Jesus should be but often isn t the way of Christianity, he said.
Western civilization is only partly Christianized.
Brother Stanley, as he was familiarly called by thousands of people, attracted wide attention among the high castes, the students and the intelligentsia. He was invited to speak at ancient universities and before learned societies. Soon he was set aside by his church to interpret the Christian Gospel especially to educated men and women. Dr. Jones conducted great mass meetings in leading Indian cities. At one such meeting, their leader said, We may not agree with what Dr. Jones is saying, but we can certainly all try to be like Jesus Christ.