Geoff Chang, Author at Refcast

Membership at Metropolitan Tabernacle: Church Polity with Charles Spurgeon

By Geoff Chang — 2 years ago

ABSTRACT: Throughout Charles Spurgeon’s decades of ministry, more than 14,000 people sought to join the church he pastored. Rather than rushing them into membership, however, Spurgeon and the other pastors at the Metropolitan Tabernacle patiently shepherded applicants through a five-part process. Along the way, Spurgeon engaged not only a plurality of pastors but also the congregation as a whole, seeking to discern the genuineness of an applicant’s profession. The final decision lay in the hands of the congregation, who voted to welcome new members to the church’s ordinances and other corporate means of grace. Such a patient, extended process enabled Spurgeon and his fellow pastors to care well for the applicants, even before they joined the church.

For our ongoing series of feature articles for pastors and Christian leaders, we asked Geoff Chang, assistant professor of historical theology and the curator of the Spurgeon Library at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, to detail the membership process at Charles Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle.

Those familiar with nineteenth-century pastor Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) associate his ministry with legendary preaching, fruitful writing, and courageous controversy. Few, however, are aware of Spurgeon’s strong commitment to regenerate church membership. As a Baptist, Spurgeon believed that church membership should be reserved for those who had a credible profession of faith. Commenting on the New York Revival of 1858, Spurgeon declared,

If God should send us a great revival of religion, it will be our duty not to relax the bonds of discipline. Some churches, when they increase very largely, are apt to take people into their number by wholesale, without due and proper examination. We ought to be just as strict in the paroxysms of a revival as in the cooler times of a gradual increase. . . . Take care, ye that are officers in the church, when ye see the people stirred up, that ye exercise still a holy caution, lest the church become lowered in its standard of piety by the admission of persons not truly saved.1

Spurgeon’s commitment to regenerate church membership would be tested throughout his ministry, as more than 14,000 people sought to join his church during his 38 years as a pastor. Throughout those decades, Spurgeon maintained a rigorous membership process that kept the church from lowering its standards by admitting the unsaved. He never deviated from this process, even when it required him to change the leadership structure and how the church conducted congregational meetings.

Given the differences in context, churches today probably should not try to replicate Spurgeon’s process exactly. Still, what can we learn from the membership process at the Metropolitan Tabernacle?

Step 1: Elder Interview

In the February 1869 edition of The Sword & the Trowel (1865–97), Spurgeon provided a description of the membership process at the Tabernacle, beginning with an elder interview:

All persons anxious to join our church are requested to apply personally upon any Wednesday evening, between six and nine o’clock, to the elders, two or more of whom attend in rotation every week for the purpose of seeing enquirers. When satisfied, the case is entered by the elder in one of a set of books provided for the purpose, and a card is given bearing a corresponding number to the page of the book in which particulars of the candidate’s experience are recorded.2

Records of these membership interviews can still be found in the Testimony Books in the Metropolitan Tabernacle Archives in London. In examining these records, it becomes clear that the elders were looking for two qualities in those they interviewed: a clear understanding of the gospel and evidence of spiritual change.

For example, in an interview with James Melbourn, the elder records, “He has frequently heard Mr. Spurgeon and prefers his preaching to any he ever heard. I don’t think he has the faintest idea of the Gospel.” Though Melbourn is “sober, honest, industrious, and willing to join a church,” the elder is “astonished how any man could sit under our pastor’s ministry one Lord’s Day and be so entirely ignorant of his own ignorance of the Gospel.”3 Despite his evident moral life, the elder is not convinced that Melbourn understands the gospel. So, rather than rushing him through the membership process, the elder refers him to a Bible class, where he can study the Scriptures further and come to a saving knowledge of Christ.

But more than simply an intellectual understanding, conversion produces a change of life. In hearing testimonies, the elders also looked for evidence of genuine repentance and faith. For Emma Wilcox, the elder records how she previously was “fond of the gaieties of the world,” including “theatres, concerts, and driving out on Sundays.” But after one particular sermon, “a decided change has taken place. No Sunday rides, no ballroom, no playhouse now, old things have passed away, all things have become new. Wishes to show her love to Jesus by meeting with his people and desires to be baptized.”4 Here was evidence of both a turning away from worldliness and a turning to Christ in faith. And so, the elder happily gave her a card for the next step.

Takeaway 1: Be clear on the gospel and on conversion.

When examining candidates for membership, what matters is not political affiliation, cultural background, work, or other external factors — nor church background, giving, involvement, or other religious factors. What matters is whether the candidate has a credible profession of faith. Does he give evidence of being born again? To examine someone’s profession, of course, we ourselves must have a biblical understanding of the gospel and conversion.

Step 2: Pastor Interview

The second step of the process was an interview with the lead pastor himself: “Once a month, or oftener when required, the pastor appoints a day to see the persons thus approved of by the elders.”5

For approximately the first fifteen years of his ministry, Spurgeon interviewed every candidate for membership. By 1869, Spurgeon’s brother, James, had been called to be his co-pastor, and he largely took over this task for the remaining years. Even so, Spurgeon didn’t entirely drop this responsibility. Writing in 1884, he declared,

Oh, brothers, on that day on which I lately saw forty persons one by one, and listened to their experience and proposed them to the church, I felt as weary as ever a man did in reaping the heaviest harvest. I did not merely give them a few words as enquirers, but examined them as candidates with my best judgment.6

As busy as he was, Spurgeon did not leave the membership process entirely in his elders’ hands, but he felt a sense of responsibility as the lead pastor to meet briefly with each candidate personally.

Spurgeon trusted his elders’ judgments, and I have yet to come across a case where he went against an elder’s recommendation. Yet he did not hesitate to express his concerns and cautions. For one candidate, Spurgeon writes in the margin, “This young man’s moral character must be seen into with care. He is but a young man & I fear has many temptations. . . . I have no reason to suspect, but only advise.” For another candidate, he writes, “Another difficult case, requiring a diligent investigation. I think delay would be advisable.” At times, Spurgeon’s comments deal with the care of the candidate, as here: “Ought to have the Confession of Faith. Messenger to get her one.”7

Spurgeon understood that the membership interview was an opportunity to begin pastoring these candidates, even before they joined the church. Whatever their spiritual maturity, Spurgeon sought to assure fearful applicants:

So far from wishing to repel you, if you really do love the Savior, we shall be glad enough to welcome you. If we cannot see in you the evidence of a great change, we shall kindly point out to you our fears, and shall be thrice happy to point you to the Savior; but be sure of this, if you have really believed in Jesus, you shall not find the church terrible to you.8

Takeaway 2: Engage a plurality of elders.

This second step guaranteed that a plurality of elders would be engaged in the membership interview process. This practice helped overcome any mistakes or missed insights so that the elders might better know and care for those joining the church. So, consider engaging multiple elders in your membership process. If that is not possible, then look to involve a deacon or a mature church member. Rather than having the decision hang on one man, we will find wisdom in many counselors.

Step 3: Congregational Appointment of a Visitor

The next step is, perhaps, the most surprising: “If the pastor is satisfied, he nominates an elder or church member as visitor, and at the next church meeting asks the church to send him to enquire as to the moral character and repute of the candidate.”9 This practice of appointing visitors was not uncommon among Congregationalists and Baptists, though it was fading away. Spurgeon, however, maintained it throughout his ministry.

“Spurgeon understood that the church membership interview was an opportunity to begin pastoring candidates.”

If an applicant passed the first two steps, an elder would briefly introduce the applicant’s testimony at the next members’ meeting and then nominate a member of the church to be a visitor or messenger. The congregation would then vote to commission the visitor to go on behalf of the church and “enquire as to the moral character and repute of the candidate.”

This inquiry would involve visiting the candidate’s workplace, home, or neighborhood, and asking questions about the candidate, such as the following:

Do you know this applicant?
Did you know he is a Christian?
Did you know he was looking to be baptized and join the Metropolitan Tabernacle?
What do you know about his character?
What is he like at work?
How does he treat his family?

Questions such as these help us understand what Spurgeon refers to when he mentions “diligent investigation” and having the applicant’s moral character “seen into with care.” On one occasion, Spurgeon commented on a particularly confused applicant:

This man is a muddle. . . . I do not think he will be any great credit to us and should not be sorry if the messenger declines to recommend him. . . . It may turn out that he is a simple, silly but genuine man, however I beg the messenger to make a very diligent enquiry, for I fear he is weak in the head and not very sound in the heart. I cannot judge, character must decide.10

Most applicants were more straightforward. For some, however, the elders recognized that judging one’s profession of faith based on two interviews could prove difficult. This step allowed the church to get a sense of the person’s ongoing reputation in his community, and get further evidence of a credible profession of faith. And it undoubtedly created evangelistic opportunities for the applicant, as neighbors heard about his profession.

Takeaway 3: Recognize the public nature of church membership.

Though we might not appoint visitors to make inquiries in our day, there is still wisdom in helping applicants see that joining the church is not a private affair. Applying for church membership can become an opportunity to be more public with their profession of faith. For a youth joining the church, elders may want to talk to the parents about how the young person behaves at home. For someone coming from another gospel-preaching church in town, elders may want to talk to the previous pastor to make sure the applicant is leaving the church well. And if the applicant is going to be baptized, it certainly would be appropriate to encourage him to invite non-Christian family and friends to the service.

Step 4: Congregational Vote

Provided that all went well with the inquiry, the applicant would then attend the next members’ meeting with the visitor for the fourth step:

If the visitor be satisfied he requests the candidate to attend with him at the following or next convenient church meeting, to come before the church and reply to such questions as may be put from the chair, mainly with a view to elicit expressions of his trust in the Lord Jesus, and hope of salvation through his blood, and any such facts of his spiritual history as may convince the church of the genuineness of the case. . . . After the statement before the church, the candidate withdraws, the visitor gives in his report, and the vote of the church is taken.11

During the meeting, the visitor would give a report on the inquiry. Then the meeting chair, usually Spurgeon, would interview the candidate briefly, usually asking for some kind of statement about his trust in Christ, as well as highlighting parts of the testimony. Often, Spurgeon would also ask members of the church to speak — for example, a Sunday school teacher or the member who shared the gospel with the applicant — to give their affirmation of the applicant’s conversion. On one occasion, in the age before women’s suffrage, a student asked Spurgeon if it was advisable for women to speak in a church meeting. Spurgeon answered,

Suppose there is a candidate before the church, and I know that one of the female members can testify to his Christian character, I should not hesitate to say, “Our Sister Brown knows this young man; would she like to tell us anything about him?” I think it would be most seemly if she should reply, “Yes, dear friends, he is a very admirable young man; I am especially grateful to him for he has been the means of the conversion of my husband.” It would be a very great pity for anybody beside Mrs. Brown to give such a testimony as that.12

This step highlights the congregation’s involvement in church membership. An applicant’s joining the church involved not only the elders and the lead pastor but also the congregation, as they commissioned messengers, heard the applicant’s profession of faith, and then heard one another’s testimonies about the individual. This process would then culminate in a congregational vote to bring the person into membership, expressing not only the church’s approval but also their covenant commitment to the new member.

Takeaway 4: Commit to one another in church membership.

Joining the church is not merely about having names on a membership roll. Nor is it simply about who gets to vote in church meetings. Rather, church membership is a commitment by the congregation to live out God’s vision for the church in all the “one another” commands of the New Testament. When a church brings someone into membership, the members bear the stewardship and responsibility of walking with that individual until he joins another church or is taken into glory. Your church’s membership process should reflect that active commitment.

Step 5: Church Ordinances

In some ways, all the previous steps were preliminary, preparing for the final and most important step:

When the candidate has professed his faith by immersion, which is administered by the junior pastor after a week-day service, he is received by the pastor at the first monthly communion, when the right hand of fellowship is given to him in the name of the church, and his name is entered on the roll of members.13

“Amid all the practicalities and administration of a church-membership process, never lose the wonder of what it means.”

The ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper get to the heart of church membership, according to the New Testament. A church is composed of those who have been baptized upon their profession of faith and now give expression to an ongoing profession of faith through participation in the Lord’s Supper. In other words, membership in the church signifies the believer’s union with Christ and his people, as depicted in the ordinances of the church. By making baptism and the Lord’s Supper the final steps of the membership process, the church reminded these applicants that church membership is ultimately a theological matter.

Takeaway 5: Keep Christ and his body in view.

Amid all the practicalities and administration of a church-membership process, never lose the wonder of what it means: identification with the people of God and union with Christ, our Head. Make sure those going through the process understand this. And allow the joy of seeing people embrace Christ to motivate the church’s commitment to maintaining a disciplined membership process.

Shepherding from the Start

Spurgeon’s rigorous membership process reminds pastors of the importance of the membership interview. One of the most important pastoral functions we ever perform is discerning the genuineness of someone’s profession of faith as he seeks to join the church. For those who are repenting of their sins and trusting in Christ, we have the joy of affirming their profession and encouraging them to persevere. For the applicant who is confused about or living contrary to the gospel, we have the responsibility to warn and instruct him in the truth. To get this wrong could prove to be spiritually harmful to the individual and the church.

Of course, that’s not to say that any of us will ever perfectly discern everyone’s profession of faith. This is why Spurgeon’s example of engaging a plurality of elders and the congregation continues to be wise today. And this is why church discipline will always be relevant (an important topic for another essay!). Most of all, we depend on wisdom from God in prayer. In all of this, Spurgeon reminds us that the goal of the membership interview is shepherding. Before applicants ever join the church, we have an opportunity to pastor them and point them to the Savior.

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“On the Borders of the Infernal Lake”: Spurgeon on Church Revitalization

By Geoff Chang — 2 years ago

Spurgeon understood that there was no programmatic formula for church revitalization. But like Ezekiel preaching to the dry bones, he believed in the power of the Word of God to raise dead church members to life and to make them into an army for gospel ministry.

When Spurgeon first arrived at the New Park Street Chapel in the winter of 1853, the church was dying. But in the coming years, through the preaching of the Word, God would do a remarkable work. With the thousands being drawn to Spurgeon’s ministry, church membership would grow dramatically, elders would be called, and the church would become an engine for gospel ministry throughout the world. It was this vision of the power of God’s Word to revive dying churches that fueled the Pastors’ College.
From the beginning, Spurgeon’s plan “was not only to train students but to found churches,”[1] and this included both church planting and church revitalization. As demographics in London shifted from the city to the suburbs in the 19th century, urban congregations began dwindling. Young pastors were drawn more to church plants in the suburbs than to historic churches in the city. Spurgeon himself recognized that “the resurrection and salvation of an old church is often a more difficult task than to commence a new one.”[2]
At the same time, Spurgeon encouraged his students not to neglect these dying churches. After all, it is God who resurrects and saves, not the student. The privilege of the church revitalizer is to see God work miraculously through His powerful Word.
To encourage his students in church revitalization, Spurgeon once gave two motivations and three practical admonitions for his students.
Motivation 1: Chances are, things will get better.
When you take a dying church, chances are, your ministry will lead to the improvement of the church’s condition.
Brethren, do not be afraid when you go to a place, and find it in a very bad condition. It is a fine thing for a young man to begin with a real downright bad prospect, for, with the right kind of work, there must come an improvement some time or other. If the chapel is all but empty when you go to it, it cannot well be in a much worse state than that; and the probability is that you will be the means of bringing some into the church, and so making matters better.[3]
Spurgeon was not guaranteeing to his students that their ministries in a dying church would always flourish. It is quite possible that under God’s providence, your role might simply be to help that church close well and steward its resources faithfully in that transition. At the same time, the encouragement is that things cannot get much worse than they already are, and yet chances are that under a faithful ministry, the Lord will use you to make things better. As the church brings in a new pastor, as the people are energized under his ministry, as they begin to pray and invite others, the probability is that the Lord will use you to bring new life to the church.
Motivation 2: Chances are, the congregation will love your ministry.
Rather than taking over a successful church and dealing with constant comparisons with previous pastors, a dying congregation will gratefully love the young pastor who comes and serves them sacrificially. This will be especially true as sinners are brought to faith under your ministry.
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Four Ways of Serving God During Christmas

By Geoff Chang — 2 years ago

Let your soul lose itself in wonder, for wonder, dear friends, is in this way a very practical emotion. Holy wonder will lead you to grateful worship; being astonished at what God has done, you will pour out your soul with astonishment at the foot of the golden throne with the song, “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and majesty, and power, and dominion, and might be unto Him who sitteth on the throne and doeth these great things to me.”

The Christmas season is a time of rest and celebration. But it is also a time of great opportunity. The workplace is filled with Christmas carols and decorations. Family gatherings bring Christians together with their unsaved loved ones. Neighbors exchange gifts and host neighborhood parties. Opportunities to serve the poor and needy abound. In all of this, what better way for Christians to celebrate Christmas than by imitating the example of their Lord and serving those around them, and by dwelling on the love of the Savior? Spurgeon writes,
We citizens of the New Jerusalem, having the Lord Jesus in our midst, may well excuse ourselves from the ordinary ways of celebrating this season; and considering ourselves to be “holy work-folk,” we may keep it after a different sort from other men, in holy contemplation and in blessed service of that gracious God whose unspeakable gift the new-born King is to us.
In his sermon, “Holy Work of Christmas,” Spurgeon unpacks Luke 2:17-20 and gives “four ways of serving God, four methods of executing holy work and exercising Christian thought.” What are four ways we can serve God during Christmas?
By Publishing Abroad What We Have Seen and Heard of the Savior
They had seen God incarnate—such a sight that he who gazeth on it must feel his tongue unloosed, unless indeed an unspeakable astonishment should make him dumb. Be silent when their eyes had seen such a vision! Impossible! To the first person they met outside that lowly stable door they began to tell their matchless tale, and they wearied not till nightfall, crying, “Come and worship! Come and worship Christ, the newborn King!” As for us, beloved, have we also not something to relate which demands utterance? If we talk of Jesus, who can blame us? This, indeed, might make the tongue of him that sleeps to move—the mystery of God incarnate for our sake, bleeding and dying that we might neither bleed nor die, descending that we might ascend, and wrapped in swaddling bands that we might be unwrapped of the grave-clothes of corruption. Here is such a story, so profitable to all hearers that he who repeats it the most often does best, and he who speaks the least hath most reason to accuse himself for sinful silence.
By Holy Wonder, Admiration, and Adoration
Let me suggest to you that holy wonder at what God has done should be very natural to you. That God should consider his fallen creature, man, and instead of sweeping him away with the besom of destruction, should devise a wonderful scheme for his redemption, and that he should himself undertake to be man’s Redeemer, and to pay his ransom price, is, indeed, marvellous! Probably it is most marvellous to you in its relation to yourself, that you should be redeemed by blood; that God should forsake the thrones and royalties above to suffer ignominiously below for you.
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Six Reasons Why the Savior Was Born in a Stable

By Geoff Chang — 2 years ago

As Christ was laid where beasts were fed, you will please to recollect that after he was gone beasts fed there again. It was only his presence which could glorify the manger, and here we learn that if Christ were taken away the world would go back to its former heathen darkness.

Every detail surrounding the incarnation is significant. The virgin birth, the parents from Galilee, the journey to Bethlehem, the line of David, the shepherd, the angels, and many others are all strands woven into the tapestry of God’s work of redemption from the creation of the world. Therefore, every detail is worth meditating on, even the smaller ones. In his sermon, “No Room for Christ in the Inn,” preached on December 21, 1862, Spurgeon meditates on Luke 2:7 and the fact that Christ was born in a stable and laid in a manger. Why is this detail significant? He gives six reasons:
To Show Christâ€™s Humility
Would it have been fitting that the man who was to die naked on the cross should be robed in purple at his birth? Would it not have been inappropriate that the Redeemer who was to be buried in a borrowed tomb should be born anywhere but in the humblest shed, and housed anywhere but in the most ignoble manner? The manger and the cross standing at the two extremities of the Saviorâ€™s earthly life seem most fit and congruous the one to the other. He is to wear through life a peasantâ€™s garb; he is to associate with fishermen; the lowly are to be his disciples; the cold mountains are often to be his only bed; he is to say, â€œFoxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head.â€
To Declare Christ to be the King of the Poor
With what pertinacity will workingmen cleave to a leader of their own order, believing in him because he knows their toils, sympathizes in their sorrows, and feels an interest in all their concerns. Great commanders have readily won the hearts of their soldiers by sharing their hardships and roughing it as if they belonged to the ranks. The King of Men who was born in Bethlehem, was not exempted in his infancy from the common calamities of the poor, nay, his lot was even worse than theirs. I think I hear the shepherds comment on the manger-birth, â€œAh!â€ said one to his fellow, â€œthen he will not be like Herod the tyrant; he will remember the manger and feel for the poor; poor helpless infant, I feel a love for him even now, what miserable accommodation this cold world yields its Savior; it is not a Caesar that is born today; he will never trample down our fields with his armies, or slaughter our flocks for his courtiers, he will be the poor manâ€™s friend, the peopleâ€™s monarch; according to the words of our shepherd-king, he shall judge the poor of the people; he shall save the children of the needy.â€
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Lectures to My Students

By Geoff Chang — 2 years ago

Spurgeon presents a vision for long-term faithfulness. Lectures on ministerial progress, earnestness, and dependence on the Holy Spirit provide a roadmap for a lifetime of faithful ministry. Many today easily get caught up in church-growth metrics and social-media influence; Spurgeon calls pastors to preach the word, work hard, remain prayerful, and entrust the results to God.
The year is 1875. You’re a second-year student at the Pastors’ College. It’s been a long week of rigorous lectures and study on theology, mathematics, literature, rhetoric, biblical languages, and more. You’ve recently launched an evangelistic mission in a needy district of East London, so many of your evenings have been occupied. And as a member of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, you have meetings to attend and people to disciple. But now, it’s Friday afternoon, your favorite time of the week. Why?
Because this is the time you get to hear from Charles Spurgeon up close.
You’re chatting with your classmates when Spurgeon walks in the classroom with a hearty greeting and a large stack of books in his arms. There he is: the most famous preacher of the century. And yet here, he’s simply your pastor. After a word of prayer and brief preliminaries, Spurgeon begins to work through his stack. Out of his own personal reading, here are books he thinks future pastors should know about: new publications, classic works, Bible commentaries, and works of theology, philosophy, hymnody, science, and all kinds of other genres. Books worthy of investment are commended, while more dubious works are properly cautioned. You’ve always enjoyed this time and taken careful notes. Through Spurgeon’s recommendations, you’ve built a theological library and have been introduced to some of your favorite authors.
Then comes the highlight. As a father among his sons, Spurgeon delivers an hour-long lecture on some aspect of Christian ministry: preaching, sermon preparation, personal holiness, dealing with criticism, praying publicly, and much more. But these aren’t dry, academic lectures. No, these are warm, personal, sometimes hilarious, always instructive talks, drawing from Spurgeon’s personal experience and applying the wisdom and truths of Scripture to the work of a pastor. Soon you will be sent off into the difficult work of pastoral ministry. But the memory of these Friday-afternoon lectures will stay with you for many years to come.
It is from these lectures, given by Spurgeon at the Pastors’ College, that we have his classic work Lectures to My Students.
Golden Counsels
There are four series (or volumes) associated with Lectures. The first contains fourteen lectures, including some of Spurgeon’s most famous lectures on the life of the pastor. These include “The Minister’s Self-Watch,” “The Preacher’s Private Prayer,” and “The Minister’s Fainting Fits.” Several of these lectures also deal with Spurgeon’s favorite topic: preaching. From choosing a text to the importance of the voice, to the danger of wrongly spiritualizing a text, these lectures contain all kinds of practical wisdom from the Prince of Preachers.
The second series contains ten more lectures on an assortment of ministry-related topics, like pastoral growth, preaching for conversions, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. The third series, originally known as The Art of Illustration, contains seven lectures mostly focused on preaching and teaching. Here, Spurgeon teaches on the importance of illustrations and anecdotes, providing wisdom for how to use them and where to find them.
The fourth and final series, also known as Commenting and Commentaries, contains two lectures, one on the importance of “commenting” (public Scripture reading), and the other on the use of commentaries. The rest of the volume offers a catalog of commentaries. Amazingly, Spurgeon provides brief and insightful comments for 1,429 commentaries, on every book of the Bible, covering almost four centuries of Christian scholarship. This was a remarkable achievement in his day, and it stands as a reminder to preachers today of the importance of study.
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Introducing ‘Lectures to My Students’: A Reader’s Guide to a Christian Classic

By Geoff Chang — 2 years ago

The year is 1875. You’re a second-year student at the Pastors’ College. It’s been a long week of rigorous lectures and study on theology, mathematics, literature, rhetoric, biblical languages, and more. You’ve recently launched an evangelistic mission in a needy district of East London, so many of your evenings have been occupied. And as a member of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, you have meetings to attend and people to disciple. But now, it’s Friday afternoon, your favorite time of the week. Why?

Because this is the time you get to hear from Charles Spurgeon up close.

You’re chatting with your classmates when Spurgeon walks in the classroom with a hearty greeting and a large stack of books in his arms. There he is: the most famous preacher of the century. And yet here, he’s simply your pastor. After a word of prayer and brief preliminaries, Spurgeon begins to work through his stack. Out of his own personal reading, here are books he thinks future pastors should know about: new publications, classic works, Bible commentaries, and works of theology, philosophy, hymnody, science, and all kinds of other genres. Books worthy of investment are commended, while more dubious works are properly cautioned. You’ve always enjoyed this time and taken careful notes. Through Spurgeon’s recommendations, you’ve built a theological library and have been introduced to some of your favorite authors.

Then comes the highlight. As a father among his sons, Spurgeon delivers an hour-long lecture on some aspect of Christian ministry: preaching, sermon preparation, personal holiness, dealing with criticism, praying publicly, and much more. But these aren’t dry, academic lectures. No, these are warm, personal, sometimes hilarious, always instructive talks, drawing from Spurgeon’s personal experience and applying the wisdom and truths of Scripture to the work of a pastor. Soon you will be sent off into the difficult work of pastoral ministry. But the memory of these Friday-afternoon lectures will stay with you for many years to come.

It is from these lectures, given by Spurgeon at the Pastors’ College, that we have his classic work Lectures to My Students.

Golden Counsels

There are four series (or volumes) associated with Lectures. The first contains fourteen lectures, including some of Spurgeon’s most famous lectures on the life of the pastor. These include “The Minister’s Self-Watch,” “The Preacher’s Private Prayer,” and “The Minister’s Fainting Fits.” Several of these lectures also deal with Spurgeon’s favorite topic: preaching. From choosing a text to the importance of the voice, to the danger of wrongly spiritualizing a text, these lectures contain all kinds of practical wisdom from the Prince of Preachers.

The second series contains ten more lectures on an assortment of ministry-related topics, like pastoral growth, preaching for conversions, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. The third series, originally known as The Art of Illustration, contains seven lectures mostly focused on preaching and teaching. Here, Spurgeon teaches on the importance of illustrations and anecdotes, providing wisdom for how to use them and where to find them.

The fourth and final series, also known as Commenting and Commentaries, contains two lectures, one on the importance of “commenting” (public Scripture reading), and the other on the use of commentaries. The rest of the volume offers a catalog of commentaries. Amazingly, Spurgeon provides brief and insightful comments for 1,429 commentaries, on every book of the Bible, covering almost four centuries of Christian scholarship. This was a remarkable achievement in his day, and it stands as a reminder to preachers today of the importance of study.

Each of the four volumes is worth reading. (Keep in mind that modern publications of Lectures to My Students will usually publish Commenting and Commentaries separately.) I find that Spurgeon’s writing style continues to translate well into our day, so I would recommend finding an unabridged edition, with minimal (or no) modernization to the language. For those who are on a budget or prefer eBooks, PDF scans of Lectures can also be found online. At Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Spurgeon Library, we hope to make scans of Spurgeon’s own copies available on Spurgeon.org in the coming year.

Why should a pastor or church leader read these lectures? Consider three reasons.

Hard-Won Wisdom

First, these lectures arise out of Spurgeon’s own pastoral experience, including the hardships of ministry. If you are a pastor and you have not yet experienced “fainting fits” or the spiritual discouragement that can come over pastors in their ministry, you would do well to read that lecture to prepare.

And if you are currently in such a dark experience, Spurgeon can become a pastoral mentor for you in navigating your way through it. Similarly, pastors would do well to read “The Blind Eye and the Deaf Ear” with careful attention. As a pastor of a church with a membership of over five thousand, here was Spurgeon’s counsel on how to wisely filter and respond to gossip, criticism, conflicts, and other pastoral difficulties. The wisdom here may prove crucial for a pastor’s survival in the ministry.

It’s easy to admire Spurgeon’s many accomplishments, but it would be wrong to think that his pastoral experience was simply one triumph after another. Rather, Spurgeon knew intimately the financial issues, health challenges, spiritual exhaustion, criticisms, and all kinds of other trials that pastors face. These lectures contain the wise counsel of one who persevered in faithfulness amid those trials.

Help for Preachers

Second, Lectures contains some of Spurgeon’s best teaching on preaching, presenting both a theological understanding of the role of preaching, as well as practical instruction on preaching itself. At the heart of Spurgeon’s philosophy of ministry was the preaching of the word, because God’s word is what saves sinners and unites the church. He often said to his students, “The pulpit is the Thermopylae of Christendom: there the fight will be lost or won.” If you’re a pastor who is growing weary of preaching and beginning to lose heart in that work, these lectures may very well be the encouragement you need to see afresh the importance of your preaching ministry.

“At the heart of Spurgeon’s philosophy of ministry was the preaching of the word.”

But how can you grow in your preaching? One way is by learning from other preachers. In these lectures, Spurgeon also gets into the mechanics of preaching and provides all kinds of practical wisdom. When was the last time you thought about the role of posture and gestures in your preaching? How can you make your sermons more interesting through the intentional use of illustrations? Are there ways you can improve your sermon-writing process? Spurgeon addresses all these topics and more. Many pastors today lack mentors to help them grow in their preaching. But in Lectures, pastors have an opportunity to be discipled in their preaching by the Prince of Preachers.

Our Glorious Call

Finally, in Lectures Spurgeon reminds us of the glorious call of pastoral ministry. As engaging, humorous, and illustrative as these lectures are, they also hold serious reminders of our weighty calling as Christian ministers. The first three lectures of the first volume — calling ministers to holiness, to a proper view of their calling, and to private prayer — could be consulted annually by pastors in self-examination. In a day when many preachers are marked by vanity, worldliness, and celebrity, Spurgeon presents to us a vision of the pastorate that is sober, self-controlled, and centered on Christ.

“Spurgeon presents to us a vision of the pastorate that is sober, self-controlled, and centered on Christ.”

Beyond the pastor’s private life, Spurgeon also presents a vision for long-term faithfulness. The lectures on ministerial progress, earnestness, and dependence on the Holy Spirit provide a roadmap for a lifetime of faithful ministry. Many today easily get caught up in church-growth metrics and social-media influence; Spurgeon calls pastors to preach the word, work hard, remain prayerful, and entrust the results to God. In all these lectures, he presents a vision of pastoral ministry that conducts itself in the fear of God and in love for his people.

Even pastors need mentors, and who else better to learn from than a fellow pastor who served faithfully in his church for 38 years and saw God work mightily through his ministry? So grab yourself a copy. Even better, find other pastors and church leaders to work through it together. And return to those warm Friday-afternoon lectures to hear from Spurgeon himself.

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Spurgeon, the Sending Pastor

By Geoff Chang — 2 years ago

In calling all Christians to missions and coming alongside them in discerning the call, Spurgeon sought to mobilize gifted, qualified workers for the mission field. Though Spurgeon never became a missionary, his nearly 40-year ministry in London would mobilize men and women for the harvest and produce missionary efforts a hundredfold beyond what he could have done alone. Pastors and churches today have the same task in front of us: to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. How will you be faithful to the Great Commission?

In the spring of 1861, the newly-constructed Metropolitan Tabernacle opened for services. This magnificent building in London was constructed debt-free and provided a home for the thousands who were coming week after week to hear pastor Charles Spurgeon. But even as Spurgeon celebrated the new meeting space, he was also burdened by a massive spiritual need that existed far beyond London. Preaching in March of 1861, Spurgeon declared,
At this very moment China is open to Christian enterprise… Now, I do honestly avow, if this place had not been built, and I had had nothing beyond the narrow bounds of the place in which I have lately preached, I should have felt in my conscience bound to go to learn the language and preach the Word there; but I now know what to do. I must here abide, for this is my place; but I would to God some were found in the Church, some in London, who have not such a gracious tie as this to keep them in their own land…
Again, in the following month, Spurgeon repeated the same concern,
I have made it a solemn question whether I might not testify in China or India the grace of Jesus, and in the sight of God I have answered it. I solemnly feel that my position in England will not permit my leaving the sphere in which I now am, or else tomorrow I would offer myself as a missionary.
Even as he and his congregation and the broader evangelical community had just built a beautiful new building devoted to his preaching ministry, Spurgeon was wrestling with this important question: Why should he stay? Why shouldn’t he spend his life preaching among those who have no access to the gospel? As he prayed and discerned God’s providence, Spurgeon was convinced that God had called him to pastor this church and continue preaching from the heart of the British empire.
But even if he could not go, Spurgeon would do all he could to mobilize other workers for the harvest. How did he do that? Here are three ways:
Preaching a big vision of God and his victory.
Week after week, Spurgeon confronted his congregation with a big vision of God. God’s glory as revealed in Jesus Christ deserved not only the praise of English-speaking people but people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Not only that, but Spurgeon showed from Scripture that the day is coming when all nations will bow in worship before God.
God hath gotten unto himself the victory over false gods, and taught their worshippers that he is God, and that beside him there is none else. Are there gods still worshipped, or idols before which the nations bow themselves? Wait but a little while, and ye shall see them fall. Cruel Juggernaut, whose ear still crushes in its motion the foolish ones who throw themselves before it, shall yet be the object of derision, and the most noted idols, such as Budha and Brahma, and Vishnu, shall yet stoop themselves to the earth, and men shall tread them down as mire in the streets; for God will teach all men that he is God, and that there is none else.
Christ’s victory over the nations is guaranteed. Therefore, missions is not some fanciful, hopeless task. No, missions is the church’s privilege. Christians on this side of the cross have the opportunity to play a part in the work that God is doing to call the nations to himself.
Jesus Christ said there will be many that will come from the east and from the west. There will be a multitude from that far off land of China, for God is doing a great work there, and we hope that the gospel will yet be victorious in that land.
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The Pastor’s Private Prayer

By Geoff Chang — 3 years ago

Prayer, as Calvin puts it, is our chief expression of faith. Prayer is how faith is manifested and expressed. If you don’t believe there is a God or that you need God, then you don’t pray. But if you do believe there is a God who hears, if you believe that you need Him, then the way you express that belief is through prayer.

So far in this series on pastoral character, we’ve considered the role of the pastor’s piety and the pastor’s holiness upon his ministry. Those articles have largely been cautionary, warning pastors against the particular temptations that come in ministry. But what should a pastor cultivate positively in order to grow in pastoral character? Spurgeon’s first answer would likely be the importance of cultivating communion with Christ, expressed in the pastor’s private prayer.
The Problem: Ministerialism
One of the greatest dangers that the minister faces is the danger of what Spurgeon calls formalism or officialism or ministerialism. Listen to his description:
The worst [snare a minister can face] is the temptation to ministerialism — the tendency to read our Bibles as ministers, to pray as ministers, to get into doing the whole of our religion as not ourselves personally, but only relatively concerned in it. To lose the personality of repentance and faith is a loss indeed…
I hate ministerialism, yet I often find it creeping upon me. One gets inside a pulpit, and begins to feel that he is not as other men are; but I like, if I can, to preach as a sinner to sinners; as one saved by grace to tell the love which Christ had towards me, the chief of sinners, and “less than the least of all saints.” I do not doubt that, as soon as you get out your little book to take with you, you feel like a missionary, and not simply like a sinner saved by grace. But, I pray you, do not feel like a missionary; feel like a sinner who has been washed in the precious blood of Jesus. You will never do good if you go to your work simply because of your office, [rather than] because of your soul being in it, because your heart yearns toward sinners, because you must have them saved. Strive not against any habits that are good; but against that evil tendency which, somehow or other, Satan, who is exceedingly crafty, manages to cast over our very best habits.
In other words, even as we pursue holiness and fight sin, we have to keep the gospel central. We have to cultivate a deep awareness and sorrow over our personal sin and the temptations of our hearts. We have to live in dependence on God’s grace in Christ. And then we speak as sinners saved by grace. This is how our holiness becomes warm and attractive.
Apart from our own personal grasp of the gospel, all our efforts at piety and holiness will become a stumbling block to our own sanctification and ministry. The strange thing is that people don’t always notice ministerialism in their pastor. The unspiritual people in the congregation won’t mind that their pastor doesn’t demonstrate any spiritual life before them. Even while the minister is just keeping up appearances, a church can have a growing budget and the congregation can be entertained. But in the end, as far as the pastor is concerned, it’s all external rituals and no spiritual life.
Spurgeon describes one such situation:
I read the other day, that no phase of evil presented so marvelous a power for destruction, as the unconverted minister of a parish, with a £1200 organ, a choir of ungodly singers, and an aristocratic congregation. It was the opinion of the writer, that there could be no greater instrument for damnation out of hell than that. People go to their place of worship and sit down comfortably, and think they must be Christians, when all the time all that their religion consists in, is listening to an orator, having their ears tickled with music, and perhaps their eyes amused with graceful action and fashionable manners; the whole being no better than what they hear and see at the opera — not so good, perhaps, in point of aesthetic beauty, and not an atom more spiritual. Thousands are congratulating themselves, and even blessing God that they are devout worshippers, when at the same time they are living in an unregenerate Christless state, having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. He who presides over a system which aims at nothing higher than formalism, is far more a servant of the devil than a minister of God.
May such words never be said of our ministries.
The Answer: Private Prayer
So what’s the solution? How do we fight against formalism? We fight by cultivating our private prayer lives, our communion with God. And Spurgeon particularly emphasizes prayer… Not just Bible reading, but prayer, i.e. communion with Christ.
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The Pastor’s Personal Holiness

By Geoff Chang — 3 years ago

Rolling up his coat-sleeve, and placing his bare wrist on the platform rail, he said, in tones solemn and awful, “Brethren, I would sooner have had this right hand severed from my body than that this should have happened.”
Spurgeon knew that the fall of a minister brought great shame to the church and the witness of the gospel. He would rather be maimed than to see such spiritual harm brought to God’s people. So even as he devoted himself to training pastors, Spurgeon urged his students again and again: Fight for personal holiness.
A Higher Standard of Holiness
If you’ve been in ministry for any period of time, you know that there are particular temptations that come from being in that position. Listen to Spurgeon on this:
Upon the whole, no place is so assailed with temptation as the ministry. Despite the popular idea that ours is a snug retreat from temptation, it is no less true that our dangers are more numerous and more insidious than those of ordinary Christians. Ours may be a vantage-ground for height, but that height is perilous, and to many the ministry has proved a Tarpeian rock. If you ask what these temptations are, time might fail us to particularize them; … your own observation will soon reveal to you a thousand snares, unless indeed your eyes are blinded.
In the face of temptations, whether in public or in private, pastors must fight for holiness. They have to maintain a clear conscience before God in all that they do. And yet the call here is not for ordinary holiness, which we would want for all the members of our churches. Instead, there is a higher level of holiness that all ministers should aspire to and attain. Spurgeon writes,
The highest moral character must be sedulously maintained. Many are disqualified for office in the church who are well enough as simple members… Holiness in a minister is at once his chief necessity and his goodliest ornament. Mere moral excellence is not enough, there must be the higher virtue.
To be sure, it’s a wonderful gift to be simply a member of a church in good standing. But just because you are a church member, that doesn’t mean qualify you to lead the church. Rather, pastors are to be an example to the flock, as Peter writes, and this includes your character and spiritual life. You must be an example in your holiness.
The Pastor’s Many Temptations
So what does this look like? Well, you’ll notice in the previous quote, Spurgeon didn’t want to list out all the temptations in the ministry, because there are thousands of them, I’m sure. But in one of his lectures, Spurgeon does give his students a list of things to watch out for, even seemingly “small sins.”
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The Pastor’s Character

By Geoff Chang — 3 years ago

A church generally will follow the example of its pastor. Through their teaching, through their example, pastors play a huge role in setting the culture of the church. Whatever the pastor is passionate about, that will come through, and the congregation usually will follow. As a general rule, the pastor will generally be the most spiritually-minded person in the congregation, because they’re the ones giving themselves to studying and preaching God’s Word. Which means how we live really matters. We want pastors to be men of “eminent piety.”

For Spurgeon, the Pastors’ College, out of all the many institutions of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, was the one that was “dearest to his heart.” Every Friday afternoon, after a long week of study, one of the favorite times of the students was when Spurgeon would lecture on a variety of topics related to pastoral ministry. And out of the many topics that he preached on, the one that he emphasized the most was the importance of the pastor’s “eminent piety,” that is his character.
We live in a day when so many gifted pastors and church leaders with large public ministries go astray in their private lives, in their character. And as a result, all that public ministry comes crashing down. This was no different in the 19th century. Spurgeon understood this well and he placed “eminent piety” as his first qualification for his students who were aspiring to be teachers. All who find themselves in the position of being a teacher of God’s Word should follow Paul’s admonition to Timothy: “Pay close attention to your life and your teaching.” This is what Spurgeon called “the minister’s self-watch.”
But why does a pastor’s character matter?
We Are Our Own Tools
Spurgeon puts it this way:
We are, in a certain sense, our own tools, and therefore must keep ourselves in order. If I want to preach the gospel, I can only use my own voice; therefore I must train my vocal powers. I can only think with my own brains, and feel with my own heart, and therefore I must educate my intellectual and emotional faculties. I can only weep and agonize for souls in my own renewed nature, therefore must I watchfully maintain the tenderness which was in Christ Jesus. It will be in vain for me to stock my library, or organize societies, or project schemes, if I neglect the culture of myself; for books, and agencies, and systems, are only remotely the instruments of my holy calling; my own spirit, soul, and body, are my nearest machinery for sacred service; my spiritual faculties, and my inner life, are my battle ax and weapons of war.
When it comes to the ministry of the Word, we are the tool, the instrument for conveying the gospel. That’s not to say that we ourselves are the Good News. No, we are jars of clay, bearing the treasure of the gospel. But at the same time, it matters how we conduct our lives. I think of Paul’s words to Timothy
2Tim. 2:20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
It is interesting to think about all the other things we think make for an effective minister: the latest laptop, a massive pastoral library, a powerful Bible study software tool, resources to help with sermon illustrations, on and on it goes. There is no shortage of pastoral tools and resources that Lifeway, Crossway, Logos, and everybody else wants to sell you. And in one sense, all those things are fine. But at the end of the day, as a minister of God’s Word, those things are not what carry the gospel. You are the vessel, the instrument of the gospel. As a pastor who owned thousands of books, Spurgeon reminds us that in the end, it’s character and life that matter.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne writing to a minister friend who had gone to study German theology put it like this,
I know you will apply hard to German, but do not forget the culture of the inner man — I mean of the heart.
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