By Geoff Chang
A fellow minister once told C.H. Spurgeon, “I wish you would go out everywhere more frequently.”
As the most famous preacher of his day, Spurgeon was regularly declining invitations to preach, serve on committees, give lectures, write articles, chair meetings, and much more. These invitations came not only from England, but throughout America, Europe, and the rest of the British empire. Clearly, this friend saw the incredible opportunity that Spurgeon had to exercise a godly influence more broadly, even beyond the influence he already had. But speaking to his students, he explained his reason for declining these invitations, “I might have rambled all the world over, and done great good, if my calling were to do so; but if I am a pastor I must see that my pastoral work is done first. Brother, when you have God’s work to do, and you know the part God has given you, stick to it.”[1]
Spurgeon was called, first and foremost, to be a pastor. All his ministries, from his preaching to his pastoral training, publishing, benevolent endeavors, church planting, and more, were rooted in his work as the pastor of a local church. But beyond all those external efforts, his main responsibility was to shepherd the congregation that had called him. Truly, Spurgeon did not occupy merely a preaching station or an evangelistic ministry. No, he was a pastor with the responsibility to feed and care for a particular flock, the Metropolitan Tabernacle. But this was no easy task. In his day, the Tabernacle was the largest church in all evangelicalism. The church had over 5,000 members by the time of his death. How did Spurgeon embody his role as the pastor of such a large congregation? Three ways: Feeding, Guarding, Leading.
Feeding the Flock
Spurgeon understood that his primary responsibility as the pastor was to feed the flock through the preaching of the Word. This was the most fundamental work of pastoral ministry. He said to his students,
Brethren, you and I must, as preachers, be always earnest in reference to our pulpit work. Here we must labor to attain the very highest degree of excellence. Often have I said to my brethren that the pulpit is the Thermopylae of Christendom: there the fight will be lost or won. To us ministers the maintenance of our power in the pulpit should be our great concern, we must occupy that spiritual watch-tower with our hearts and minds awake and in full vigor. It will not avail us to be laborious pastors if we are not earnest preachers.[2]
The reason preaching is so important is because God promises to work through His Word. It is through the Word that God’s Spirit awakens, transforms, and equips His people. Therefore,
amid all his other “laborious” tasks, the pastor must see to it that the preaching of the Word is never compromised. Though Spurgeon had a thousand things to do, he understood that the battle for the church’s faithfulness was lost or won in the pulpit. And so he gave himself to that work.
People regularly asked Spurgeon for the secret to his success. Once, in a gathering of Scottish ministers, someone asked him how he got his large congregation. Spurgeon responded, “I never got it at all. I did not think it my business to do so, but only to preach the gospel. Why my congregation got my congregation.”[3]
Spurgeon’s job was not to drum up interest or try to attract large crowds. His job was to preach the gospel faithfully, and trust God to work through His Word. And God certainly worked powerfully through Spurgeon’s ministry as the small congregation of a few dozen soon grew into hundreds and thousands!
Guarding the Membership
ministry. Hundreds were responding to his preaching. Many were genuine conversions. Some were not. Amid all the people coming forward, Spurgeon knew that he had a pastoral responsibility to guard the membership of the church. As a Baptist, he believed that the church should only be made up of those who had been born again and could give a credible profession of faith. In other words, the flock should only have sheep, not goats. Speaking of this responsibility, Spurgeon once reminded his elders amid these revival years,
I must say, once more, that 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 heat of 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.[4]
As a result, Spurgeon implemented a rigorous six-step membership process that involved an interview with an elder, an interview with a pastor, member visits, church meetings, and a congregational vote. But this pastoral care did not end once a person joined the church. Rather, Spurgeon divided the church into geographic districts and assigned elders to different districts to facilitate regular pastoral visitation. He also worked with his elders to track member attendance at the Lord’s Supper through communion tickets. The elders would be notified of those who had not attended for three consecutive months, and an elder would be assigned to reach out to the member and see how they were doing. In other words, these weren’t just names on a roll. This was a meaningful membership, made up of soldiers ready to engage in the fight.
Leading the Way
In feeding and guarding the flock, Spurgeon’s vision was not for the church to be a manicured garden where the people simply enjoyed good preaching and dressed up on Sundays. Rather, he envisioned his church as an army, fighting alongside him for the spread of the gospel. In all his labors, Spurgeon was leading the way for his people, modeling how a Christian is to spend himself for Christ. His aim was that his people would join him in that work.
In his final address to his students at the Pastors’ College Conference, Spurgeon reminded them that, in addition to the weapon of God’s Word and the power of the Spirit, the church is the army of God. Christ promises that the gospel advances through the local church. Amid all the theological downgrade of his day, the work depended not on seminaries, pastors, or theologians, but on congregations of believers holding on to the truth and making it known.
What can individual men do in a great crusade? We are associated with all the people of the Lord. We need for comrades the members of our churches; these must go out and win souls for Christ. We need the co-operation of the entire brotherhood and sisterhood. What is to be accomplished unless the saved ones go forth, all of them, for the salvation of others?[5]
Conclusion
The legacy of Spurgeon’s ministry is not the solitary labors of one gifted and tireless man. Rather, it is his devotion to pastor and mobilize the largest church of his day, turning that congregation into an army for gospel ministry in countless ways. Spurgeon’s friend thought that Spurgeon could increase his fruitfulness by accepting more outside invitations. But Spurgeon gave himself to the work that he knew would be most lasting: remaining faithful to his calling and pastoring the church of God.
Geoff Chang | Curator, Spurgeon Library, Assistant Professor of Historical Theology
1] G. Holden Pike, The Life and Work of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Vol. 5 (London: Cassell and Company Ltd., 1892), 148.
[2] C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students: Being Addresses Delivered to the Students of the Pastors’ College, Metropolitan Tabernacle, Vol. 2 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1885), 146.
[3] C. H. Spurgeon, Speeches at Home and Abroad (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1878), 65.
[4] C. H. Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit: Containing Sermons Preached and Revised by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, Minister of the Chapel. Vol. 4. (Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications, 1975-1991), 167.
[5] C. H. Spurgeon, The Greatest Fight in the World (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1892), 39-40.
