I will briefly describe the leadership actions of Charles Haddon Spurgeon with reference to his relationship with God, roles, responsibilities and results.
As a nineteenth century preacher, Spurgeon (1834-1892) experienced conversion at the age of sixteen. Genuine conversion is a commonality that marks the lives of all great souls that ever lived to God’s glory. In the biographical book, Charles Spurgeon: The Boy Preacher of the Fens, written by Kathy Triggs, it is explained that he was saved on Sunday, January 6, 1850. On that day he stumbled in to a church where a non-clergy member seized the preaching opportunity because of the pastor was prevented from coming to church due to a snowstorm. Recounting that experience, Kathy Triggs writes, “In that instant Charles felt as if the darkness rolled away and he saw the sun. He looked to Christ and felt himself saved.”
There and then, Spurgeon’s life-long relationship with God started. In a few months, Spurgeon was baptized. He continued desiring the sincere milk of the word of God. The knowledge of God’s Word set him on fire for God and for souls, which set the stage for his fame as “The Boy Preacher of the Fens.”
In her introductory comments about Spurgeon, Kathy Triggs expresses:
There is an old saying, ‘The heart makes the theologian,’ and Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s theology certainly came from his heart. He was convinced of God’s love for him, and of God’s desire to save all who would come to him. This was Spurgeon’s message throughout his life.
At the Bible Bulletin Board Website (http://www.biblebb.com) I found one of Spurgeon’s many articles. Drawing from his experiential intimate relationship with God, he testifies, “I know there is a comfort in the faith of Christ’s imputed righteousness which no other doctrine can yield. There is something that a man can sleep on and wake on, can live on and die on, in the firm conviction that he is received by God as though the deeds of Christ were his deeds, and the righteousness of Christ his righteousness.”
Spurgeon was of the firm conviction that maintaining intimate relationship with the Father through prayer was imperative. In his book, Lectures to my Students, Spurgeon writes, “Habitual communication with God must be maintained.”
Roles, Responsibilities and Results
Springing from his profound love for God, and his fiery heart for souls, Spurgeon observes in Lectures to my Students that, “ 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.” Like the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, that ‘tenderness’ was an integral part of Spurgeon’s preaching ministry. No wonder he preached with such burden that he, more often than not, choked with tears like Jesus weeps over Jerusalem (Matthew 23). He implores his students by saying, “Let the infinite Jehovah be served with our best.” His personal testimony was, “ I follow a call to which God has manifestly set his seal.”
In this reflection on Charles Spurgeon’s leadership actions, I see him as God’s servant who effectively led and systematically managed a mega-church. Above all, he was a preacher who communicated the Gospel message by vocalization and printed matter, thereby reaching thousands who met God!
Since that encounter in 1850 Spurgeon acted out the true meaning of his faith until his death in 1892. Kathy Triggs adds credence to Spurgeon’s leadership as she explains that, “Spurgeon had genius for organization and for choosing the right people to whom he could delegate responsibility.”