top of page
Search

14 Things You May Not Know About Charles Spurgeon

Writer: goldenstateservicesj
goldenstateservicesj
Mar 18, 2024
2 min read

  1. His nickname was “the Prince of Preachers.”  

  2. Charles had 16 brothers and sisters.

  3. He was saved hearing a sermon on Isaiah 45:22 while visiting a Methodist church on a snowy day with very few people in attendance. He was 15 years old.

  4. His 1st sermon was preached at the age of 16 in a small cottage near Cambridge. He was made pastor 1 year later in the village of Waterbeach. The church grew from 40 members 10 100 members in 2 years.

  5. He was then called to pastor New Park Street Chapel at the age of 19. It was a church that already had pastors such as Benjamin Keach, John Gill, and John Rippon. Spurgeon pastored here for 38 years.

  6. Spurgeon’s preaching popularity helped the church to the extent that they had to sell tickets in order to guarantee people would have seats to listen. Another way they compensated for overcrowding in the sanctuary was by asking their members to not attend the service once a quarter.

  7. He never had formal theological or pastoral training.

  8. Each week, his sermon transcripts were sent across the Atlantic and read by no less than 2 million people per week.

  9. By the age of 50, Spurgeon had helped fund and found 66 organizations for the purpose of making disciples and preaching the Gospel.

  10. Spurgeon was censured in 1888 by the Baptist Union after he resigned over the growing pragmatism in the denomination. It was called the Downgrade Controversy. His brother – James – voted to censure Charles by mistake, for he didn’t understand what they were voting about.

  11. He died on January 31, 1891 at the age of 57. 4 funerals were held for him – one for pastors and students, one for church members, one for Christian workers, and one for the general public. 100,000 people gathered in the streets of London to mourn his death.

  12. His estimated preaching audience in his lifetime – 10 million people. He is history’s most widely read preacher.

  13. The transcripts of his sermons have been collected into 63 volumes and 25 million words.

  14. Spurgeon collected over 10,000 books for his library.

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page