What we can learn from Charles Simeon

http://www.e-n.org.uk/4777-What-we-can-learn-from-Charles-Simeon.htm

[Evangelicals NOW] 21 Sep 2009--September 24 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Charles Simeon, a great man of God whose 54-year ministry at Holy Trinity, Cambridge (1782-1836) had such a remarkable impact on the work of the gospel in this country and much further afield.

At the time of his conversion as a first-year undergraduate, there was only a handful of evangelical ministers in the Church of England, but, by the time of his death, it is estimated that a third of Anglican pulpits were occupied by evangelicals, as many as 1,100 of whom had been profoundly influenced by Simeon at Cambridge. What can we learn today from his teaching and example?

1. Let the Bible speak
Simeon could be described as the father of modern expository preaching, both exemplifying the practice himself and teaching many others to do it through his published sermons and regular Friday evening sermon classes for undergraduates. His goal in preaching was clear: ‘My endeavour is to bring out of Scripture what is there and not to thrust in what I think might be there. I have a great jealousy on this head: never to speak more or less than I believe to be the mind of the Spirit in the passage I am expounding’. The fundamental principle he taught his students was the importance of letting the thrust of the text shape the sermon rather than imposing a meaning on it from outside or focusing on a minor point within it. He urged his students: ‘Take for your subject that which you believe to be the mind of God in the passage before you’; the passage should so govern what the preacher says, ‘that no other text in the Bible will suit the discourse’.

2. Get your message across
Simeon knew that it was possible to be faithful as a preacher and yet ineffective because of a failure to communicate the message. He therefore stressed the need for clarity, emphasising the importance of three elements: ‘Unity in the design, Perspicuity in the arrangement, Simplicity in diction’.

By ‘unity’ Simeon meant that each sermon should have one ‘big idea’. The preacher’s task was to look beyond the details to discern the thrust of the text as a whole; that thrust should drive the sermon and be the focus of its message. There should be a short introduction and two or three sections with clear headings, all of which should contribute to the basic direction of the sermon and serve the main point of the passage. The content should all be delivered with clarity and passion.

There is perhaps a danger that in our renewed emphasis on ‘getting the Bible right’ in some circles, we have not given sufficient attention to ‘getting it across’, so that our preaching can be somewhat lifeless and dull. Nobody ever laid that charge against Simeon. One young girl listening to him speak asked her mother, ‘O Mama, what is the gentleman in a passion about?’ Would anyone ever think of asking such a question of us?

3. Expect opposition
The congregation at Holy Trinity had set their hearts on another pastor being appointed and resented the young Charles Simeon from the moment he arrived. Church pews were privately rented in those days and the pew holders took the opportunity to register their protest against the new curate by absenting themselves from the church and ensuring that no one sat in their seats by attaching locks to them. Simeon bought chairs and benches at his own expense and placed them in the aisle and at the back of the church but the wardens threw them into the churchyard, leaving most of the congregation standing for the first ten years of his ministry. When Simeon took the unusual step of starting an evening service to provide him with another opportunity to preach, the wardens responded by locking the church and carrying off the keys. Although by nature prone to a quick temper, he did not respond with anger but rather prayed, ‘May God bless them with enlightening, sanctifying and saving grace’....

To celebrate the birth of Charles Simeon, Anglicans Ablaze will be posting his sermon series The Excellency of the Liturgy preached before Cambridge University in 1811.