The Church's Hidden Strength 

"The prayer meeting is the spiritual thermometer of the church."

Charles Spurgeon is one of the most fascinating pastors in church history. More than 130 years after his death, his preaching and ministry continue to influence churches around the world. He is widely considered the prince of preachers, and his legacy still shapes and influences many believers today. Spurgeon became the pastor of his church in London in 1854 at the ripe old age of 20. The church saw explosive growth under Spurgeon’s leadership, and the church was forced to move three times before they finally built a church that could hold around 6,000 people, which was considered one of the largest churches in the world at the time. When their new building Metropolitan Tabernacle opened in 1861 Spurgeon declared, “The subject of the ministry house…shall be the person of Jesus Christ.” Even with such a large assembly every prospective member was interviewed and they all met with Spurgeon personally before being voted into membership.

In addition to its large size for the time, Metropolitan Tabernacle had a wide reach of ministry in the greater London area before the time of consistent social programs. The church planted over 200 churches in surrounding counties and had an enormous pastoral training ministry that later became known as Spurgeon’s College. Members of the church established orphanages, almshouses for widows, Bible distribution, Sunday schools, evangelism programs, and various ministries to the poor.

Yet for all its remarkable growth and influence, Spurgeon did believe that the health of the church was measured by its size. Spurgeon notes in his Lectures to my Students, “The condition of the church may be very accurately gauged by its prayer meetings. So is the prayer meeting a grace-ometer, and from it we may judge the amount of divine working among a people. If God be near a church, it must pray.” This is a challenging thought as our temptation is to gauge effectiveness and health through attendance, programs, or activity. Yet despite overseeing one of the largest and most influential churches in the world, Spurgeon believed the true measure of a church’s health was how eagerly God’s people gathered to seek the Lord together in prayer.  We would be wise to follow Spurgeon’s wisdom and want to be a church that does more than talk about God’s power, but a church that asks for it.

I want to encourage you to make our next monthly prayer meeting a priority. Whether you’ve been attending faithfully or have never come before, your presence matters. I hope to see you there!