Charles Simeon - A man to celebrate

And a man to emulate too!

This morning the Church of England remembers, and gives thanks for, the life and ministry of   Charles Simeon. A man whose ministry centred in and around Cambridge and its university and yet his ministry brought many benefits to the Church across the globe with the ministries he brought into being and the societies and organisations that trace their roots to him and the legacy of his ministry.

He was a Evangelical at a time when being such was not popular (not like now at all then!) and a man whose expository preaching style has become perhaps the gold standard for those of us who seek to emulate him.

Simeon reached the student population of Cambridge with the Gospel and brought not just attendance (the desire of so many) but discipleship (the professed desire)  and this discipleship saw many take up holy orders and put off careers in the world to travel the globe and preach the Gospel. It is said that it was Simeon who influenced Wilberforce regarding slavery and Christian living and caused Henry Martyn to take up his missionary endeavours. I am always chastened by the account he gave of Cambridge and the fact that in some three years he had not encountered a single believer - and yet he came to faith and lived true to it until he died in 1836.

I first became aware of Simeon by sitting near the stained glass window with his likeness in the chapel at Ridley and as I became more informed about him realised that this was a man whose footsteps would surely lead me to find Christ ahead of him on the road to the cross and to making Him known.

Would that those of us in church leadership would indeed 'inspire our people in service and mission':

Eternal God,
who raised up Charles Simeon
to preach the good news of Jesus Christ
and inspire your people in service and mission:
grant that we with all your Church may worship the Saviour,
turn in sorrow from our sins and walk in the way of holiness;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.