Heroes of the Faith: Charles Simeon

The Chapel at Ridley Hall has as an West window some stained glass commemorating Charles Simeon (Pictured Left) and I, as a student there would oft find myself sitting beneath it and it was because of this that I decided that I'd best find out a little more about the bloke.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836) was, for some fifty-three years, the senior minister at Holy Trinity Church and a fellow of King’s College for fifty-four! He is truly an man of the Word and his life's work was dedicated to making the Bible more accessible and understood - so no better place for him to appear on a window than in his beloved Cambridge and on the window of a place dedicated to educating would-be ministers of the Gospel in their craft. Would that those who came out of the Vicar factory there were has as able a preacher and teacher as this man!

I have to admit that along with my desire to have Barth's Church Dogmatics (fulfilled) on my shelves is that of having a copy of Simeon's Horae Homileticae (his preaching notes) and the time to read them.

From this man's inspired teaching and lifestyle many were to leave Cambridge to take the word of God out into the world; and it should be no surprise to learn that he also had a hand in the creation of many societies concerned with spreading the Gospel. I love the fact that he regarded those he trained as brothers rather than the 'curates' or 'my vicars' as some with paucity of character might do - for he welcomed and supported all who worked with him in the vineyard as brothers!

He was instrumental in founding the following

Church Missionary Society (1797)

Religious Tract Society (1799) - merged and became Lutterworth Press

British and Foreign Bible Society (1804)

Church's Ministry Among Jewish People (CMJ)
(1809 was the London Society for Promoting Christianity Among the Jews)

Here we have a man who took a lot of stick during his life because he was an evangelical. A man who was influential as a man of the Word and has continued in his influence through the many bodies he formed, and caused to be formed through his ministry and life, and still touches life through the many churches he endowed (and still supports through the Simeon's Trust).

Ladies and Gentlemen - I give to you Charles Simeon

A hero, and a brother, of mine

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.