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Spurgeon – Soul Winner

Author
Category Articles
Date October 27, 2004

It is interesting that Charles Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers,” was not afraid to use the term “Soul Winner” when referring to a person who is purposefully aggressive in witnessing the Gospel with an eye to seeing sinners converted.

Spurgeon had not been affected by something akin to American fundamentalism as many Reformed Baptists have been, and who, as a result, have had the tendency to shy away from such terminology.

Spurgeon certainly had dealt with the issue of hyper-Calvinism, as lain Murray’s helpful little book, “Spurgeon vs Hyper-Calvinism,” brings out. But he refused to over-react to that Gospel imbalance and allow non-ordained believers to slip into passivity in the area of personal Gospel outreach. It is helpful to consider some of the exhortations he gave.

Pastor Spurgeon wrote in his book, “The Soul Winner,” a chapter entitled, “How to induce our people to win souls:’ There he teaches ministers and future ministers: “We want around us Christians who are willing to do all they can to help in the work of winning souls.

“There are numbers of people who cannot be reached by the pastor. You must try to get Christians workers who will ‘button hole’ people, you know what I mean. It is pretty close work when you hold a friend by the lock of his hair, or by his coat button.

“So, try to get at close quarters with sinners; talk gently to them till you have whispered them into the kingdom of heaven, till you have told into their ears the blessed story that will bring peace and joy to their heart.

“We want, in the Church of Christ, a band of well trained sharp shooters, who will pick the people out individually, and be always on the watch for all who come into the place, not annoying them, but making sure they do not go away without having had a personal warning, a personal invitation, and a personal exhortation to come to Christ.” (p.135)

Similarly, Spurgeon exhorted all believers, “Further, let me commend to you, dear friends, the art of. button-holing acquaintances and relatives. If you cannot preach to a hundred, preach to one. Get a hold of a man alone, and in love, quietly and prayerfully, talk to him…

“Your Master was not ashamed to sit on the well and preach to one; and when He had finished His sermon, He had really done good to the whole city of Sychar, for that one woman became a missionary to her friends. Timidity often prevents our being useful in this direction, but we must not give way to it; it must not be tolerated that Christ should be unknown through our silence, and sinners unwarned through our negligence.

“We must school and train ourselves to deal personally with the unconverted. We must not excuse ourselves, but force ourselves to the irksome task till it becomes easy. This is one of the most honorable modes of soul winning; and if it requires more than extraordinary zeal and courage, so much the more reason for our resolving to master it.

“Beloved, we must win souls, we cannot live and see men damned; we must have them brought to Jesus. Oh! Then, be up and doing, and let none around you die unwarned, unwept, uncared for.” (p.228, 229)

Pastor Spurgeon taught young, aspiring ministers in “Lectures to my Students” these things: ‘Soul-winning is a pursuit which grows upon a man; the more he is rewarded with conversions, the more eager he becomes to see greater numbers born unto God. Hence you will soon discover that you need help if many are to be brought in. The net soon becomes too heavy for one pair of hands to drag to shore when it is filled with fishes; and your fellow helpers must be beckoned to your assistance.

“Great things are done by the Holy Spirit when a whole church is aroused to sacred energy; then there are hundreds of testimonies instead of one, and these strengthen each other; then advocates for Christ succeed each other and work into each other’s hands, while supplication ascends to heaven with the force of united importunity; thus sinners are encompassed with a cordon of earnest entreaties, and heaven itself is called into the field.

“It would seem bad in some congregations for a sinner to be saved, for whatever good he may receive from the pulpit is frozen out of him by the arctic atmosphere with which he is surrounded: and on the other hand some churches make it hard for men to remain unconverted, for with holy zeal they persecute the careless into anxiety.

“It should be our ambition, in the power of the Holy Ghost, to work the entire church into a fine missionary condition, to make it like a Leyden jar charged to the full with divine electricity, so that whatever comes into contact with it shall feel its power.

“What can one man do alone? What can he not do with an army of enthusiasts around him? Contemplate at the outset the possibility of having a church of soul-winners. Labour to gather a church alive for Jesus, every member energetic to the full, and the whole in incessant activity for the salvation of men.” (vol.2, p.191)

Gospel ministers would do well to train their church members in the art of witnessing. Learning some specific Gospel presentations and ways to handle objections, memorizing important verses, leading them to develop their testimonies into an oft-used weapon, showing them how to give out Gospel tracts effectively, and even taking them on witnessing occasions for on the job training would in time bring blessed results for our churches.
Let us hear from the forgotten Spurgeon in this area as well as in others.

Bob Selph
ARBCA coordinator.

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