Charles Simeon

Charles Simeon was born into a family with Anglican clerical connections, although there does not seem to have been an evangelical influence on it. His spiritual concerns came to a head when, on becoming a student in Cambridge in January 1779, he discovered that in a few weeks’ time he would participate automatically in the Lord’s Supper. This prospect troubled him because he knew he was not ready for this activity in a spiritual sense. That particular occasion of the Supper passed without him obtaining spiritual understanding. But he continued to search for an answer, and through reading suitable Christian literature, obtained assurance of salvation before taking part in the Lord’s Supper on Easter Sunday, 1799.

Simeon sensed a call to ordained ministry in the Church of England and received ordination in May 1782, when he was twenty-two. His journey to ordination had not required much of him, as little theological education existed in England at that time; indeed, his ordination examination only involved reading a passage from the Greek New Testament. A few months later he became vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge, and so began a ministry of fifty-four years that was to have immense consequences for the Church of England and elsewhere. He was filling the pulpit that had been occupied in previous centuries by the Puritans Richard Sibbes and Thomas Goodwin.

Yet his ministry began in very difficult circumstances, and highlights his willingness to suffer for Christ. His new congregation actually wanted another individual, and Simeon only received the post because the bishop did not like the congregation’s methods and rejected their choice. Not surprisingly, many of Simeon’s new congregation and church staff were hostile to him. Churches’ pews were locked by those who owned them at that time, and benches that Simeon placed in the church were removed. For a long time, most of his congregation had to stand during the services.

This unusual situation was to last for about twelve years. It seems that what maintained Simeon’s determination to pastor at Holy Trinity Church was a conviction which he believed came from God and which was given to him even before the bishop offered him the post. Despite his preaching gifts, his audience in Cambridge did not grow dramatically at first. In 1794, it numbered only about 100; in fact, it did not become very large until much later in his ministry, when over 1,000 would attend his services. Yet he was influential in other ways and developed methods that helped congregational life. They are worth thinking about because they indicate his flexibility and interests.

After eight years, he began an evening lecture in the church designed for those who could not attend during the day (mainly the poor). Such a meeting was a novelty in Cambridge, and some students tried to disrupt it. Simeon had to persist with the meetings, and on one occasion had to compel a troublemaker to make a public apology. Yet Simeon regarded such meetings as crucial means of evangelising those who did not attend church and who may not have understood what was taking place in the usual services.

In order to help the devotional life of the congregation, Simeon also arranged for small groups that were designed to provide spiritual care for members of the congregation. He did not arrange them geographically, but according to how he perceived the members of each group would relate to one another, which to me at least seems very sensible. Each group had a leader and Simeon instructed the leaders about what matters they should pass on to him. He was convinced that it was dangerous for congregational unity to allow unsupervised meetings, because they could cause divisions in the congregation. Eventually there were about thirty groups, each having about twenty persons.

Charles had a strong interest in missionary work, particularly in India, where it was easier for Anglicans, in comparison to others, to minister because of government recognition of the Church of England and because of the ecclesiastical chaplains employed by the East India Company. In order to extend Anglican missionary work, Simeon helped bring into existence The Church Missionary Society, a missionary movement of the Church of England. Several significant missionaries went out from his congregation, including Henry Martyn and Thomas Thomason. Simeon also supported Jewish evangelism. It is not difficult to make a connection between an interest in the spread of the gospel abroad and congregational growth at home. The latter often follows the former.

Simeon became well-known for his preaching. Early on, he realised that it was not enough to preach the truth with boldness; in addition he discovered the importance of teaching truth gradually as his listeners were able to bear it. Instead of a sermon containing all that he was able to say, it should contain all that his hearers were able to grasp, which is one reason why a lot of people came to listen to him. Today, one can purchase his sermons in a set of twenty-one volumes and, if you are interested, it will take you seven years to read them all at the rate of one sermon a day!

His end came on 13 November, 1836, after a few months of illness. His last sermon in Holy Trinity had been on the words of Jehu in 2 Kings 10:16: ‘Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.’ Simeon was a man who could have said these words about himself and his ministry. He had been an inspiration to many and his legacy is still present today through many organisations he supported during his years of service.