Spurgeon on Soul Winning

~ fundyreformed

I came across a post today by Doug Eaton which contains some food for thought. He provides 4 quotes by Spurgeon on different aspects of soul winning. It is a great yet short read.

Apparently abuses in his day were not to dissimilar than abuses in our day. The IFB churches I grew up in, thankfully, had a concern for true conversion in the winning of souls. But I have run across so many IFB churches that sadly emphasize soul winning to the exclusion of everything else, and in so doing often create more apostates than they make disciples.

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

10 thoughts on “Spurgeon on Soul Winning”

  2. Bob,

    I came here to your blog through your post at the Howling Coyote. We were discussing the KJVO issue, with which I am struggling.

    Great blog. I have been in IFB churches all of my life, and have now been pastoring for almost 10 years an IFB church. I recently had one of those “Damascus Road” moments, where new light comes and you look at everything differently.

    So many things I once believed were true now seem to have little Biblical support. For a few months now I have been writing a book (for my own edification) on the failures of IFBism. I have felt so alone and confused. Your blog and others like it have helped me tremendously.

    I am just so confused about so many things. The college I attended (and graduated from) left me a theological lightweight. We were taught methodology, while thelogy was considered boring and useless. I am no reaping the fruit of poor ministerial education. Anyways, the more I study, the more questions I have.

    Regarding “Spurgeon on Soul Winning”, awesome stuff. The soul winning I was taught was for one purpose alone: to get somebody to repeat a prayer, and thus increasing the church’s all important statisitcs (the “numbers game”). Needless to say, I am currently haveing to relearn biblical soul winning methods.

  4. Reglerjoe,

    A Berean (Acts 17) mindset is sadly rare these days. I encourage you to keep seeking God in prayer and His Word. Do not let the failures of IFBism or any other group in Christianity make you lose sight of the fact that Christ does not fail. He is with us, and working in His church today.

    I would encourage you to check out the book mentioned in this post, and to also check out God is the Gospel and The Dangerous Duty of Delight by John Piper. Also check out this post about some resources dealing with Romans 14.

    But more than anything do not lose heart. God is able to direct you and provide the answers to the questions that trouble you. Feel free to email me if I can be of any more help.

    In Christ,

    Bob

    Rom. 15:5-7

  5. The pendulum swing is a common reaction to finding out someone didn’t tell you everything you needed to know, Joe. Study the Bible and find out what it says. You’ll find there are more chapters in the Bible than Romans 14, 15 too. If you are a Baptist, hopefully one thing you learned was the big “B,” that is, the Bible is your sole authority. If it is, you will follow it for the glory of God. That will give you the joy and satisfaction you miss from the exclusion of unscriptural groups whether they call themselves IFB or whether they say they are reformed, like Bob does.

  6. Dear Mr. Hayton,

    Sadly, what creates more apostates than anything else is when people allow man-made theologies such as Calvinism to trump the Word of God. Of course, when there is confusion about what even *is* the Word of God, such as is introduced by Bibles based upon the Critical Texts, it is only natural that the confusion leads to apostasy.

  7. Titus,

    It is somewhat ironic to notice that all of the King James Version translators were diehard Calvinists, whereas a good many of the translators behind the modern versions are definitely not. I could also point out that the “man-made theology” of Calvinism played a major role in bringing about the Spirit-wrought Great Awakening (as George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards did most to bring it about in America) and the modern missions movement (as William Carey and Andrew Fuller, fathers of English missions, and Adoniram Judson, first American missionary, were all Calvinists). In fact, any theological system by nature is man-made. Lewis Sperry Chafer and C.I. Scofield, for example, were key in the devolpement of the predominantly non-Calvinistic system of dispensationalism. The Bible is authored by God, but men grapple to understand it. Hence theological systems. I would venture to say we all hold to a man-made theological sytem. The question should be whether these systems are Scripturally sound. I, and many others, (I would venture to say the vast majority of evangelicals within the last 500 years) contend Calvinism is Scripturally sound. This post, though, is not the forum for debating that issue. Feel free to reference my commenting policy in this regard.

    Thanks for the comments,

    Bob Hayton

  8. Was the Church England Calvinistic? I knew that John Calvin was very influential, but I had not ever heard that he had that degree of impact. It sounds like Al Gore inventing the internet. Bob, you say that all of the translators were diehard Calvinists. Some of them were, but not even a majority. Huge theological differences characterized the translators. I would wonder what your source for “all were Calvinists” is. With that original premise deflated, the rest of your post goes down like the Spanish Armada in 1588. As far as Titus, whoever he may be, he was simply commenting to what reglerjoe said above. You didn’t chide reglerjoe for veering from topic. That seems to be tell-tale, Bob. And with regards to people with a Berean attitude, which you imply you have, sometimes a fine line exists between Bereans and know-it-alls.

  9. Anonymous,

    I was a little hasty in using “diehard” to describe the KJV translators’ Calvinism. But Calvinistic, in the modern sense of the term, they were. This is established from a reading of the 39 Articles of the Anglican Faith accepted in 1571. See especially articles 10-12, and 17. This is why Wayne Grudem (an author of a Systematic Theology book) says “the Thirty-Nine Articles have a clearly Reformed emphasis”. Grudem does admit both Arminians and Calvinists are to be found among Episcopalians (Anglicans) though. So at least in virtue of their creed, the KJV translators were decidedly Calvinistic. Most of the huge theological differences you mention among the translators center on the use of the Anglican prayer book, the requirement of the clergy to wear vestments, and particularly the doctrine of the divine right of kings and its resultant church-sponsored monarchy (as opposed to Geneva’s church-sponsored republic). As these were the main points of tension between the Puritans and their Protestant counterparts in the Anglican Church. (Source for the differences between the Puritans and establishment Anglicans= In the Beginning by Alister McGrath a history of the KJV and also Sketches from Church History by S.M. Houghton.)

    As regards Titus, I was merely pointing out that simply stating that Calvinism trumps the Bible as a man-made theological system does not prove it to be unScriptural. The required proof would, however, be outside the limits of commenting under this post. I do not discourage him from arguing his point, as there are other posts on this blog where he would be free to do so.

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