Scripture:
John 3:13-21
Reflection:
Moody was an American evangelist who is seen as the founder of the mass evangelism movement. He came from a farming community in Massachusetts, where his mother had to bring he and his siblings up following the early death of his father from alcoholism. She did her best to give the children an
education, but often needed to keep them at home to help earn Moody and Sankey
money. Moody struggles for all his life in the company
of well-educated people.
Aged 17, he went to work in his uncle’s shoe shop in Boston, and it was there during special revival meetings in a local church, that he was converted, largely due to the urging of his Sunday school teacher. The transformation of his life was instant. In 1856 he moved to Chicago, gave himself to evangelism, and often brought people into the church from the streets.
He also began to teach children in the Sunday school, on the first occasion rounding up 18 boys from the surrounding slums. He was known as compassionate with a good sense of humour, and soon the numbers reached 600! At this point, he gave up his job and became a full-time evangelist.
He worked in the daytime as a missionary with the YMCA, and ran week-night meetings, which eventually developed into an independent church. During the Civil War (1861-65) he ministered on the battle front, and preached to the troops and freed slaves.
In 1862 he married the English-born Emma Revell, and their marriage was very happy. Emma often accompanying her husband on his tours. Their first trip to England, however, was taken for Emma to take the sea air on the long sea voyage, as she suffered from asthma.
The trip to England had long-lasting effects, because it was there that Moody met Henry Moorhouse, a converted pickpocket. When Moorhouse subsequently visited Chicago and preached at Moody’s church, it had a profound effect on Moody. The latter had been in the habit of preaching God’s judgement on the sinner, but Moorhouse preached from John 3:16 of God’s love for the sinner. This changed Moody’s thinking.
Following the great Chicago fire of 1871 which destroyed their home, church and the YMCA building, Moody undertook a wider ministry. But he felt spiritually barren, and prayed to be baptised in the Holy Spirit. His prayer was answered one day, walking along a street in New York, ‘the power of God fell upon him as he walked up the street and he had to hurry off to the house of a friend and ask that he might have a room by himself, and in that room he stayed alone for hours; and the Holy Ghost came upon him, filling his soul with such joy that at last he had to ask God to withhold His hand, lest he die on the spot from very joy.’ [1]
There followed a visit to England during which he preached a churches in London. After one week, 400 people had been converted. 3 prominent Christians independently from each other, suggested he return to England for a preaching tour, and he came in 1873 with Ira Sankey, a singer from his church in Chicago. Due to some confusion of communication, however, they found that no plans had been made for his preaching campaign. Hurried arrangements were made for meetings in York, via a YMCA contact of Moody, and meetings followed in Sunderland and Newcastle. Some clergy were suspicious of these 2 Americans, but many people were converted. 6 weeks of preaching in Edinburgh followed with Moody ending each meeting with an invitation to go to the ‘inquiry room’ for further counsel. Many responded. Their fame spread across Scotland and Ireland and they received many invitations. Their tour precipitated a revival in those countries.
The tour ended with a visit to London, where Moody preached in the Islington Agricultural Hall and the Queen’s Opera House in Haymarket (despite opposition from local clergy). Many people, including wealthy and influential people, were converted.
Moody was said to have an informal, anecdotal style of preaching whilst Sankey’s songs presented the gospel in a story-telling format. This was very different to the preaching in churches at that time, and had great appeal.
Moody also became very famous in America, preaching in the major cities, and revival breaking out wherever he went. In 1879 he opened a school for girls from poor families, and shortly afterwards another for boys. These were funded by the sale of Sankey’s hymn book Sacred Songs and Solos. Well-known hymns in the book include ‘Blessed Assurance’, ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’, and ‘Safe in the arms of Jesus’.
Conferences were also arranged for further teaching.
A second tour of the UK took them to Cambridge, where the ‘Cambridge Seven’, all university graduates, committed themselves to missionary work with the China Inland Mission. Others followed. Moody also founded the Moody Bible Institute and the Moody Press. Further tours and the pressure of work took its toll, and Moody was taken ill in Kansas and died at the age of 62.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, we thank you for the fervour of Moody and Sankey to make the gospel known. Challenge us with the urgency of the task. AMEN
Songs:
Stand up, Stand up for Jesus – Fountainview Academy (hymn composed by Ira Sankey) The Cambridge Seven in Chinese Dress
Food for Thought:
Has the understanding of the need for the gospel held by Moody been lost?
How might you speak the gospel today?