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 PrintableVersion Love them inReflections on the centenary of D.L. MoodyD.L. Moody, the US evangelist who came from nowhere to be one of the men most used of God to bring men and women to Christ, died 100 years ago this December. His father died when he was four, leaving debts and a mother struggling to bring up eight young children. Moody left home early, with virtually no education, to earn a living in his uncle's shop in Boston. From the start, he showed some native entrepreneurial talent and might well have been a second J.D. Rockefeller if God had not intended otherwise. He'd had a little bit of religious upbringing in his local Unitarian church but was led to Christ by his Sunday school teacher, Edward Kimble, one Saturday morning in the shoe shop. Shortly after, he moved to Chicago, where he offered to teach in the Sunday school. Since all the classes had teachers, he returned the next week - having recruited his own class of 18 boys from the slums. It wasn't long before he had built a Sunday school of 650 children and 60 teachers. Evangelistic initiativesMoody became a missionary for the Chicago YMCA and then its president in 1835. His evangelistic zeal knew no bounds. He preached among the Civil War soldiers as well as introducing many evangelistic initiatives in Chicago itself. Thousands of young men attended noon-day prayer meetings. Falwell Hall was built to house the work, only tragically to burn down a few months later. It was never rebuilt on the same scale. That was not his only brush with fire. He suffered, along with others, in the great Chicago fire of 1871, losing his house and virtually all his possessions, as well as the Tabernacle which was then in the course of construction, and all the other places associated with his work. He and Emma, his wife, escaped from the fire with their small children thanks to a buggy loaned by a neighbour. In BritainHis first visit to Great Britain took place in 1867 and was meant to be something of a sabbatical. He longed to listen to Spurgeon and meet George Muller, which he did. But the most significant meeting was probably with a Lanca-shire 'boy preacher' called Harry Moorhouse, who taught him to preach the love of God. During the visit, doors began to open to him and other visits followed. With SankeyHis visit of 1873, bringing Sankey with him, began disastrously. Those, like William Pennefather, who had encouraged him to return, had died and he arrived with no arrangements made and no one to sponsor him. He went to York where F.B. Meyer spoke up for him and by the time he left two years later, he had preached the gospel to thousands in Scotland and Ireland as well as England, preaching to two and a half million in London alone. It was then that the first collection of Sacred Songs and Solos was used. Moody's message was always the same. People were ruined by sin, needed redemption by the blood of Christ and could be made regenerate by the Holy Spirit. Yet he was no narrow evangelist. Much of his enduring work was accomplished through the schools he founded for those who would have otherwise been denied education, in the church he rebuilt after the fire, with its enormous range of social as well as evangelistic ministry, in the Bible Institute he formed to train 'workers', through the Student Volunteer Movement and in the Northfield Holiness Conventions where British preachers like Henry Drummond, F.B. Meyer and Campbell Morgan found a voice. 19th century BillyMoody established a pattern of evangelism which was to last for over a century and see its ultimate expression in the work of Billy Graham. He was far from perfect. Sometimes he flunked issues he should have dealt with. He could have a quick temper. By today's standards, he did not give sufficient consideration to his wife and family. His heart sometimes ruled where, at least financially, it would have been better for his head to be in charge. Yet he had an ability to gather gifted (and rich) people around him and motivate them to serve Christ in groundbreaking ways. 10,000 ideasHe said of himself: 'I suppose they say of me: He is a radical; he is a fanatic; he only has one idea. Well, it is a glorious idea. I would rather have that said of me than be a man of 10,000 ideas and do nothing with them.' The centenary of Moody's death is being celebrated on November 24 1999 at a special symposium and service at London Bible College, sponsored by Beeson Divinity School and Samford University, Alabama. David Bebbington, John Pollock, Richard Bewes and Derek Tidball will join with Timothy George of Beeson and Tom Courts of Samford in presenting the day. The event is free and open to all. Details from London Bible College, Green Lane, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 2UW (01923 456 100). Derek J. Tidball
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