Geoff Chang

Sermon Of The Week: “Heavenly Worship”

February 3, 2025

Too often, our worship here on earth can be focused on the wrong things: how we feel, the quality of the music, the circumstances of our gatherings, and other inferior matters. But in this sermon, Spurgeon reflects on how the worship of heaven should be a model or template for our worship here on earth. When …

The United Prayer Meeting of 1865

January 31, 2025

One of the hallmarks of C. H. Spurgeon’s ministry was his Monday night congregational prayer meeting. Each week, thousands of members of the Metropolitan Tabernacle gathered to pray for the ministries of the church and preaching of the Word. This was one of the pieces of evidence that a genuine revival was taking place: the …

The Service in the Snowstorm

January 2, 2025

A snowstorm is forecasted to hit Kansas City over the weekend, and I’m reminded of one of my favorite stories from Charles Spurgeon’s life: the story of his conversion. As churches ponder whether they should cancel services, here’s an encouragement not to underestimate how God might work even through a snowstorm and a simple worship …

Thanksgiving: Always and for All Things

November 22, 2024

As we enter the Thanksgiving season, many of us would recount the countless blessings the Lord has bestowed upon us. We recall how the good Lord has provided for us a roof above our heads, food on our tables, family that supports us, and friends that care for us. Yet, beyond these foundational blessings, how …

A Wondrous Mystery: An Interview

November 5, 2024

Charles H. Spurgeon was considered by many to be the greatest preacher of his generation and lived during the nineteenth-century revival of the celebration of Christmas in the US and England. He loved Christmas and welcomed the holiday season as an opportunity for reflection, rest, and being reunited with friends and family. In A Wondrous Mystery: …

Why Spurgeon Refused to Name Names in the Downgrade Controversy

October 31, 2024

In early 1887, C. H. Spurgeon published a paper in The Sword and the Trowel that, unbeknownst to him, would kindle a flame in the Baptist Union. This flame grew into the fiery debate, known as the Downgrade Controversy, that engulfed Baptists for the coming years. The altercation sent Spurgeon and the Baptist Union careening …

Effectual Atonement and Eternal Assurance

October 4, 2024

Many Christians are happy to affirm Scripture's teaching of eternal assurance, sometimes summarized as "once saved, always saved." However, many are more hesitant when it comes to affirming the Reformed doctrine of effectual atonement or definite atonement, namely that by his death on the cross, Jesus not only made salvation possible, but He accomplished salvation …

“Who Shall Keep the Keepers?”: Churches and Pastoral Accountability

September 26, 2024

Writing in 1889, after the Downgrade Controversy, Spurgeon wrestled with the question of unfaithful ministers and congregational accountability. Under the new modern theology, these ministers were using the language of historic Christianity, but redefining that language in rationalist and anti-supernatural ways. But how are churches to hold them accountable? As a congregationalist, Spurgeon believed that …

What is the Church Militant?

September 19, 2024

The following excerpt is taken from my new book, The Army of God: Spurgeon's Vision for the Church (Christian Focus, 2024). Amid these many conflicts, two controversies stand out: the Baptismal Regeneration Controversy in 1864 and the Downgrade Controversy in 1887–1888.[1] In the former conflict, Spurgeon battled the growing ritualism which arose from the Oxford Movement …

God’s Pruning and the Branches

September 9, 2024

By the summer of 1856, C. H. Spurgeon's ministry was bearing so much fruit. Church membership was growing. People were being converted under his preaching. Young men were being trained for the ministry. Sermons were being sold by the thousands. And yet all would seemingly come to an end in the Surrey Gardens Music Hall …