Just as Paul found allies and serious ministry partners in a few key women, Spurgeon found a special ministry partner in one woman whom he and others lovingly referred to as “his favorite deacon,” Mrs. Lavinia Strickland Bartlett.[1] Mrs. Bartlett is one of the Church’s and Charles Spurgeon’s lesser-known heroes of the faith who warrants further study even though she, like Spurgeon, would have protested any personal attention. She dedicated her life to prayer and to seeing others profess Christ as Lord and Savior.
A Fruitful Sunday School
As the oldest of three children, Lavinia taught her younger siblings to pray while kneeling at an old trunk before she put them to bed “in a very staid and motherly way.”[2] Mothering, prayer, and even the trunk followed her throughout her life.[3] Spurgeon referred to her often as “a mother in Israel,” having “an intense force of character.” In the preface for her biography, her son Edward describes his mother as someone who “believed with all her heart, and therefore acted with decision and power.”[4] Upon hearing about all of the fruits of her labor, one would never imagine that she was considered an invalid, often weak and ill.
Of all of her fruits, Mrs. Bartlett became known best for the classes she held at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. She originally agreed to be a substitute teacher for one month at a New Park Street Chapel Sunday school, but when she showed up to teach on that first Sunday, she was asked to teach a different class. What started out with only three ladies grew to include thousands. Estimates are that between nine hundred and one thousand members were added to the Metropolitan Tabernacle’s membership from Mrs. Bartlett’s class, and Spurgeon was a frequent visitor. On several occasions, he found it difficult to enter the room where Mrs. Bartlett was teaching, leading him to find her more comfortable spaces. The class that started in a regular Sunday school room at the New Park Street Chapel was relocated a number of times, but eventually settled in at the lecture hall of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. With a motto of “My class for Jesus,” she regularly had between six and seven hundred students.[5] Spiritual fruit abounded.
A Fruitful Evangelist and Discipler
Her son, Edward Bartlett, writes, “Among her papers there is an abundance of material, sufficient to occupy a volume, showing how greatly her labors among the young were blessed in the bringing of hundreds to a knowledge of the Savior.”[6] From her very first trip to London and on each trip thereafter, she used the travel time for witnessing. During that first trip, she made a convert and a connection to the business world that would provide for herself and her two sons after her husband died from cholera. Eventually, she would focus all of her time on her ministry. While her teaching goal was to bring many souls to Christ, she also discipled the members of her class, praying with them, walking alongside them in their struggles, and encouraging their own fruitfulness.
In the letters she wrote to her class Mrs. Bartlett provided encouragement in their personal walks as well as their ministry endeavors. In one letter she wrote: “Oh, my beloved class, how it cheers my heart to know that so many of you love and serve the bleeding, dying Lord. My heart’s desire and prayer to God for you is that you may be able to comprehend with all saints the height and breadth of the love of God in Christ Jesus. Drink deep into His love and live near to His blessed side.”[7] Her letters also promised prayer, further updates, and her love to them all.
A Generous Fundraiser
Mrs. Bartlett took a special interest in the Pastor’s College, encouraging and pleading with her class to give to that work, even becoming physically ill when donations decreased. The ladies in Lavinia’s class donated £1,346 over twelve years, equivalent to more than $200,000 today.[8] Mrs. Bartlett and her class helped each of the Metropolitan Tabernacle ministries in some manner, including the Stockwell Orphanage, but the Pastor’s College was the main project addressed during the class’s bi-annual meeting. During these meetings, Lavinia would whole-heartedly encourage her students to give sacrificially, begging and pleading with them to the point of tears, all the while reminding them of the reason why the college was important: “My own beloved children–you whom God has given me in spiritual birth–to you I speak with all the love of a mother’s heart. ‘Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.’”[9]
Mr. Spurgeon and Mrs. Bartlett
Spurgeon often wrote to this sister in the faith to let her know when he could use her help and to offer his thanks for the work and support that Lavinia and her class provided. “With constant thanksgiving I remember your work of faith and labor of love, and I pray the Lord to sustain you and make you still a joyful mother in Israel.”[10] Without the help of Mrs. Bartlett and others who were willing to serve alongside him, Spurgeon would not have been able to accomplish the mighty works that God set before him. Both Spurgeon and Mrs. Bartlett were quick to give credit to those who labored in the Lord with them, not wanting any credit for themselves.
Visitors to the class came from around the globe, and notes about what was happening there often appeared in newspapers and lectures. Lavinia’s son Edward says that she was quick to destroy the papers when she found them. Many wrote letters, inquiring as to the methods she used to gain success. Her son responded to one such letter: “Unfortunately, many workers for the Lord now-a-days- trust too much to the outward auxiliaries, and not sufficiently to the teaching of God’s Holy Spirit; and consequently many fail because they do not speak from the fullness of heart, but more from head knowledge.”[11] His mother’s lessons could be considered Scripture-filled pleadings to turn away from sin and toward Christ. In many instances, she was granted her wish by both men and women. Even during the last six days of her life, as she lay partially conscious, she continued to pray for particular souls among her class to find salvation in the Lord.
Her Heavenly Reward
Lavinia Bartlett received her heavenly reward on a Monday morning in 1875. Her son says, “As she lived, so she died, in the very atmosphere of praise and prayer, for I believe in her lifetime she literally prayed without ceasing.”[12] Charles Spurgeon delivered the funeral service at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and his brother led a time of prayer. The funeral process was five miles long and lined with thousands who wished to pay their respects. Spurgeon writes, “Her departure was the death of a mother to many, and her grave is a hallowed spot. The loss to us is gain to her; the battle is fought and the victory is won forever…May the Lord inspire many Christian women with the high ambition to be useful, direct them in the right way, and give them success therein. For such there is great need.”[13]
[1] Edward Bartlett, Mrs. Bartlett and Her Class at the Metropolitan Tabernacle (Cannon Beach: Move to Assurance, 2018), 143.
[2] Ibid., 9.
[3] Her son mentions that it was kneeling at the trunk where a number of souls placed their faith in the Lord. Ibid., 42.
[4] Ibid., 8.
[5] Ibid., 55.
[6] Ibid., 59.
[7] Ibid., 82.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid., 69.
[10] Ibid., 121.
[11] Ibid., 116.
[12] Ibid., 132.
[13] Ibid., 14.