The Sons Of Moody

The Sons Of Moody

They had little in common with one another.

DWIGHT L. MOODY, the famous evangelist, had two very different sons.

William Moody and his younger brother, Paul, were both dearly loved by their father, yet they had little in common with one another. William, ten years older than Paul, grew up to be serious and formal with conservative theological beliefs. Paul, a theological liberal, had a very easygoing nature and a reputation as a practical joker.

In addition to the large campaigns for which he is so well known, in his later years D. L. Moody shifted his focus to Christian education as a tool to bring the gospel to the masses. In 1879 Moody started Northfield Seminary for girls and in 1881 Mount Hermon School for boys in his birthplace of Northfield, Massachusetts, where he had resettled a few years earlier. His home was on the campus of the girls seminary. They became known as “The Northfield Schools,” which remains their formal title today. He loved these schools dearly and threw himself into planning, building, developing, and managing them. Then in 1887 Moody launched the Bible-Work Institute of the Chicago Evangelization Society, renamed Moody Bible Institute shortly after his death.

Both William and Paul graduated from Yale. Moody intended that his sons would jointly manage the Northfield Schools after his death, with Will in charge of Mount Hermon School, and Paul, Northfield Seminary. However, soon after their father’s death, the brothers became estranged, their differing theologies causing them continual conflict.

Believing that Paul would change the school’s theology if he could, Will decided to force Paul out of leadership by consolidating the two schools. On April 8, 1912, a bill proposing the merger was presented to the Committee on Mercantile Affairs of the commonwealth of Massachusetts and was passed. Paul was in Chicago at the time and did not have a chance to voice his opinion.

Will ended up serving in a general leadership capacity over both the Northfield Schools and the Moody Bible Institute. He also published the first official biography of his father’s life.

Paul achieved a distinguished career for himself outside of the Moody enterprises, becoming an influential voice in the liberal wing of American Protestantism. He graduated from Hartford Theological Seminary and became pastor of a church in Vermont. During World War I he served as senior chaplain of the American Expeditionary Forces. After the war he served as president of Middlebury College for twenty-one years. Like his brother, Paul published a biography of his father’s life.

Whereas the Northfield Schools evolved into typical New England private academies, Moody Bible Institute became America’s premier Bible institute. By the late 1920s it had one thousand students in its day and evening programs. In 2000 it had fourteen hundred day students and eighteen thousand in its extension and correspondence programs. Moody Bible Institute has trained more foreign missionaries than any school in the world.

Reflection

Do you believe that Will Moody did the right thing by forcing his brother out of the leadership of their father’s schools? What would you have done in that situation?

They will act as if they are religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. You must stay away from people like that.

2 Timothy 3:5