Two Messengers, Two Results

Two Messengers, Two Results

The message was the same but the results were quite different.

IN 1845 the Methodists in Vermont sent evangelist James Caughey to Europe to minister for two years. He first went to Birmingham, England, where he had a successful five-month ministry. From there he went by train to Nottingham, England, where he had been invited to preach in Wesley Chapel, a large church seating between two and three thousand.

When John Wesley, the great Methodist evangelist, had first preached in Nottingham 105 years earlier, he had described in his journal how disappointed he was by the people’s response to the gospel: “Not one person who came in used any prayer at all; but everyone immediately sat down, and began talking to his neighbor, or looking to see who was there.” Wesley said he “expounded with a heavy heart.” But now things had started to change. On Caughey’s first Sunday in Nottingham, God began to pour out his Spirit on the chapel, and 136 people put their faith in the Lord Jesus. As the weeks went by there were daily meetings with many putting their trust in Christ each day.

On Monday evening a prayer meeting was held, and 47 more found salvation. On Tuesday night there were 24 more, on Wednesday 22, and so on, day after day throughout the week.

One of the secrets to his success was the Methodists’ organized follow-up of new converts. The names and addresses of every new convert were immediately recorded. Then they were assigned to meet with a leader of the church, and the day and time of the meeting were recorded. The converts were also assigned to one of the classes that were held at the chapel. In addition, the chapel secretary recorded whether the new converts had met as they had promised. With such a system in place, no one slipped through the cracks or was overlooked.

By June 13, 1846, the day Caughey left Nottingham, less than five weeks after his arrival, he had seen 1,412 persons trust in Christ as their Lord and Savior. More than a thousand of the new converts came to his last service to bid him a tearful farewell.

One hundred and five years after John Wesley’s discouraged journal entry about Nottingham, Caughey wrote in his journal:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost for such a work—which only the Omnipotent God could perform. . . . Such a work of God as this, in so short a time, I have never before witnessed. It has been, indeed, one of the great spring tides of the Spirit; the like of which one may never see again, unless viewed from our position in eternity, in the future triumphs of Emmanuel. . . . But why should it not have been accomplished in a short time if the people were willing to be saved? Seeing that it is written we are justified by faith, and sanctified by faith; and that God himself saith, “Behold, now is the accepted time; Behold, now is the day of salvation!”

Both John Wesley and James Caughey faithfully preached on their first visit to Nottingham, but the results were according to God’s timing.

Reflection

Were the different results of Wesley’s and Caughey’s initial preaching in Nottingham any reflection on their faithfulness? What do the experiences of these two men teach us about focusing on results? Both men served God faithfully, and that is all that God requires of us. The rest is up to him.

The ones who do the planting or watering aren’t important, but God is important because he is the one who makes the seed grow.

1 Corinthians 3:7