Class Act - Sarah Crosby

1729–1804

There were just too many people. Not that Sarah Crosby was afraid of speaking, but she worried about the propriety of it. She had been a Methodist class leader since 1752, leading a small group, thirty people at most, in Bible study. Now, nearly a decade later, there were nearly two hundred individuals coming to hear her speak. That seemed a lot like preaching, and Crosby wasn’t sure a woman should do that. She wrote to John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, for advice.

“I do not see that you have broken any law,” he replied. “Go on calmly and steadily.” He reaffirmed that the Methodists did not allow women preachers at that time, but these circumstances constituted an “extraordinary” calling, as he saw it. It would not be wrong of her simply to share what was in her heart. If she was uneasy, perhaps she could read sermons from other preachers. “I think you have not gone too far. You could not well do less.”

This freed Crosby to continue her ministry. Over the next forty years or so, she spoke throughout England and wrote to hundreds of people, offering spiritual counsel. She became an important voice in the burgeoning Methodist movement.

Crosby also kept a detailed diary of her life, work, and musings. Consider this entry at the end of 1777: “Glory be unto thee, my Lord, who hast brought thy poor helpless creature to the end of another year. How shall I thank thee for all thy multiplied mercies! I have not improved either my time, or talents, as I wish I had, nor profited by my mercies, as I ought to have done. Yet, blessed be my gracious Father, I have great cause to be thankful. . . . Thou hast enabled me [in the past year] to ride 960 miles, to keep 220 public meetings, at many of which some hundreds of precious souls were present, about 600 private meetings, and to write 116 letters, many of them long ones: besides many, many conversations with souls in private, the effect of which will, I trust, be ‘as bread cast on the waters.’”

Christian ministry should never be about rights or status. It’s a matter of following God’s call. Sarah Crosby understood this, and she worked tirelessly to do so.

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

Ecclesiastes 11:1, KJV