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Episode 114 Spurgeon’s College with Helen Stokley

Spurgeon’s College was established 175 years ago in London by young Charles Haddon Spurgeon.  At first it was known as Pastor’s College, but its name was later changed to Spurgeon’s College.

David Capes was traveling to London and met with Rev. Helen Stokley, Deputy Head of Institute, Spurgeon’s College, London.  She agreed to sit down and talk about the college on “The Stone Chapel Podcast.”

Helen had a meeting with God earlier in life and felt God wanted her to step further into church leadership so she trained at Spurgeon’s College.  Her husband is a Baptist minister.  She has been in her current post for 8 ½ years.

C. H. Spurgeon was born in 1834 and grew up around Essex, UK.  He was brought up in a Christian family.  At the age of 15 he had a personal encounter with God and came to Christ.  Not long afterward, someone suggested to him, “you might be able to preach.”

Young Spurgeon accepted that challenge and in a short time he became one of the greatest preachers in the 1800s.  He had an incredible impact upon the UK and the world. 

He had a passion preach, and preach he did to up to 10,000 without any means to amplify his voice. 

In his 20s he started the college and since then Spurgeon’s College has trained thousands who are  serving the church all over the world.

The mission today is the same as it was when Spurgeon started it: to train people to know the Bible, preach, and be ministers and leaders. 

Today they train men and women to gospel ministry.  Courses are offered in London, of course, but also digitally across the world. 

Though it is a Baptist school historically, many evangelically-minded people attend and train there. 

Today there is a rich diversity of students in the college.  And the college even trains some who don’t have a call to ministry; these students want to develop their knowledge and think more deeply about theology. 

Spurgeon’s College now offers an interesting new Master of Arts in Digital Theology (thanks to the Covid pandemic).  They also have a new undergraduate theology degree that a person can finish in three  years full time..  Because of the mental health disorders that have developed due to the isolation in the pandemic, they are offering more course offerings in counseling.

Soon they will begin a large-scale renovation of their campus. 

One famous graduate of Spurgeon’s College was Thomas Johnson, author of Twenty Eight Years a Slave.  Listen to the podcast to learn more of Spurgeon’s stance and actions on slavery. 

Learn more about Spurgeon’s College at www.spurgeons.ac.uk

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