7 

CONCLUSION 

Lessons from Moody’s Work 

 

Dwight Moody was supremely practical. He was not a detached idealist; he was a man who rolled up his sleeves and dug into work. He developed his ministry methods by doing ministry rather than theorizing. It is hardly surprising one of Moody’s most famous books is titled To the Work! To the Work! Exhortations to Christians. Consequently, ending without something practical would be a disservice to him.

While the focus of this book has been to create a more accurate assessment of his work, as I noted in the introduction, I hoped to write something Christians would find helpful. Because of the extensive nature of Moody’s life and work, there is much to be learned, both positive and negative. I hope we can learn from his triumphs and avoid repeating his mistakes as we seek to live out the gospel in our time. Consequently, what follows is an attempt to draw practical lessons from Moody’s work. To that end, here are six lessons I believe apply to us in our time.

1. GOD USES THE ORDINARY TO ACCOMPLISH THE EXTRAORDINARY 

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

—JAMES 5:17

At first glance, Dwight Moody seems an unlikely instrument for God’s work. Raised by a single mother in poverty, Moody was uneducated and unpolished, hardly a candidate for a world changer.

Moody’s preaching illustrated this reality. As might be expected, it also reflected his somewhat unique approach to grammar by including phrases like “The Spirit done it,” “tain’t no use,” and “git right up.”¹ One observer in England wrote: “Oh, the way that man does mangle the English tongue! The daily slaughter of syntax at the Tabernacle is dreadful. His enunciation may be pious, but his pronunciations are decidedly off-color. It is enough to make Noah Webster turn over in his grave and weep to think that he lived in vain.”²

His sermons were all delivered at an alarming rate of speed. As one observer put it, “Moody seemed to seize the idea that his messages were to be delivered over wires kept hot and that there was neither time nor money to be wasted in their delivery.”³ The observer continued noting that, in passages of intense excitement, the sentences possessed an explosive quality suggesting a pack of firecrackers set off by accident.⁴ Another described his sermons’ endings as having the feel of a calvary charge, saying one either went with it or got out of the way.⁵ His delivery speed and limited vocabulary meant he rarely used words with three or four syllables. When he dared use them, they often emerged in a tortured fashion.⁶

Given this description of his preaching, his popularity is astonishing. Moody crossed class lines, preaching to poor children and urban immigrants as well as the aristocracy in the United Kingdom. What Moody lacked in education and polish, his earnestness and the power of God more than made up for. One observer recounted a conversation with Moody after observing the young Moody’s inadequacies at a meeting. Flabbergasted by Moody’s limitations, he approached him. Aware of his inadequacies, Moody told the man, “I have got only one talent; I have no education, but I love the Lord Jesus Christ, and I want to do something for him: I want you to pray for me.”⁷ Moody was committed to God, and his life demonstrates God’s willingness to use those earnestly committed to Him. Moody’s life reflects his plea to others, “Give your life to God; he can do more with it than you can!”⁸

2. HUMILITY IS ESSENTIAL TO CHRISTIAN SERVICE 

If we only get down low enough, my friends, God will use every one of us to His glory.⁹

—DWIGHT MOODY

If a man is proud and lifted up, rivers of grace may flow over him and yet leave him barren and unfruitful, while they bring blessing to the man who has been brought low by the grace of God.¹⁰

—DWIGHT MOODY

As I have been studying some Bible characters that illustrate humility, I have been ashamed of myself. If you have any regard for me, pray that I may have humility.¹¹

—DWIGHT MOODY

In recent years we have seen ministries and megachurches spectacularly implode. Time after time, as the wreckage is cleared, we hear a tale of power, control, and ego.

It would be easy to listen and be angry at “them,” but the reality is we are them. As Walt Kelly put it in his comic strip Pogo, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” We love celebrities who glitter in the light. We are drawn to their charisma and grant them power because of their skills. We fawn over them, feeding their egos, attending seminars, and buying books. Perhaps even more troublesome, we crave to be them in our souls. We dream of being the godly man or woman leading a massive ministry admired by others. Unfortunately, marketing schemes have replaced prayer meetings in too many of our churches.

Throughout the history of the church, God has brought forth men and women who stand as examples for us. Moody is one of those people. As we have seen, some things could be improved in Moody’s work; he sometimes failed. Despite these failings, Moody’s ability to avoid the trap of ego and power is instructive. We are a power-, personality-driven culture. As the old Canon camera commercial said, “Image is everything.” For Moody, Jesus and the gospel were everything.

As I have studied the life of Moody, I have been struck by Moody’s adamant refusal to attach his name to anything. Moody Bible Institute was not named after Moody until he died. The same is true with Moody Memorial Church. I have been increasingly impressed with the wisdom Moody showed in this choice. How many of us could remain grounded if surrounded by a group of people committed to making our name a household word? Moody knew this and aggressively sought to protect himself from this temptation.

Moody was also aggressive about sharing his meetings. Others preached at his events. There are stories of Moody walking into meetings and announcing to a colleague he was speaking as he entered the building. He sometimes even waited until he was on the platform before informing a colleague he was preaching. Moody wanted his campaigns to be focused on someone other than him.

There was a humility to Moody. He knew his limitations and was not afraid to acknowledge them. He was especially vocal about his lack of education. Throughout his life, Moody regularly deferred to educated Bible teachers. He would sit with gifted scholars and spend hours peppering them with questions. His formation of the Northfield Bible Conference was partly driven by his desire to sit under the teaching of quality Bible teachers. He would always begin by reading Charles Surgeon’s notes on his selective text when preparing sermons. Moody insisted he be called “Mr. Moody, not Rev. Moody.” On more than one occasion, when he was introduced as “Rev. Moody,” he would spring to his feet and quickly correct the speaker, insisting he was plain old Mr. Moody, a lay Sunday school teacher.

I remember being impressed the first time I heard about Moody’s reluctance to have his picture taken. He was transparent about his reasoning; he never wanted it to be about him. However, newspapers flocked to him for interviews when he became well-known. During the interview, he would spend much of the discussion quoting Scripture because he wanted to make it about God. This is at the heart of Moody’s approach to ministry. Dwight Moody was obsessed with making it about Jesus and the gospel. Jesus was his brand.

I was raised in evangelical churches. My parents served with an evangelical foreign mission most of my life. I attended Christian colleges. I have served on church and mission boards and worked in Christian higher education my entire career. Evangelical institutions have shaped me. Reflecting on my life, I see a broad continuum between those churches and institutions. I have seen some institutions elevate brand over mission, valuing loyalty to brand over truth. Leaders isolate themselves, muzzling questions and eliminating accountability to those they serve. I have also seen real servant leaders who kept their institution focused on Jesus and pursued accountability and input from others.

The Lord is calling us to look at ourselves and our institutions. First Samuel 8 tells the tragic story of Israel demanding a king. God had warned them they were different; God was their King. But they insisted they needed to be like everybody else. The results were catastrophic. We court disaster when we build around charismatic, gifted people and grant them almost unlimited power. When we look to God and value spiritual growth over numbers, we are in a place to see God work. There is nothing wrong with being gifted and charismatic, but we owe it to those folks to remember it is always only about Jesus. I think that is something Mr. Moody understood, and we should also.

3. DO THE THINGS THAT NEED TO BE DONE THAT NOBODY ELSE IS DOING 

There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.¹²

—DWIGHT MOODY

Dwight Moody was an innovator but not a copycat. I remember a Christian leader saying, “There are many regiments in God’s Army, and we will trust God to use them and concentrate on our mission. We will support and respect the work of other schools and ministries.” That statement captured Mr. Moody’s approach to ministry. Dwight Moody never competed with other ministries. He trusted God to use others and looked instead for places without Christian work. When Moody ran city revivals, he aggressively sought collaboration with the local churches. Moody repeatedly described his goal as serving the church, not replacing it. This attitude explains why many churches and Christian leaders so widely admired Moody.

The two best examples from Moody’s life were his Sunday school and his foray into publishing. When Moody was “encouraged” to rethink his practice of bringing street kids to church, he innovated. He reasoned no one was willing to enter their neighborhoods; no Christian work existed. So, he went to a place of great need without any workers. The same can be said of his publishing venture. Moody got into publishing because he saw a need that no one addressed. He was motivated by ministry needs, not money or fame.

I have often wondered how much evangelicals have spent on redundant ministries. Too often, we are unwilling to trust God to work through others, as if only our group can do it right. How much more ministry could we accomplish if we cooperated rather than competed? Moody is an example of how much more can be done by focusing on cooperation and finding areas without Christian work, even if they are not glamorous.

4. EVANGELISM AND SOCIAL WORK ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE 

Do all the good you can, to all the people you can, in all the ways you can, and as long as ever you can.

—MOTTO IN MR. MOODY’S BIBLE

Reading the Bible and remembering the poor—a combination of faith and works—will always bring joy.¹³

—DWIGHT MOODY

If you have done much reading about Moody before this book, you certainly came across the claim that Moody turned evangelicalism away from social engagement to exclusively evangelism. By now, you can see the falseness of that claim. While Moody prioritized evangelism, he never excluded addressing social concerns.

What is crystal clear from surveying Moody’s work is that he cared deeply about outcasts and about people experiencing poverty. Much of his work was directed toward alleviating their suffering. In short, Moody was an example of the necessity of doing both evangelism and engaging social ills. It is certainly fair to question Moody’s methods but not his intentions. Poverty, discrimination, and evil social structures are complex issues with a variety of opinions on how best to address them. Reasonable people can disagree sharply about methods of dealing with these problems; however, Moody would say no Christian has the right to ignore them. According to Moody, the Bible is clear: Christians care about the plight of the widows, the poor, and the orphans. Any Christian who fails to address social problems is not following the example of Dwight Moody. Indeed, Moody is an enduring testimony to the truthfulness of the necessity of doing both.

5. WE MUST STAND AGAINST THE CULTURAL SINS OF OUR DAY 

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

—ROMANS 12:2A

In the verse above, Paul encourages the Christians in Rome not to conform to their world’s values and behaviors but to have their minds renewed, changing their thoughts. Christians are to think about things differently. This means we are to respond to the beliefs and practices of the world considering the teachings of the Bible.

In the previous chapter, we explored one of Moody’s failures. On issues regarding race, Moody conformed to the values of his age. Very few people knew their Bible like Moody; consequently, in his case, this was not a matter of ignorance of the teachings of the Bible.

It would be easy to condemn Moody, but the purpose of this chapter is to learn not to pass judgment. Moody, like all of us, was shaped by his times. We know it is easy and safe to conform. It is also easy to rationalize compromise, particularly to achieve a perceived greater good. In Moody’s case, he seems to have believed that preaching the gospel trumped speaking against things he knew were wrong. But ends do not justify means.

There is a fine but important distinction between being sensitive to our culture and paying no heed to sin. Indeed, we are not to cause undue offense, but the Scriptures do not allow us to ignore personal or cultural sin. Christians and the church are to be salt and light. We may disagree about how to respond to the sins of our times, but acquiescence is not an option.

The challenge we face is threefold. First is the temptation to choose to remain quiet. Moody demonstrates what happens when Christians and the church decide to stay silent. We must speak out against evil. This is a lesson we must take to heart. Second, we must avoid choosing what sins to address and what ones to ignore. We must read Scripture carefully and follow all its precepts. When Christians oppose abortion while ignoring things like hunger, mental illness, and domestic abuse, they are not biblical. This is not to say all sins are equal; however, we must follow the whole counsel of God. Third, we must constantly check to see how much we are driven by culture rather than Scripture. All Christians would acknowledge every culture contains beliefs that are incompatible with Scripture. But in today’s media-driven society, becoming immune or blinded to our flaws is easy. Ask yourself, how have your values changed over the last decade? Are the changes a result of a deeper understanding of Scripture or the impact of media? Make no mistake, this is hard work but essential work. That is why we must be seeking, as Paul puts it, to renew our minds constantly.

6. WE MUST HAVE A PROFOUND COMMITMENT TO GOD 

Moody gave his life to God. Perhaps the best way to end this book is to remind ourselves of the challenge that drove Dwight Moody. While visiting Bristol, England, in 1867, he heard evangelist Henry Varley say, “The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.”¹⁴ Moody took the words as a challenge and responded, “I will try my utmost to be that man.”¹⁵ May the same be true of us.