Charles Spurgeon could have been one of the richest millionaires in London.
Instead, he died poor.
Unlike his contemporary pastors in London, Spurgeon did not leave millions of pounds to his family after his death. Susannah told a Baptist newspaper her husband only left £2,000 (Nottingham Evening Post, March 31, 1892).
This number is staggering compared to how much money Spurgeon actually earned. In fact, one of the most overlooked aspects of Spurgeon’s ministry is his personal finances.
Let’s see where Spurgeon’s wallet takes us.
The numbers below have been converted from Great Britain Pound (GBP) in Spurgeon’s day to U.S. Dollar (USD) today. Inflation has been accounted for using a standardized consumer price index. As a general reference, one British pound (£) was worth the equivalent of $117.78 today.
25,000 sermons per week = $13,767,693.33
A small sampling of books sold up to 1885:
The Treasury of David = $5,225,472
Morning by Morning = $2,116,800
Evening by Evening = $1,481,760
Lectures to My Students, Vol. 1 = $453,600
Lectures to My Students, Vol. 2 = $226,800
Commenting on Commentaries = $151,200
John Ploughman’s Talk = $2,056,320
John Ploughman’s Pictures = $665,280
Total sales of books and sermons = $26,144,925.33
Remember, this is only a small slice of Spurgeon’s lifetime earnings. He wrote nearly 150 books, published a monthly magazine, and earned significant revenue from speaking engagements in the earlier, more mobile part of his ministry.
Have you ever wondered how much Spurgeon earned for his annual salary?
As a teenage pastor of Waterbeach Chapel, Spurgeon was paid meagerly, the equivalent of $5,443 per year, though $3,773 went to rent (69.3% of his salary):
“They gave me a salary of £45 a year, but as I had to pay 12 [shillings] a week for my two rooms which I occupied, my income was not sufficient to support me; but the people, though they had not money, had produce, and I do not think there was a pig being killed by any one of the congregation without my having some portion of it” (Autobiography 1:253).
After Spurgeon accepted the pastorate of New Park Street Chapel in 1854, his salary increased dramatically due to the money earned from seat rentals (a practice long since abandoned in evangelical churches).
Three months after moving to London, Spurgeon earned enough money to personally pay for his chapel’s maintenance and lighting (Autobiography 2:123). Shortly thereafter, he never again took a salary.
So where did all of Spurgeon’s money go? What were his attitudes towards finances?