When you enter our Worship Center, our pulpit might be the first thing that catches your eye. This is a replica of the pulpit 19th Century British pastor Charles Spurgeon had in his church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Here is a short explainer about the pulpit in general and this pulpit in particular:
We believe that something as simple as a pulpit can communicate something. That even the way the worship space is set up – even furniture – can communicate something.
And that’s what the Reformers thought 500 years ago, too, which is who we are drawing from in many ways, not because they were perfect but because they were our forbearers who saw the way that the Word of God had been displaced in the church and strove to put the Word back at the center. And one of the ways they did that was to take the pulpits that had been put on the side of the church, and literally moved them to the middle of the room and then elevated them. Why did they do that?
Because they believed that God reveals Himself primarily through the Bible, and not through any other means. They believed that the Word had supreme authority in the church and that the Spirit working through the Scripture was the means by which people were shown the beauty of Christ and how they grew and changed.
Hence the pulpit, logically and rightly, was moved to a central place in the worship. Not only literally being in the center, but even in the way the worship service was constructed. Preaching was central to the liturgy, because the Word of God was central to the eternal life of its worshipers.
Like the Reformers, we believe the pulpit’s place, and even its design, then, communicates something. And what we desire to be communicated is that at First Baptist Church in Cordele, Georgia, the Word of God has a place of supremacy. That it informs everything we do and that the most important thing that is done at this church is the Word being read and preached because the Word is “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and pierces as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” That it is breathed out by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” And that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ alone.
The Pulpit, then, is not just a utility stand for the preacher to use to hold his notes, but a weighty visual anchor to point to the significance of the proclaimed Word itself.
But the pulpit also represents the idea that people come into church to literally sit under, or stand under, as was the case in some Reformation churches, the teaching of the Word of God, and hear the Word preached from a pulpit. The pulpit is a crucial thing in the history of the church, dating back as far back as the 200s.
Now the design of this one in particular. This isn’t a pulpit ordered from a magazine and it’s shipped in a box and a couple of screws later you have a pulpit. This was made specifically with FBC in mind by a sister in Christ who uses her talent to bless the church.
The design itself is similar to the design of Charles Spurgeon’s pulpit in the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Spurgeon is considered one of the greatest preachers of all time, earning the nickname “The Prince of Preachers.” His sermons would be written down as he was preaching them and then they would be printed in newspapers all across England immediately after the church service was over.
No matter what threat or controversy arose, Spurgeon held fast the Word of God without compromising. Whether that was people denying inerrancy or trying to justify slavery, Spurgeon unmovably stood on the Word, even if it cost him.
And so, the design of the pulpit is like Spurgeon’s because we want to be people who hold fast to the Word of God and because we want to be reminded that we stand on the shoulders of people who came before us both in Spurgeon’s day, and the Reformation, and to the earliest centuries of the church.
As you can see in the pictures, the pulpit has a hood that opens up and on the inside, are engraved two things: a quote from Spurgeon and a verse from Scripture. The Spurgeon quote says this: “Let the sun stop shining, and we will preach in darkness. Let the waves stop their ebb and flow, and still our voice shall preach the gospel.”
The verse is from John 12:21 and simply says, “Sir, we would see Jesus,” and that’s our goal every time we preach.
May this pulpit be a symbol of FBC’s commitment to the Word of God no matter what.