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EVEN THOUGH F.W.BOREHAM WAS SHY, HE KNEW HOW TO LEVERAGE SPECIAL OCCASIONS TO EASE HIS SHYNESS

When F.W. Boreham arrived in New Zealand in 1895 as a 24 year old single man, he was polite but shy. The women of the Taieri Plain found him to be most awkward especially in conversation. In his autobiography he admitted his fault, and revealed his discomfort at learning how to overcome it. But based Howard Crago’s later biography of Boreham, it was a ‘fault’ he was blighted with for the rest of his days. Yet, it seems that despite this personality impediment, FWB recognised that two great things could mask his shyness. We are all familiar with how he learned to use his pen to present himself as a socially confident gentleman. But what we may not realise as readily was how he loved to used occasions as his other ‘mask’.

“As a rule I would rather write a dozen letters than face the ordeal of calling on a stranger.” -FWB

FWB and Stella on the day of his retirement from preaching ministry, at Scots Melbourne

Studying the life of Boreham soon reveals just how much he loved to use occasions as opportunities to promote the Saviour. I suspect he was heavily influenced by Spurgeon who did something similar, which Metropolitan Tabernacle perpetuated. FWB celebrated the anniversary of his ordination to the pastoral ministry each year. He would invite dignitaries, fellow ministers, and the community. Once gathered, he would share appropriately with his guests. Whether by design or by chance, FWB timed his final sermon at Scots in Melbourne on the anniversary of his ordination.

Crago tells us that FWB also loved to celebrate his birthdays and wedding anniversaries using these too as an opportunity to connect the gospel with others. In his, My Pilgrimage, he tells of the occasion of his farewell celebration from Mosgiel. After nearly twelve years in New Zealand, he had learned how to somewhat overcome his shyness by recognising that every person had a story. By taking an interest in people’s stories he was able to engage with people without being overcome by his shyness. By the time he was done at Mosgiel, the folk of the Taieri Plain had taken Boreham into their hearts. On his last night there before leaving, the townsfolk met and celebrated his and Stella’s time with them in a packed hall. At the end of the night, Frank excused himself to retire back to the manse for contemplation and a quiet cup of tea (despite Stella telling him that the tea pot had already been packed away). As he strolled home wistfully in the New Zealand moonlight, he heard the gentle sobbing of a woman coming from someone sitting on the grass. He went over to her. Enquiring as to her welfare, she shared that she was sad that he was leaving – but she was especially sad that in all the time she had sat under his preaching ministry, she was yet to surrender her life to the Saviour! Boreham then gently invited the young lady to open her heart to the Saviour in that moment, which she did. He retells in his autobiography, that she remained in the Mosgiel church for many more years and became a fruitful witness for Christ herself and even mothered a son who became an even more effective overseas missionary! Perhaps it was these moments which reinforced to Boreham that occasions could be leveraged to advance the cause of the Saviour.  

In Hobart, FWB continued to use occasions to connect with people effectively. Even after concluding his ministry at Hobart, he was a keen returning visitor for the occasion of the Hobart church’s Jubilee celebration. 

When the Borehams relocated to Melbourne, he once again used occasions to connect beyond his usual audience. FWB would later write that he had done all he could to reach out in evangelism – even though he always felt terribly inadequate as an evangelist. This inadequacy was reinforced every time he received a critical letter from someone charging him about neglecting the gospel with his frivolous style of story-telling ‘sermons’. On the arrival of one such letter, Crago retells us that Boreham was encouraged by those who knew him, and his heart for the lost, to dismiss the letter to waste-paper basket. But he revealed that he had taken the alternate course of writing to his critic and asking them to pray for him to be more effective in evangelism! (If you have that letter, I would love to see it.)   

F.W. Boreham initially had a disappointing relationship with the Prince of Preachers, C.H. Spurgeon. But as many children discover, with the benefit of hindsight and years about their own fathers, they never truly appreciated what they had at the time. Boreham tells us plainly that he never got to hear Spurgeon preach at his prime. Despite Spurgeon not being as great as everyone lauded him to be, in the opinion of Boreham, young Frank marvelled that still dozens of people each Sunday by Sunday made a public commitment of their surrender to the Saviour. Even after Spurgeon died, his church, Metropolitan Tabernacle, continued to use the occasion of his passing to connect in evangelism with London. The fact that Boreham held his copy of his ticket to this occasion all through his life, and would then reflect on Mr Spurgeon’s amazing fruitfulness perhaps more often than any other preacher, reveals that Boreham had a posthumous growing respect for the man who in more ways than one, changed the course of his own life. Others have noted that for most of FWB’s preaching ministry, up until the 1940s at least, Frank would always wear a ‘Spurgeon’ coat when preaching.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon memorial anniversary newspaper report where FWB was keynote speaker

Boreham would later be asked over the years to speak about Spurgeon to eager crowds in Melbourne, as organisers in Australia commemorated the anniversary of his passing here as well. The way Spurgeon used occasions may have had an indelible impact on FWB.

As we enter yet another Advent season, it is worth considering how we might use this occasion to also leverage our gospel connections. FWB was keen to help his fellow ministers to think so. He even wrote a small book, My Christmas Book, to inspire preachers and soul-winners to use this occasion to connect people with the Reason for the season. I relate to FWB’s shyness. And I also relate to his overwhelming sense of evangelistic inadequacy. Perhaps this is why I have also found his use of occasions so appealing. While others are relegating Christmas and Easter celebrations to a time when such Christian events were widely celebrated even by those very nominally Christian, I draw inspiration from FWB, and leverage them beyond the four walls of our church. When we celebrate the occasion of our church building opening, I invite local dignitaries and others more widely. I hope that you too might draw some inspiration from Dr. Boreham’s use of occasions to reach out – especially if you are also, like me, prone to shyness.  

-Andrew Corbett