Biography
Theodore Austin-Sparks was born on January 14, 1888, in London, England, in a family of Baptist background. He grew up in the city and was educated at local schools. His family was of a modest means, and he was a young man of devotion. He was converted at the age of seventeen and was baptized in a Baptist church. He felt a call to the ministry and entered the Baptist ministry in his early twenties. He served as a pastor in a number of Baptist churches, including one in Walthamstow, in London, where he saw a good deal of fruit. He was a devoted pastor, with a keen mind.
He went through a time of spiritual crisis in the 1920s. He was dissatisfied with the state of the church and with the shallowness of his ministry. He was influenced by the Keswick movement, by the revival in Wales and by the writings of Jessie Penn-Lewis. He had a deep experience of the cross. He came to see that the Christian life is not a matter of work for God but of Christ living in the believer. He left the Baptist ministry in 1926, and he started an independent work, in a place called Honor Oak, in South London. It became known as the Honor Oak Christian Fellowship. It drew many people.
He was a teacher of the deeper life. He began to publish a magazine in 1923, called A Witness and a Testimony, which was circulated throughout the world. It carried his messages. He wrote many books, the best known of which are The Centrality of the Cross, The School of Christ, What Is Man? and The On-High Calling. His teaching stressed the eternal purpose of God, which is to have a people who are conformed to the image of Christ. He taught that the church is the body of Christ and that the cross is the means by which the old life is put to death. He emphasized that Christ is all.
He held conferences at Honor Oak and at other places, which drew thousands. He had a large influence on Christians in Britain and abroad. He was a friend of Watchman Nee, who visited him in 1938 and had a strong influence on his thought. He was also a friend of many of the leaders of the post-war renewal. He did not found a denomination and held that the church should be free of human organization. He taught that the life of the church should be an expression of Christ. His influence was great on the house church movement, on the charismatic renewal and on many others.
He was a man of a reserved and quiet manner. He did not seek publicity. He was somewhat austere and was said to be a difficult man to know. He also was criticized by some who thought that his teaching was too mystical and too focused on the inner life. His stress on the cross could be heavy. He was also affected by some failures in the lives of men in his circle. In the 1950s, a number of those who had worked with him left, after disagreements.