Dr Paul Allen

The Metropolitan Tabernacle is one of the most famous Baptist churches in history. Situated south of the Thames in London, at a busy junction of three streets, the Tabernacle was built in 1859 to accommodate the swelling membership of a previously small congregation.  The growth was credited to the influential preaching of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. When the 21-year-old accepted the call to pastor a church with an attendance of about 80 no one could have predicted that within five years of his arrival, the building would need to accommodate 6,000. Shipments of his printed sermons were loaded onboard every ship that sailed from England. But in London, the Tabernacle was famous for much more than the Sunday sermons. It was a veritable ants’ nest of activity by serving saints throughout the week. They had 100 Sunday School teachers, and over 1,000 people out evangelizing on Sundays. They had alms’ houses, an orphanage, an evangelists’ association, 40 local missions and many foreign missions