
Theodore
Austin-Sparks was born in London, England in
1888 and was educated in both England and
Scotland. At the age of 25 he was ordained
as a pastor, however, a few years later his
"career" took a decidedly different
direction when a spiritual crisis brought
him to a place of brokenness and he left the
denomination with which he was involved and
dropped the title of "Reverend".
"From his early years he had
believed in the power and significance
of the spoken Word of God, and that all
developments of its exposition and
application should be vitally related to
the actual and growing needs of the
spiritual life of representative bodies
of God's people. Through His Word God
would meet His own, but His way of
giving to His servants was not merely
through bookish, cloistered or studied
matter. Rather it was made necessary,
drawn out and given meaning by the call
and answer of living conditions. Its
value - if it was to be anything more
than words - lay in its being able to
touch the Lord's people at the point of
experience and need which had been the
occasion of its original calling forth.
Such was the special calling of T.
Austin-Sparks, a man ploughing a furrow
perhaps a little apart from his
contemporaries, but always true to
Christ Jesus his Saviour and Lord, and
committed to a vision of spiritually
fruitful harvests throughout the whole
field that is God's world." (Written by
Angus Kinnear, son-in-law of T.
Austin-Sparks and author of "Against the
Tide").
Based
in Honor Oak, London, TAS (as he was
affectionately known) was not lacking in
opposition and rejection to himself and his
ministry in the denominational circles of
the day, but he felt he should neither
defend himself nor promote himself.
Something which becomes clear when reading
the writings of T. Austin-Sparks is that
very little information is given about
himself or his personal life; instead the
focus is consistently upon Christ as his
(and our) Life. Your attention is
continually directed away from the messenger
to the One Who is the Message (2 Cor
4:5).
TAS
published a bi-monthly magazine called "A
Witness and A Testimony" from 1923 until his
death in 1971. In the July 1966 issue of the
magazine, he wrote the following:
It is only occasionally that
we write personally. Our desire has
always been to avoid drawing attention
to persons and things in the ministry,
and to occupy our readers with the Lord
and the ministry of His Word. But from
time to time we have felt it to be both
wise and important to remind our readers
of the purpose that definitely governs
this ministry - and has always done
so...
What, then, is this ministry?
We must go back. The name of this little
paper, which has been the printed
expression of the ministry for the past
almost forty-four years, embodies the
meaning — “Witness and Testimony.”
“Witness”: the instrument or vessel
used. “Testimony”: the ministry in and
through the vessel. The Testimony has
ever been - but growing as light has
increased - to the greatness and
fullness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God
and Son of Man. This greatness has been
centered and unfolded in:
(1) His Person
(2) The immensity of God's
eternal purpose as centered in and
exclusively related to Him
(3) The greatness of His
Cross as basic and essential to the
greatness of His Person and work both
for and in believers
(4) The greatness of The
Church which is His Body as essential
to, and chosen for, His ultimate
self-manifestation in fullness and
government in the new heavens and the
new earth
(5) The necessity that all
the people of God should know, not only
of salvation, but of the immense purpose
of salvation in the eternal council of
God, being brought to “full growth” by
the supply of Jesus Christ in ample
measure.
We feel that the New
Testament contains a tremendous urgency
in this matter; such urgency is summed
up in the words of the Apostle Paul:
"Admonishing every man and teaching
every man.... that we may present every
man perfect (complete) in Christ”
(Colossians 1:28). We believe that all
the sovereign activities of the Holy
Spirit are directed to and dictated by
this end and object.
There may be different
aspects, but the end is single and one.
The great evangelizing and
missionary efforts, in so far as they
are governed by the Holy Spirit, have
this end in view…
The
cry which comes through his messages again
and again is for believers to grow up into
the full knowledge of Christ, to know
Him as the One Thing, the All in all,
the Head of all. As believers heard and
responded to his cry, TAS was requested to
speak at conferences in Europe, Asia and the
USA, many of which were
tape-recorded. The messages from
these conferences are still available today,
as are many of his books and articles which
have been republished. He was insistent
that his writings and tapes should not be
copyrighted. In spite of his desire that
they not be copyrighted, TAS was particular
about them being reproduced word for word as
originally spoken or written by him.
Some
of the messages on this website have been
transcribed from tape messages, others are
from his many writings. The books were
available at cost from Honor Oak and most of
them were first published chapter by chapter
in his magazine "A Witness and A Testimony"
which TAS frequently called: "This little
paper". There was no subscription
charge for this magazine which was sent
freely to all who requested it. It was
stated in the magazine that "This ministry
is maintained by the Lord through the
stewardship of those who value it."
On
the first page of the magazine was this
statement:
"The object of the ministry
of this little paper, issued bi-monthly,
is to contribute to the Divine end which
is presented in the words of Ephesians
4:13 - "...till we all attain unto the
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge
(literally - full knowledge) of the Son
of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ: that we be no longer
children..."
"It is not connected with any
'Movement', 'Organization', 'Mission' or
separate body of Christians, but is just
a ministry to "all saints". Its
going forth is with the prayer and hope
that it will so result in a fuller
measure of Christ, a richer and higher
level of spiritual life, that, while
bringing the Church of God into a
growing approximation to His revealed
will as to its 'attainment', the Church
may be better qualified to be used of
Him in testimony in the nations, and to
the completing of its own number by the
salvation of those yet to be added by
the Lord."
TAS
was the editor of this magazine until his
death in 1971. A similar style of magazine
named "Toward the Mark" was then published
by a colleague, Harry Foster, from 1972
until 1989. After T. Austin-Sparks' death in
1971 Harry Foster wrote:
"Perhaps one of the earliest
of his books can best give us a real
clue to his whole life and ministry. It
is called
"The
Centrality and Supremacy of the Lord
Jesus Christ". This was where
he began, and this was where he ended,
for it became noticeable in his closing
years that he lost interest in subjects
and concentrated his attention on the
person of Christ. Christ is central!
None of us will claim always to have
been "on centre", and he certainly made
no such claim, but it was his life's
objective and the aim of all his
preaching and teaching to recognize that
centrality and bow to that supremacy. At
his funeral service there were hundreds
who responded wholeheartedly to the
suggestion that brother Sparks had
helped them to get to know Christ in
fuller and more satisfying ways. If
anyone can make men realize something
more of the worth and wonder of Christ,
so that they love Him more and serve Him
better, then such a one has not lived in
vain. Many worldwide can truthfully say
that through the spoken or written words
of 'T. A-S.' this is what happened to
them and, especially with those who
first trusted Christ as Saviour through
his ministry, they will be his rejoicing
in the day of Jesus Christ. Moreover,
some of the truths, which were by no
means accepted when he proclaimed them
years ago, have now become widely
accepted among evangelical Christians,
so it is possible that in the long run
his ministry may prove to have been more
fruitful than at the time appeared to
himself or to others. It is the
steward's business to be faithful, and
that he sought to be: only the Master is
competent to judge of his success."
TAS
deliberately made no provision for the
continuing of his ministry following his
death in 1971 as he believed that what was
from God and of God would be taken care of
by Him. Time has proven that his trust was
not misplaced as God has indeed preserved
what is His own. TAS left behind a treasury
of messages filled with the Wisdom, Life and
Revelation of Christ. This website does not
yet contain all of his messages and has new
ones added to it each week. To receive these
messages by email please go to the
Subscribe page. Having
greatly appreciated his writings ourselves,
we offer them here on the web for the
further establishing and strengthening of
the Body, that in all things CHRIST might
have the preeminence!

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