The following is a guest blog from this site’s friend and partner MAG Bookkeeping. If your church needs bookkeeping or virtual assistance, there is no one I recommend more. You can contact this wonderful organization by clicking HERE. Now, onto The One Thing All Pastors And Church Leaders Need:
Sir Humphrey Monmouth was a wealthy merchant in 16th-century London, who’d made his fortune selling cloth and clothing to London’s elite – many of whom were members of the clergy. Monmouth met, in 1524, a young theologian who was preaching at St. Dunstan’s Church (now St. Dunstan in the West on London’s Fleet Street) named William Tyndale. Tyndale was in need of a place to stay – and someone to support him – while he started making plans to start the work Tyndale believed God had laid on his heart. That work was nothing less than producing the first vernacular (or “ordinary language”) version of the Bible in English.
Monmouth invited Tyndale into his home, paid all his expenses, and when Tyndale had to flee to continental Europe later in the year because of the increasing pressure from church officials to stop his translation, Monmouth gave him money to aid in his travel. And Monmouth didn’t forget him. When Tyndale had finished his first edition of a vernacular Bible while living in Germany in 1526, copies were smuggled back into England hidden in bolts of cloth – many of which were purchased by (you guessed it) Sir Humphrey Monmouth.
Tyndale eventually paid for his defiance of church officials with his life. But before he died, he left behind a translation of the Greek Scriptures that made up approximately 90 percent of the King James Bible (published in 1611). Tyndale introduced into our language phrases like…
“Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3)
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1)
“Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4)
“Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name” (Matthew 6:9)
“In him we live, move and have our being” (Acts 17:28)
We’re not saying that Tyndale couldn’t have completed his calling from God without Humphrey Monmouth, but there’s no doubt that Monmouth’s service and support helped Tyndale along his way. Monmouth’s relationship with Tyndale helped get the Word of God into the hands of ordinary people in England long after Tyndale had left Monmouth’s house.
Any pastor or church leader – anyone who’s trying to fulfill God’s calling on his or her life and lead people in expanding His kingdom – needs support. They need people around them to provide service, encouragement and connections.They need a team to take care of their administrative needs, someone to handle the details so they can more effectively do the work they’re called to do. They need a Humphrey Monmouth – someone who can provide support and encouragement, who can handle the financial details of the ministry with the highest levels of accuracy and integrity.
That’s who we want to be at MAG Bookkeeping. We want to be your Humphrey Monmouth, the financial and procedural support you need to help you more effectively carry out your ministry. If you’d like to see how we can do that for your church, contact us today.
For more on William Tyndale’s life and work, check out these resources:
The British Library – Tyndale’s Bible
UK Christian Heritage Site biography of Tyndale
Pastor John Piper’s biography of Tyndale
Gospel Patrons (the book that inspired this post)
Image credit: The William Tyndale Memorial Statue in Victoria Embankment Gardens
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