F.W. Boreham: Telling Stories, Exalting the Cross

F. W. Boreham (1871-1959) was introduced once to a gathering of preachers in Edinburgh, Scotland as “the man whose name is on all our lips, whose books are on all our shelves, and whose illustrations are in all our sermons.”¹

Frank William Boreham did have a unique way of illuminating a text through the life story of a famous person in history or literature. Let’s sketch a little of Boreham’s own life story first. Then we will talk more about his unique style of narrative preaching.

Boreham was born March 1871 in Turnbridge Wells, England and born again New Year’s Day of 1888. From early childhood both parents encouraged his interest in reading biography and other literature. He preached his first sermon at age seventeen and three years later published The Whisper of God. It was the first of more than fifty books of sermons and essays in his unique style.

Boreham was probably the last student that Spurgeon personally interviewed for entrance into his pastor’s school. He attended Spurgeon’s College but did not graduate. Instead, when James A. Spurgeon returned to London from New Zealand to continue the work of his more famous brother, he selected Boreham to answer the plea of a young congregation on the southeast plain of the South Island of New Zealand. So, in January 1895, Boreham left England and traveled halfway around the world where he would preach, write and become world famous.

While Boreham was still a young man, the Rev. J. J. Doke, an older minister, counseled him to develop methodical reading habits. “But what shall I read? asked Boreham, “Give me a start.”

“Read Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” the older man said. He urged him to read it through and to follow up with a more intense study of every period in which Gibbon stirs his interest. Boreham started the plan the next day and completed all four volumes of Gibbon in one month. This began a lifetime habit of buying and reading one book per week. He loved history and especially biography.

While still a young preacher in London, he sought every opportunity to hear the great pulpit masters. He sat at the feet of F. B. Meyer, Joseph Parker, and Charles H. Spurgeon. He heard D. L. Moody when the great evangelist visited from America. This attention to masters of his craft was not wasted. He recognized the relative weakness of his own sermon delivery and set about to strengthen it. For example, he noted that the pulpit masters had a great vocal range and flexibility that he lacked. Like Demosthenes, he went to the seashore to practice against the crashing breakers.