Charles Simeon of Cambridge

This short book, magnificently researched, brings a wealth of insight into one of the most important figures in modern church history, Charles Simeon (1759-1836), a contemporary and friend of William Wilberforce, who was vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, for over fifty years. He left an indelible mark on the Church of England, and on world mission, and his legacy stretches down to us today.

Intervarsity/USA, Inter-Varsity Canada, and the American and Canadian Bible Societies trace their roots back to him. More than 150 years later, John Stott would say that Simeon taught him to preach.


""Charles Simeon was the most influential evangelical in the age of Wilberforce--a powerful influence over successive generations of Cambridge ordinands. Here is an attractive vignette of a great preacher and a great man.""
--David Bebbington, Professor of History, University of Stirling

""Charles Simeon's commitment to expository preaching, personal godliness, and global mission is inspiring. I pray it will continue to influence evangelical ministry for generations to come.""
--Vaughan Roberts, Rector, St Ebbe's Church, Oxford

""Charles Simeon's galvanizing life can be summed up by his passion: 'to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.' Julia Cameron's accessible introduction allows us to taste of Simeon's devotion to prayer, preaching, and future generations. Cameron gives us a marvelous framework of Simeon, his essence as a follower of Jesus, and an essential, compressed narrative to appreciate Simeon's role in how God advances His work in this world.""
--Benjamin K. Homan, President, Langham Partnership USA (formerly John Stott Ministries)

""Julia Cameron's short book is a good introduction to Charles Simeon of Cambridge, whose decades-long commitment to excellent preaching powerfully influenced the early nineteenth-century English Church struggling for relevance in a society both ignorant and contemptuous of biblical Christianity. This book will thus encourage today's Christians everywhere. Her emphasis that renewed vitality in the church is inseparable from commitment both to biblically faithful theology and to the global Church is welcome and timely.""
--Steven Van Dyck, Executive Director, Langham Partnership Canada


Julia Cameron (Aberdeen) was Director of Publishing for EFAC. She served for twenty-five years as an obituarist for The Times and The Independent and is a contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. She lives in Oxford, and is author of John Stott's Right Hand: The Untold Story of Frances Whitehead (2014) and the Oxford and Cambridge Reformation Walking Tour (2018).