Spurgeon was the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London for 38 years. Under the previous pastor, Dr John Rippon, it became the largest Baptist congregation in Great Britain. He was part of several controversies with the Baptist Union of Great Britain, and later had to leave that denomination. Throughout his life, Spurgeon suffered from depression and other mental illnesses. In 1857, he started a charity organisation called Spurgeon's which works all over the world.