Samuel McChord Crothers was well known in his own days as the author of familiar essays, often appearing in the Atlantic Monthly, in which he treated human foibles with a gentle, humorous touch. His parishioners saw another side of him—the religious thinker who knew how to take old dogmas and discover what of value still remained in them; a preacher of singular elevation of thought; the leader of a congregation who encouraged his people in social welfare projects so subtly, that they hardly knew what had moved them; the pastor "who, when a mother was dead, said oh, so very little, but just the right thing".

Of him, Francis Greenwood Peabody wrote: "When we try to sum up the character that lay behind this lofty teaching, is not the word which comes most easily to our lips the word serenity? This habitual serenity gave him a singular degree of moral courage in decisions of causes and minorities, especially when they were unpopular or undefended; and he brought to their defense, not the fearlessness of a fighter, but the higher courage of a completely tranquil and confident friend." No minister in the history of the church more completely won the trust and affection of his congregation.