Thursday, July 28, 2011

More Tributes to John Stott


John Stott Rembrance Book

John Stott: home to be with the Lord

For all of us who were together in Cape Town for the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelisation, we will remember the moving tributes given to the two giants of The Lausanne Movement, Billy Graham and John Stott.

They were personal friends who loved and admired one another, and they were the defining figures of global evangelicalism for the last sixty years.

On July 27, 2011, “Uncle John” went home to be with the Lord. He is now with the One who he served all his life and in whom he had total confidence.

To read more, click here.

On John RW Stott 1921-2011--Archbishop Peter Jensen

There are a few, a very few, who deserve to be called a Prince among the people of God. John Stott was one such.

We all see other people partially. I am not therefore going to try to give a rounded picture of the man. I am only going to mention briefly the areas in which his impact was strongest in our part of the world. But the source and nature of that impact was at the very heart of his whole ministry. It had to do with his treatment of Scripture.

The thing for which we will mainly remember him was as one who expounded the Bible as God’s word.

To read more, click here.

John Stott and Global Anglicanism – Vinay Samuel

In the fifties and sixties of the last century John Stott and Jim Packer with others clearly defined the identity of evangelical Anglicans and biblically faithful Anglicanism. This process enabled evangelical Anglicans to have a space in the midst of a church which they saw as expressing principled comprehensiveness. None of the various elements that made up the Anglican church seriously denied the fundamentals of the faith.

Stott and Packer and their colleagues defined the space for evangelical Anglicans and this was taken up throughout the Anglican Communion to the extent that it existed then. It was still the Church of England writ large and English evangelicals were able to define what evangelical Anglicanism was and the space it occupied throughout the Communion. The vehicles they used were organisations like Eclectics, the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion, the Church of England Evangelical Council, and their own writings and preaching.

This all came to full expression in the Keele Congress of 1967. What was important about that conference was not a decision for evangelicals to seek for places in the formal leadership of the Church of England: Stott and Packer never aspired to that. What was important about the conference was that it gave evangelical Anglicans in the UK but also around the world the confidence that they could be Anglican and evangelical. They enabled evangelical Anglicans to resist the pressures to opt out of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.

To read more, click here.

John RW Stott – In Loving Memory

His Grace has lost count of the number of times he met the Rev Dr John Stott, who sadly (for us) went to be with the Lord yesterday. There were many times during the 1980s and early 90s, often at Christmas over a coffee and a mince pie, and his conversation was invariably charming and thought-provoking: he radiated something of the ineffable wonder of Christ; a serenity, gentleness, sincerity and beauty so often lacking in the Church. And yet there was also firmness and conviction: he was one of those who truly walked with the Lord, day by day.

When you see the number of tributes from all over the world which are appearing in a Remembrance Book dedicated to his memory, you begin to understand that he was more than a vicar, chaplain, rector, and rector emeritus. He was a bishop in the true sense of the word. He wasn’t concerned with status, hierarchy, the pursuit of power, or with any other misunderstood or misapplied definitions associated with that ministry: he was an overseer of the Church and a guardian of the Truth. He was never formally recommended for the office of bishop or appointed by the Queen. But he didn’t need to be. John Stott was raised up by God and qualified by the work of the Holy Spirit. He helped to guide the Church of England through a period of turmoil which might well have ended in schism. But by his superintendence, inspection, diligence, visitation and investigation – all of those functions inherent in Episkope – he shepherded the flock towards peace and unity. And he taught – most excellently. And wrote – most inspirationally. He fed the Church like a true Elder, and was respected the world over for his moral character, holiness, faithfulness, and charisma.

To read more, click here.

ACL tribute to John Stott

“Christian men and women all over the world will be sad to hear of the death of John Stott, one of the leading evangelical voices of the twentieth century. A man of first class intellect, of personal integrity of the highest order, and of passionate commitment to Christ and so to the Scriptures, John Stott enthused and equipped generations of preachers to present the word of God clearly, insightfully, and memorably. His ministry at All Souls, Langham Place in London made it a beacon for evangelical Anglicanism throughout the world. His powerful written legacy of commentaries, expositions of biblical doctrines and perhaps especially his The Cross of Christ, will continue to bless Christian men and women for years to come. Basic Christianity and Your Confirmation were profoundly influential in the lives of countless new Christians. John Stott’s strategy in providing the means for training future evangelical leaders in the two thirds world has borne rich fruit.

Those who knew John Stott well speak of his warmth and generosity, his wit and his unswerving commitment to gospel priorities. He never failed to encourage young men and women to give their lives to the spread of the gospel and the edification of Christ’s people. Even in disagreement, he was never defensive, always courteous and unfailingly humble and gentle.

To read more, click here.

Tributes paid to John Stott, dead at 90

Evangelical leaders around the world are paying tribute to one of the most significant figures in evangelicalism in the 20th Century, John Stott, who has died at the age of 90.

According to the website of All Souls church, Langham Place, London, where Stott was Rector emeritus, he died at his retirement home at St. Barnabas College on the afternoon of Wednesday 27th July. The site said "He was surrounded by Frances Whitehead, and a number of good friends. They were reading the Scriptures and listening to Handel's Messiah when he peacefully went to be with his Lord and Saviour."

Once named in Time's top 100 influential people in the world, Stott was a leader among evangelical Anglicans worldwide, but his influence extended into the broader sphere of world protestantism.

To read more, click here.

Anglican Evangelist John Stott Dies

British evangelical leader John Stott died Wednesday at age 90, his ministry confirmed.

Stott died at his home at St. Barnabas College, a community for retired Anglican clergy in Surrey, southeast England, according to a statement.

It added that he was surrounded by "a number of good friends. They were reading the Scriptures and listening to Handel's Messiah when he peacefully went to be with his Lord and Saviour."

To read more, click here.

Additional tributes may be found on Anglican Mainstream, Anglican United, First Things, and Peter Ould.

3 comments:

David.McMillan said...

I am glad you put this on your site. He is the best ex. of Anglicanism in its true form that we know. His books have meant so much to me thru the years, especially his " Between Two Worlds" and I would say he was the biggest influence on me in seminary and beyond. I am currently using his I John commentary I VP to preach a series of sermons and it is the best!

Robin G. Jordan said...

David,

I first encountered John Stott's book in the 1980s. They were a periannual favorite at the New Orleans Baptist Seminary and the seminary bookstore always stocked them. Ian Montgomery was the rector of St. Philip's in Algiers, across the river from New Orleans. Ian was English, ordained in the Church of England, and an evangelical. He took an interest in what his congregation read. The church bookstore was stocked with Stott's books. I not only read Stott but also Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, Leon Morris, J. C. Ryle, and Peter Toon. Toon was more evangelical in the 1980s.

David.McMillan said...

I also have met Phillip E. Hughes and Peter Toon. Toon was a 28 book man as you know I am sure. He frankly ruined the RE Seminary back in the 90's when he tried to make them lose their distinctives. I think they have regained some of their older views there but still have some significant issues such as liking the 28 instead of the more reformed 1662 or their own book of 1785,1932 which was Bishop White's proposed liturgy basically for the old PE Church of the Revolution but never adopted officially.