John R. W. Stott died this past week.
Never heard of this 90 year old Anglican rector and author? He’s influenced thousands of Christians over the past 5 decades. Include me. This British scholar priest wrote booklets, tomes, spoke on Scripture, discipled a lot of college students through his works, was Chaplain to the Queen of England, and cared both for individual faith and social justice.
I’m not one to touch the hem of the garment of many well-knowns, but the man known as “Stotty” was one with whom I actually got a face-to-face breakfast about 30 years ago at a conference. A friend, now seminary professor, Mark Labberton, served as one of Stott’s assistants while doing graduate work in Great Britain some years back, and he saw a winsome man whose passion for faith influenced friend Mark toward pastoring and now teaching other pastors. Impressive.
Good pastor friend Ron Scates in Dallas, Texas now informs me that he will coordinate a memorial service for John Stott some time either August 27th or 28th. I suspect there will also be a memorial “across the pond” in his native England as well.
Stott’s passing probably represents the closing of an era as well. Campus Crusade late founder Bill Bright, late Senate Chaplain Richard C. Halverson and the now 92 year old Billy Graham in declining health all come from an era where “evangelical faith” emerged from the constrictions of a narrow, judgmental rigid faith to a Christianity that engaged thought, reflection, concern for those without resources, and John R.W. Stott often found himself the reluctant leader of much of that spiritual inertia. Maybe it helped that Stott never married, setting him free to spend chunks of time writing, traveling and interacting with other leaders along with giving a sizeable influence through his books and conference speaking.
My takeaway from Stott’s life? Go the distance. Finish well in ministry and in life, and yes, lean on God regularly in every season. Oh, yes, I’m glad I’m married, have grown children and grandchildren, and love the ministry I’ve enjoyed for better than four decades. In a day when leaders, especially Christian leaders, often abuse resources, step over relational boundaries or just give up exhausted, whether single or married, solo Stott kept his integrity as his influence widened, then even as he quietly pulled back from worldwide influence as health issues increasingly confined him to his native England.
You and I may not live with such extremes to manage, and I doubt that Stott ever envisioned a worldwide stage on the horizon.
A biblical text comes to mind that yet another friend sent a few days ago: 2nd Samuel 3:38 “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?” I think I finally met a truly Godly prince one morning at a breakfast. He did finish his reign well in life. In death. And now he reigns over death due to a Savior he loved and served wisely.
Thanks be to God for His princely pastor Dr. John R. W. Stott.
