A Sydney Anglican Remembers John Stott

An accolade by the Rev. Dr. Mark Thompson of Moore Theological College, Australia. Our concerns continue about Confessional and Liturgical Churchmanship, of which we hear little. 

Did he lay a legacy for Protestant and Reformed Confessional Churchmanship? Or Liturgical Churchmanship? The need for memory work in the Bible, the Reformed catechisms, or the Collects of that old and august Prayer Book? Will he be remembered for these things? I would love to have interviewed him on this.  

Did he enable and facilitate non-Reformed, non-Confessional and non-liturgical Churchmanship? Why would he support Billy Graham, who, by many, many turns, turned his back on a rich Confessionally Presbyterian heritage with the Associate Reformed Presbyterians with the tradition of the Westminster Confession and Psalm-singing while favouring revivalism, notoriety, Arminianism, and 19th-century music? Perhaps John took issue with Billy on this, but this much, we have no documents that John dealt with Billy on these matters.

Upon graduation from high school (age 18), my father handed me Louis Berkhof's Systematic Theology and Charles Hodges Systematic Theology (3-vol). He said, "Son, while in university, read 10-pages per day from these. Read 8-10 chapters from the OT daily. Also, read 8-10 chapters from the NT daily." While double-majoring in chemistry and philosophy, I did that. While pondering organic chemistry by the hours or Aristotle by the hour, I maintained the regimen. As a result, I rather found the Rev. Mr. Stott's volumes, acquired later, to be rather...well...sophmoric. But, I came to view his works as suitable for--perhaps--a first or second year college student. Having said that, Dad's recommendations were better than the Rev. Mr. Stott. As years have passed, am glad for my Dad. He had alot of things right, including that old Prayer Book.

Having said these things, undoubtedly, a dear brother, elect from the aqes past, justified, but not on a level with the classics like Calvin, Luther, Cranmer and the 55-volume Parker Society set of English Reformers.

A bit jaded by the American quest for celebrity culture, including the conference circuit, so perhaps my review is jaded. But, it "is" what it "is." Glad for the old Reformed systematicians, our English Bible, and our old Prayer Book.

The moderns are "footnotes."

http://markdthompson.blogspot.com/2011/07/with-thanks-for-john-stott.html

With thanks for John Stott

I have elsewhere posted a tribute to John Stott on behalf of the ACL and its Council (read it here). However, I thought that it might be important to post here my extensive personal debt to this godly and faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. After all, though he made a global impact as he taught the Bible and his contribution was critical in the resurgence of evangelical theology in the twentieth century, the story of his ministry is also the story of individuals whose lives were enriched and Christian faith emboldened by his example and his teaching.

In my early years as a Christian I read a number of John Stott's pamphlets and brief booklets on Christian discipleship. However, my first more extensive exposure to his teaching ministry came when, as preparation for my confirmation in Christ Church Blacktown in 1977, the curate of the day took me through John Stott's book Your Confirmation, chapter by chapter. Only a couple of years afterwards, I was encouraged to go to Blacktown Civic Centre to hear the man himself speak on life as a Christian in the modern world. With all the boldness of youth, I rushed to speak to him after the address, not least to thank him for his contribution in setting firm evangelical foundations for my own life and ministry. As he no doubt did countless times, he bore with this young man's exhuberance and encouraged me to continue on the road.

In the years that followed I heard him speak a number of times, at Moore College and in other venues during his visits to Sydney. What always impressed me was the clarity of his biblical expositions, their disarming simplicity and their rich application to everyday life as a follower of Jesus Christ. I did not know then his challenge to young pastors to take the text to the world by understanding both well — to read carefully their Bibles and the newspapers. Yet it was obvious that he understood the world into which he preached; he understood the real struggles of life as a Christian; and above all he understood and rejoiced in the word which God addresses to his people.

John Stott was a remarkable man. When all is said and done he was a simple man with a simple life goal: to serve the Lord who rescued him at such cost and claimed him as his own. His astonishing intellectual gifts, his ceaseless energy, the resources that gathered around him — everything was directed towards Christ's service. He had a large, global vision, always looking for ways to facilitate the spread of the gospel all over the world. He began ministries that profoundly transformed the landscape (witness today's All Souls Langham Place, the Langham Partnership, Lausanne, and many others). And yet at the heart of it all was a simple personal faith. No one who spent time with him failed to be influenced by him.

When I eventually travelled to England for further study in the 1990s, John Stott was already retired but still busy encouraging, preaching and writing. I remember him attending the first conference a few of us organised to encourage those with the gifts to consider theological education as an avenue of Christian service. We met at Oak Hill College in London in 1997. He warmly applauded the initiative, encouraged each of us in turn and gave advice about how the vision might be expanded and realised. It quickly became apparent why so many of the evangelical leaders in Britain and elsewhere speak of him as 'Uncle John'.

Later still we corresponded after I had written a review of one of his books and sent him a copy out of courtesy. It was a warm and encouraging letter which expressed gratitude for the review and gently chided me with 'your comments about the charismatic movement are typically Sydney, if I may say'. He remained gracious even in debate.

I went alongside Michael Hill to visit John in his flat in 2001. We were to talk with him and others about the opportunities for training two-thirds world emerging leaders in Australia as well as Europe and America. It was obvious immediately that he was the visionary in the room. He saw the possibilities where others only saw obstacles. The most positive aspect of the entire meeting was the open-armed and open-hearted welcome we received from him. He knew, understood and appreciated the work of Moore College and the Diocese of Sydney.

The last time I saw him was a year ago, in his retirement home to the South of London. His health was obviously failing but his mind was as sharp as ever. His priorities were still very obviously gospel integrity and gospel ministry. His commitment to Christ and his word had not diminished in the slightest. He took time to encourage each one of us who came to see him. It was clear yet again that he was positively disposed towards the Diocese of Sydney and had a genuinely personal interest in its archbishop, Peter Jensen.

His death has made me realise afresh that I've been reading John Stott all my Christian life. The Cross of Christ is still my favourite among his books, but My Confirmation, as I have said, shaped me at a very significant stage of my development. Tapes of his sermons, books and articles written by him have been helpful in the years that followed. I've read his last few books with particular interest. They are the lasting testaments of an elder statesman, deceptively simple and yet rich in biblical truth and gospel wisdom.

I haven't always agreed with everything John Stott has written, but none of those disagreements really seem to matter in the context of a long life of faithful service to his Lord and mine. I remain grateful for the leadership he exercised — leadership that arose explicitly from his faithful exposition of the word of God rather than from the baptism of secular business theory. I remain grateful for the model of what Paul meant when he spoke of 'a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth' (2 Tim 2:15). I remain grateful for his single-minded determination to see Christ honoured in the churches and throughout the world. And I remain grateful for his example of tenacity laced with courtesy — a disciple of Christ who would not budge from biblical truth and yet treated everyone, even those with whom he disagreed, as human beings created in God's image, who need to hear God's truth and be transformed by it.

God has been very kind in giving John Stott to the world of the twentieth and twenty-first century. I, together with countless others, owe him an enormous debt, not least in encouraging, resourcing and exemplifying the expository preaching which nourished, and still nourishes, my own walk with the Lord.