John Stott, British evangelist, pastor, Bible expositor, author, and teacher, died July 27 England. He was 90 years old. Stott influenced generations of evangelical Christians with his writing and teaching, and with his passion for evangelism combined with a trademark humility. Today’s evangelicals have recently become far more engaged in social issues, but Stott recognized the need for revitalization in that area decades earlier.
After his conversion as a teenager in 1938, Stott was active in para-church ministries such as Scripture Fellowship and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and he went on to publish over 70 books between 1954 and 2010, more than 60 of them with InterVarsity Press, both in the U.S. and the U.K. (Read his obituary in Christianity Today at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/julyweb-only/john-stott-obit.html )
Stott’s last book, The Radical Disciple, which he called his “valedictory message,”was published in 2010 by IVP-US and IVP-UK. His best-known books are Basic Christianity (original edition 1958; copublished in the U.S. by IVP and Eerdmans) and The Cross of Christ (IVP-UK/US, 1986). According to Andy LePeau, associate publisher, editorial at IVP-US, his American editions alone have sold more than 6 million copies.
On news of his death, tributes came from scores of evangelical leaders. Billy Graham issued a statement that said, “The evangelical world has lost one of its greatest spokesmen, and I have lost one of my closest friends and advisors. I look forward to seeing him again when I go to Heaven.”
Stott primarily worked with editors at IVP-UK, but LePeau worked with him indirectly over the years, and recalls him as a “warm but authoritative presence. He was a global evangelical Christian before it was fashionable, and he was as much influenced by the world as he influenced it. He wasn’t harsh or fundamentalist--when he went to Africa and Asia, he listened, and he helped the world church listen to itself.”
