John Stott

A memorial website remembrance book (closed 2017) attracted comments from over one thousand individuals. Memorial services for Stott were held at St Paul's Cathedral, London; Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland, New Zealand; St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, Australia; College Church, Wheaton, Illinois, United States; Anglican Network Church of the Good Shepherd, Vancouver, Canada; St. Paul's Bloor Street, Toronto, Canada; as well as in cities across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Upon his death, he was cremated, his ashes were interred at Dale Cemetery, in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Stott died on 27 July 2011 at the College of St Barnabas in Lingfield at 3:15 pm local time. He was surrounded by family and close friends and they were reading the Bible and listening to Handel's Messiah when he peacefully died. An obituary in Christianity Today reported that his death was due to age-related complications and that he had been in discomfort for several weeks. The obituary described him as "An architect of 20th-century evangelicalism [who] shaped the faith of a generation." His status was such that his death was reported in the secular media. The BBC referred to him as someone who could "explain complex theology in a way lay people could easily understand". Obituaries were published in The Daily Telegraph and The New York Times.

Stott's funeral was held on 8 August 2011 at All Souls Church. It was reported that the church was full with people queuing for a considerable time before the service started.

Upon his formal retirement from public engagements, he continued to engage in regular writing until his death. In 2008, he produced The Anglican Evangelical Doctrine of Infant Baptism with J. Alec Motyer.

Stott announced his retirement from public ministry in April 2007 at the age of 86. He took up residence in the College of St Barnabas, Lingfield, Surrey, a retirement community for Anglican clergy but remained as rector emeritus of All Souls Church.

Other books he wrote include Essentials: A Liberal–Evangelical Dialogue, a dialogue with the liberal cleric and theologian David L. Edwards, over whether what evangelicals hold as essential should be seen as such. In 2005, he produced Evangelical Truth, which summarises what he perceives as being the central claims of Christianity, essential for evangelicalism.

Stott has had considerable influence in evangelicalism. In a November 2004 editorial on Stott, the New York Times columnist David Brooks cited Michael Cromartie of the Ethics and Public Policy Center as saying that "if evangelicals could elect a pope, Stott is the person they would likely choose".

He later received a Lambeth Doctorate of Divinity in 1983.

In 1974 he founded Langham Partnership International (known as John Stott Ministries in the US until 2012), and in 1982 the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, of which he remained honorary president until his death. During his presidency he gathered together leading evangelical intellectuals to shape courses and programmes communicating the Christian faith into a secular context. He was regularly accompanied by a leading paediatrician, John Wyatt, and the institute director, the broadcaster Elaine Storkey, when they spoke across the country to large audiences on "Matters of Life and Death". Following his chairmanship of the second National Evangelical Anglican Congress in April 1977, the Nottingham statement was published which said, "Seeing ourselves and Roman Catholics as fellow-Christians, we repent of attitudes that have seemed to deny it." This aroused controversy amongst some evangelicals at the time.

He was chairing the National Assembly of Evangelicals in 1966, a convention organised by the Evangelical Alliance, when Martyn Lloyd-Jones made an unexpected call for evangelicals to unite as evangelicals and no longer within their "mixed" denominations. This view was motivated by a belief that true Christian fellowship requires evangelical views on central topics such as the atonement and the inspiration of Scripture. Lloyd-Jones was a key figure to many in the free churches, and evangelical Anglicans regarded Stott similarly. The two leaders publicly disagreed, as Stott, though not scheduled as a speaker that evening, used his role as chairman to refute Lloyd-Jones, saying that his opinion went against history and the Bible. The following year saw the first National Evangelical Anglican Congress, which was held at Keele University. At this conference, largely due to Stott's influence, evangelical Anglicans committed themselves to full participation in the Church of England, rejecting the separationist approach proposed by Lloyd-Jones.

The Preacher's Portrait: Some New Testament Word Studies, published in 1961, it was an important reference for clergy.

Stott was appointed a Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II in 1959 and, on his retirement in 1991, an Extra Chaplain. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year Honours 2006. He received a Lambeth Doctorate of Divinity in 1983, as well as five honorary degrees, including doctorates from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1971), Wycliffe College, Toronto (1993), and Brunel University (1997).

Stott was ordained as a deacon in 1945 and became a curate at All Souls Church, Langham Place (1945–1950), then rector (1950–1975). This was the church in which he had grown up and where he spent almost his whole life apart from a few years spent in Cambridge. While in this position he became increasingly influential on a national and international basis, most notably being a key player in the 1966–1967 dispute about the appropriateness of evangelicals remaining in the Church of England. He had founded the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) in 1960 to bring together the different stands of evangelicals. In 1970, in response to increasing demands on his time from outside the All Souls congregation, he appointed a vicar of All Souls, to enable himself to work on other projects. In 1975 Stott resigned as rector and Michael Baughen, the then vicar, was appointed in his place; Stott remained at the church and was appointed rector emeritus.

John Robert Walmsley Stott CBE (27 April 1921 – 27 July 2011) was an English Anglican cleric and theologian who was noted as a leader of the worldwide evangelical movement. He was one of the principal authors of the Lausanne Covenant in 1974. In 2005, Time magazine ranked Stott among the 100 most influential people in the world.

John Robert Walmsley Stott was born on 27 April 1921 in London, England, to Sir Arnold and Emily "Lily" Stott (née Holland). His father was a leading physician at Harley Street and an agnostic, while his mother had been raised Lutheran and attended the nearby Church of England church, All Souls, Langham Place. Stott was sent to boarding schools at eight years old, initially to a prep school, Oakley Hall. In 1935, he went on to Rugby School. While at Rugby School in 1938, Stott heard Eric Nash (nicknamed "Bash") deliver a sermon entitled "What Then Shall I Do with Jesus, Who Is Called the Christ?" After this talk, Nash pointed Stott to Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Stott later described the impact this verse had upon him as follows: