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The historian Adrian Hastings described John Stott as ‘one of the most influential figures in the Christian world’ and ‘the recognized senior theologian and thinker of world evangelicalism’, and in 2005 Time magazine named him as among the 100 most influential people in the world. In this book Roger Steer has provided a popular and extremely readable biography. John Stott, of course, is still alive, approaching his ninetieth birthday next year, and a new book of his has just appeared. so there is more biography yet to come! Nevertheless, many will be glad to read the story so far.
Inside Story is popular in style, very well-written and full of interest as well as touches of humour. The fact that there are 31 chapters in under 300 pages indicates that chapters are short and can be read easily at one sitting. The Contents pages have a useful timeline giving important dates to which you can easily refer as you proceed. The author gains a sense of immediacy by using direct speech: John said, ‘This,’ he said, ‘That,’ but on occasions this left me wondering how the rest of the conversation went! In reading the story of John Stott we are also learning a great deal about the history of evangelicalism over the last 80 years.
The overwhelming impression one is left with is that the consuming passion of John Stott is the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing else can explain his complete dedication and prodigious labours. From the time of his conversion not long before his seventeenth birthday right up to the present, his love for Jesus Christ and his faithful service for him are a consistent testimony to the life-changing and life-directing power of the gospel of Christ. Granted that he had exceptional abilities and a privileged start in life and recognizing that very few could ever live and serve quite as he has done, that life is nonetheless a constant inspiration and challenge and this is by far the most important value of this book.
Those who cannot remember back before the 60’s are likely to be surprised at the rather superficial understanding of conversion amongst evangelicals in earlier days, and probably even more surprised at the elitism of ‘Bash’, whose success was nonetheless remarkable and highly significant. The chapter on Stott’s disagreement with Dr Lloyd-Jones in 1966 really needs some background as it has to be understood in the light of the ecumenism of that period and in view of the turn of evangelical Anglicans ‘out of the ghetto’ and into a new commitment to the Church of England which took place at Keele the next year, and was already being prepared for. I do not think the issues underlying that disagreement have disappeared and the way things are going in the Church of England at present they may yet prove to be very important. Other controversial areas are Stott’s insistence that social action is ‘part of evangelism’ and his equivocation over eternal punishment or eventual annihilation. Mention needs to be made of these, for they are serious matters, but they must not be allowed to obscure the overwhelmingly positive contribution he has made to world evangelicalism.
John Stott belongs to the Church of England – indeed he must be almost unique in that All Souls, Langham Place in London, has been his church throughout his life – but a great deal of his ministry has been both inter-denominational and international. The range of his ministries and the extent of his worldwide travel are breath-taking, and he has been a major influence in the lives of many others who are now Christian leaders around the world. His numerous books are referred to and listed; some have brief résumés, Issues Facing Christians Today and The Cross of Christ for example, two of his most significant. In future days his influence and legacy will be better able to be evaluated, but there can be no doubt that it has been immense.
However, the book is entitled Inside Story, and it is the portrait of Stott himself, built up from those who worked with him and knew him well, which is so fascinating. In him there is a rare combination of natural ability and grace, of humility and conviction, and of discipline and forbearance. One of his great strengths is that his mind controls his emotions, but it is a mind that seeks always to be submissive to his Lord speaking through Scripture. It would not, I think, be unfair to describe him as quintessentially English, but it is the best qualities of the English, softened and moulded by grace, that have made him so remarkably effective. For over fifty years his secretary was Frances Whitehead; this must be something of a record, and his work surely owes an incalculable debt to her ability and diligence. She also must know this bachelor better than anyone else, so what she says about him counts more than that of any other: ‘He is what he professes. He wants to please God and that’s all he cares about – doing God’s will, living for his glory, being faithful.’
