One of the most important pastor-theologians of the 20th century has died. According to the Associated Press:

The Rev. John Stott, one of the most influential evangelical thinkers of the 20th Century, died in London Wednesday. He was 90.

Stott led an evangelical resurgence in England and influenced Christians worldwide through his extensive writing and preaching. His many books were widely read in Britain and many parts of the world for over five decades.

Stott was considered the leading evangelical intellectual of his time. He was a primary framer of the 1974 Lausanne Covenant, a declaration of beliefs and an assertion of evangelicalism as a global movement. The document is considered a milestone in the rise of evangelical Christianity worldwide.

Known as “Uncle John” to the many people he worked with, Stott was a lifelong bachelor who funneled his book royalties into scholarships, especially for students from developing countries who went on to lead evangelical movements where they lived. Through his work and teaching, he is credited with renewing an evangelical emphasis on social justice issues.

His death was announced on the website of All Souls Langham Place, the church he attended as a child, then led as curate and rector after he was ordained by the Church of England in 1945.

In my most recently completed D.Min class, I read his classic The Cross of Christ for the first time, and found myself wishing I had read it thirty years ago. It’s a wonderful work, one of many that Stott shared with the Christian world over the course of his career. My understanding, appreciation, and love for Christ is deeper and wider for having encountered this marvelous disciple, something countless of his brothers and sisters can say as well. He will be sorely missed.

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