John Stott: 'A faithful servant to the very end'

One of the most popular strands in the long-running Church Society podcasts looks at some of the great Anglican heroes (and heroines!) of the faith.

From Thomas Cranmer to Josephine Butler, from Lady Mary Vere to William Wilberforce, we have seen how God used men and women to build His church and bring the gospel to this nation and beyond.

'Uncle John'

In the first episode of the current season, Mark Meynell was the guest for a look at a much more recent hero: John Stott.

Mark had known "Uncle John" for many years, including the last few years of Stott's life, and has also presented the John Stott Legacy Podcast series for the Langham Partnership.

We heard about Stott’s extraordinary commitment to local parish ministry, having lived in the parish of All Souls, Langham Place from the age of two until he had to move into a care home. He initiated a number of ministries in the parish which are now commonplace, including training of lay leaders for discipleship and evangelism, and implementing evangelistic strategies appropriate for the parts of his parish with very different socio-economic status.

His impact went far beyond central London, of course, and Mark – who worked with Langham Preaching in the Caribbean and Eastern Europe – spoke very movingly about Stott’s approach to world mission and ministry.

Stott was convinced of the need to listen to local church leaders about the needs of their mission field, rather than impose Western models in a top-down colonialist fashion. No doubt this contributed to the deep love and admiration for him felt around the world.

It was delightful to receive a number of emails following the episode, sharing stories of encounters with John.

One Church Society member was able to tell us of his ongoing ministry even in his care home, where he began a small “Christian Union”, made sure that he was always taken to the local Bible-teaching church, and joined a small preachers’ fraternal.

He was a faithful servant, to the very end.

The Church Society Podcast can be found on all the major podcast apps, and the full archive is also available on the Church Society website: churchsociety.org