John Stott Remembered by London School of Theology

The decade following the end of the Second World War saw a massive upsurge in evangelistic activity.  Emerging evangelical leaders such as John Stott were determined to promote a reasoned evangelical faith.  Stott was approached in 1947 about joining the London School of Theology (then London Bible College / LBC) staff, but he remained at All Souls, Langham Place, London becoming rector in 1950 - he was however to give enormous energy to promoting a thinking evangelicalism and became an important supporter of LBC.

Considerable attention was being paid in Britain in 1951 to new initiatives in evangelism.  The EA, which then had on its council Ernest Kevan (LBC’s Principal ’46-’65), Gilbert Kirby (LBC’s Principal ’66-’80) and John Stott, decided to sponsor a major evangelical exhibition and public meetings during the Festival of Britain.  This was in tune with the post-war commitment to rebuilding the country, a mood that gave impetus to the work of LBC.

Stott became an LBC council member and in 1955 onwards the college would often find itself in tune with the approach of Stott to evangelical activity in Britain.  It was becoming clear by the end of the 50s that John, who preached at several special LBC events, was to play a crucial part in the growth of the kind of educated evangelicalism LBC wished to promote.

The college attempted to promote evangelical unity through transdenominational evangelistic involvement and about twenty Anglican LBC students met with John to discuss Anglican issues though its constituency remained predominately Free Church.

In November 1965 LST board members approached Stott about considering the principalship of the college but by the end of the month he had responded that he did not feel it right to leave All Souls Church.  His comment was that ‘if he had two lives he would gladly give one to the college’.

In 1975 John retired from All Souls and early in 1979 was asked to talk to the LBC faculty.  He suggested three areas requiring particular attention from evangelical educators: theology, the knowledge of which was often too superficial; pastoralia, in particular the standard of preaching; and spirituality, since the aim of any Bible college should primarily be to produce men and women of God.  As a result of these discussions a planning committee was set up to look at directions for the 1980s.

At the 1996 Evangelical Anglican Leaders’ Conference there was much discussion of hermeneutics and with the conservatives largely absent it was becoming evident that evangelical Anglicans were becoming increasingly divided over a number of issues.  LBC had links with leaders within the various groups and with those, like John Stott, who transcended the divisions. Through LBC, Stott received a Brunel University DD.  At that ceremony, Derek Tidball, The Principal, spoke of Stott’s possibly unmatched contribution to worldwide evangelism.

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