John's Stott's very last book

I can't fully remember the first time I read John Stott. However, I know that his writing has a lasting impact on my ministry and hopefully those in my beloved church that I have the privilege of leading.

His books have continued to engage me and stretch my mind to think biblically and culturally. He has challenged my on my biblical understanding of Heaven and Hell and help revolutionise my perceptions of what it is to minister to a broken world through compassion and justice.

I was privileged to hear John at a chapel service while I was at college where, unlike other guest speakers, he used a New Testament Greek version to speak from. I was in awe as I sat there colouring in the pretty pictures of my Good News Bible.

What struck me most was his expectation that every student would have the same hunger to go as deep into the theological issues as him.

The post-war Evangelical Church owes so much to John. He has continually brought balance, especially where Evangelicalism has latterly been affected by short-sighted culture-bound thinking, i.e. prosperity teaching.

John has also demonstrated how to make theology accessible to all, a gift not insignificant, often bringing much needed clarity to tricky subjects. A sure sign that he has got to grips with the issues and wrestled with them.

So now I hear from Mark Meynell at All Souls, London that John Stott has written his absolute final book. (At 89 years old, I think we can all let him put down his pen now, don't you?)

According to Mark, his new book, The Radical Disciple is not so much new material as a reflection of things we may have heard or read elsewhere. What is remarkable is, as a man in in ninth decade, he still wants to be seen as a radical disciple!

I borrow from Mark's excellent blog for an outline of themes covered in the book:

1. Non-Conformity: “we are neither to seek to preserve our holiness by escaping from the world nor to sacrifice our holiness by conforming to the world” (p19)
2. Christlikeness: “we are to be like Christ in his incarnation, in his service, in his love, in his endurance, and in his mission” (p38)
3. Maturity: “may God give us such a full, clear vision of Jesus Christ, first that we may grow into maturity ourselves, and secondly that, by faithful proclamation of Christ in his fullness to others, we may present others mature as well.” (p53)
4. Creation-Care: “God intends our care of the creation to reflect our love for the Creator” (p65)
5. Simplicity: “All Christians claim to have received a new life from Jesus Christ. What lifestyle, then, is appropriate for them? If the life is new, the lifestyle should be new also” (p71)
6. Balance: “We are both individual disciples and church members, both worshippers and witnesses, both pilgrims and citizens. Nearly all our failures stem from the ease with which we forget our comprehensive identity as disciples.” (p102)
7. Dependence: “We are all designed to be a burden to others… The life of the family, including the life of the local church family, should be one of ‘mutual burdensomeness.‘” (p113)
8. Death: “If we want to live we must die. And we will be willing to die only when we see the glories of the life to which death leads. This is the radical, paradoxical Christian perspective.” (p135)

Mark also makes a useful comment on the symmetry of John supposedly last book at the time The Living Church with The Radical Disciple:

• In The Living Church, he expounds the key hallmarks of what constitutes Church life, in all its diversity, challenges and joys.
• In The Radical Disciple, he expounds the key hallmarks of a Christian’s life, again in all its diversity, challenges and joys.

One for the bookshelf.

Meanwhile, I am off down to the Vineyard National Leaders Conference in Butlins, Bognor Regis this week. Undoubtedly, I will see the effect this much loved pastor-theologian has had on our young movement in one way, shape or form among us.

I'll bring you back a stick of rock.

ASD