ESSAY: GOODBYE ‘UNCLE JOHN’

In an article first published by Assist News Service, Church of England Canon J. JOHN reflects on the passing of a friend… 

On 26th July, after some years of failing health, John Stott finally slipped quietly away to glory. I was one of many people blessed by his ministry and to me he was – and always will be – “Uncle John.”

In days, months and years ahead there will be many careful and insight-filled evaluations of John Stott’s importance. They will no doubt focus on such big aspects of life such as his role as a wide-ranging theologian, how he made evangelicalism intellectually respectable and how he restored a vision for social involvement to evangelicals. I look forward to them but here I simply want to mention some aspects of John Stott that impressed me.

Some of the titles given to John by the media (the “Prince of Evangelicals” and even “The Pope of Protestants!”) were not just ridiculous but also misleading: they gave the impression of a mighty, aloof figure preoccupied with programs and power.

So the first characteristic that I want to mention was his humanity. John was loved and lovable and that title “Uncle John” reflects that. He was warm, friendly and concerned, not just for a small circle of contacts but for a great range of people from across the world. He prayed for vast numbers of people. A single man, he acquired an enormous “family” of those who were loved by him and loved him back. Few great men are nice men; John was an exception. 

A second and related characteristic of John Stott was his humility. This showed itself in many ways. He had time for everybody: pastors from remote African villages, struggling curates, Christian Union leaders from tiny colleges, children; all were important to him. He lived modestly; so, for instance the wise host always gave John a full plate as, in a world of hunger, he felt it wrong to take seconds. Despite his learning and his wisdom he never made anyone feel inferior.

His humility comes over in his numerous books. Although he was perfectly capable of engaging with the finest minds of his age and often did so, he never flaunted his learning or felt the need to use pretentious complexities when plain simplicity would suffice. Almost every Bible-believing Christian with any sort of library has had a moment when after being confused by a hard text made harder by commentators they have “turned to Stott” and found relief.

A third characteristic of John Stott was his helpfulness. In the days to come it will be fascinating how many people will say of this or that project that it only ever got going because of John Stott’s quiet encouragement or wise guidance. When it came to initiatives John Stott was an extraordinarily gifted obstetrician! Significantly, his help always came without the expectation that you would back him on some other issue in return. By offering help without attaching strings he modeled God’s grace.

The final characteristic of John Stott was his holiness. Those who hosted John on his travels soon realized that as unobtrusively as possible their guest was up and engaged in prayer and bible study long before anyone else was even awake. John was a man richly blessed by natural talents and education, but he knew that he needed to bring all that he was to God for him to be effective in his ministry. John’s dedication to the Lord’s work was costly and he set aside much that he could have enjoyed as a right. He set a challenging example.

“Uncle John,” we thank God for all you were to us and all you taught us. May we, in some way, become something of what you were!

J. John is a canon in the Church of England and an author and speaker who lives in the UK. For further information about J. John please visit www.philotrust.com and to follow him on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/#!/Canonjjohn). This story was first published by Assist News Service.