A fresh perspective on the Nativity Steve Beard reports on New Line Cinema’s The Nativity Story.
An Appeal to Leadership: Listen & Lead Rob Renfroe calls on the United Methodist bishops to direct the church.
Ministering in the jaws of hell Janice Shaw Crouse profiles Jeannine Brabon’s prison ministry.
Carving out new life Carlos Velasquez testifies to finding Christ after working for a drug lord.
Why the Sermon on the Mount demands a cross Riley Case examines Jesus’ thoughts on repentance.
The failure of feminism on campus Terry Mattingly writes on the challenges of young women in college.
COLUMNS
Editorial John Stott and mainline renewal
Next Generation The relationship between pastor and youth pastor
RENEW Women’s Network Changes at the Women’s Division
The Great Commission What’s in a name?
From the Heart Every knee
DEPARTMENTS
Letters to the editor
Straight Talk
News
Methodist king of Tonga dies at age 88
Sudan relief continues during uncertain period
News AnalysisSince when is a Planned Parenthood staffer considered a missionary?
The New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote a few years ago that if evangelicals were to choose a pope, they would likely select Anglican pastor/theologian, John Stott. He may be right.
Stott, now 85, was interviewed in the October issue of Christianity Today, the publication's splendid 50th anniversary issue. Stott has been a pivotal figure in evangelical renewal in the United Kingdom.
As pastor of All Soul's Church in London, Stott has made his mark on the evangelical world with his many books, commentaries, and sermons. He chaired committees that drafted the Lausanne Covenant in 1974 and the Manila Manifesto in 1989, two defining statements for evangelicals. He's been a long-time friend of Billy Graham.
For more than 35 years, Stott has devoted three months each year to travel the globe, ministering and learning about churches in the two-thirds world.
He has timely words for us about evangelicalism, preaching, missions, and holiness for all who are concerned about renewal in the mainline.
What is evangelicalism? An evangelical, says Stott, is an ordinary Christian who stands "in the mainstream of historic, orthodox, biblical Christianity." This means, he adds, that "we can recite the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed without crossing our fingers." He is referring to British and American pastors who cross their fingers while saying the creeds, believing them to be irrelevant, suitable only for the dust bins of history.
Stott adds that "what God has said in Christ and in the biblical witness to Christ, and what God has done in and through Christ, are both.once and for all. There is a finality about God's word in Christ, and.about God's work in Christ. To imagine that we could add a word to his word, or add a work to his work, is extremely derogatory to the unique glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." He says simply, "Canonicity is apostolicity."
Stott was ordained 61 years ago. Back then, evangelicals in the Church of England "were a despised and rejected minority. The bishops lost no opportunity to ridicule us," he noted. While often frustrated and at variance with their church, both Stott and long-time colleague, J.I. Packer, resisted the urge to leave. They have been articulate, prolific witnesses, with the result that perhaps a fourth of the Church of England is now evangelical.
What about missions? Stott affirms short term mission teams and believes they are, on the whole, "a good thing." He then adds, "But.this is only a very limited experience of cross-cultural mission." Speaking from years of travel, he cautions, "If God calls you to be a cross-cultural missionary, it will take you 10 years to learn the language and to learn the culture in such a way that you are accepted more or less as a national."
This is timely. Recently, our church's mission board reported a dozen or so US-2 missionaries being commissioned and sent-for a two year stint, most all, I believe, to serve in the U.S. But I was saddened to hear about a long-term, career United Methodist missionary couple, with years of effective service overseas, whose contract was not renewed by the missions board. What used to be a robust, full-time overseas missions force of 1,500 continues to dwindle and is last reported at 247-and many of that number are not presently on the field. (By comparison, the Mission Society in Norcross, Georgia, has almost 200 missionaries overseas.)
What about preaching? Stott readily confesses, "I'm an impenitent believer in the importance of preaching." Of course, that's biblical preaching. He believes that churches live, grow, and flourish by the Word of God. (United Methodists, take note!) I was reminded of this when a friend told of his visit to hear the Rev. Adam Hamilton at the Church of the Resurrection (UMC) in Kansas City-where more than 8,000 worship each Sunday. Adam's sermon, he said, was 35-45 minutes long. And he's always scriptural. But many United Methodists report that their pastor preaches just seven or eight minutes-barely a sermonette. Sermonettes will make us Christianettes. Pastors must learn to expound the Word of God, not dissect and denigrate it.
Stott holds these convictions: God wants his church to grow; it grows by the Word of God; and the Word of God comes to the people of God mainly, though not exclusively, through preaching.
What about holiness? Stott says he sees an absence of the quest for scriptural holiness among evangelicals today. He admits the term sometimes sounds sanctimonious. But he reminds us, "The holiness of the New Testament is Christlikeness." He longs for evangelicals "to grow in Christlikeness such as is described in Galatians 5:22-23."
What a timely word for us United Methodists. Wesley believed holiness or Christian perfection was the grand depositum God gave to the Methodists. Where this was not preached, he said, "believers grow dead and cold."
My advice. Get Stott's books and read them. Then, read them again.
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