John
Stott, who died in 2011, was one of the great figures in 20th century
evangelicalism. A scholar, pastor and preacher, he was revered for his wisdom
and statesmanship and influenced generations through his writing and speaking.
He placed his formidable intellect at the service of the Church, but found time
to indulge his great passion of birdwatching. His work continues today through
his books and the work of the Langham Partnership global fellowship.
Here
are nine quotes from John Stott's writings.
1. Our love grows soft if it is
not strengthened by truth, and our truth grows hard if it is not softened by
love.
2. Every Christian should be
both conservative and radical; conservative in preserving the faith and radical
in applying it.
3. The truth is that there are
such things as Christian tears, and too few of us ever weep them.
4. In countries to which
Christian civilization has spread, large numbers of people have covered
themselves with a decent, but thin, veneer of Christianity. They have allowed
themselves to become somewhat involved, enough to be respectable but not enough
to be uncomfortable.
5. Social responsibility becomes
an aspect not of Christian mission only, but also of Christian conversion. It is
impossible to be truly converted to God without being thereby converted to our
neighbour.
6. The overriding reason why we should take
other people's cultures seriously is because God has taken ours seriously.
7. In the real world of pain, how could one
worship a God who was immune to it?
8. The Bible isn't about people
trying to discover God, but about God reaching out to find us.
9. Christianity is not just
about what we believe; it's also about how we behave.
