Inter-Varsity Press

Preface

1. First steps on the stage

27 April 1921 Birth and childhood in Harley Street, London

September 1929 Oakley Hall School, Gloucestershire

September 1935 Rugby School, Warwickshire

2. Opening the door

13 February 1938 Conversion

Attends first of Bash’s Iwerne camps

Head boy at Rugby

Decides he wants to be ordained; embraces pacifism

Tensions with father begin

3. Cambridge battles

October 1940 Enters Trinity College, Cambridge

December 1940 All Souls Church damaged by bomb

October 1942 Begins study of theology

June 1943 Graduates with double first

4. Discovering the inner logic

October 1944 Enters Ridley Hall, Cambridge, to study theology as a graduate student

Hands over job as secretary to Bash’s Iwerne camps

5. Curate in a mixed parish

21 December 1945 Ordained deacon in St Paul’s Cathedral

Becomes curate at All Souls

6. Under Charing Cross arches

November 1946 Disguised as tramp lives rough on the streets

March 1950 Rector Earnshaw-Smith dies

7. The King approves

26 September 1950 Institution as Rector of All Souls parish

29 April 1951 Rededication and return to All Souls Church

8. Deserted farmhouse in Wales

August 1952 Discovers The Hookses in Pembrokeshire

9. ‘You’d better come and be my secretary’

New Year’s Eve 1952 Frances Whitehead converted

January 1954 First book Men with a Message published

1954 Buys The Hookses

1956 Frances Whitehead appointed

10. Special relationship

1952 Leads CICCU mission at Cambridge

1954 Supports Billy Graham in Harringay crusade

1955 Billy Graham’s Wembley crusade

Revives Eclectic Society

November 1955 Assistant missioner to Billy Graham at Cambridge

November 1956 Sails from Southampton for missions in USA and Canada

Christmas with Grahams in Montreat, North Carolina

11. Modelling Jesus

1958 Writes Basic Christianity

Missions in Australia

Sir Arnold Stott dies

12. Approaching renewal

June 1959 Appointed Chaplain to the Queen

September 1960 Shares fear that conservative position on the Bible untenable

Spring 1962 Second visit to Africa

Visits to Keswick Convention begin

September 1962 Curate Michael Harper experiences ‘renewal’

1964 Addresses Islington Clerical Conference on the Holy Spirit

December 1964 First of six visits to Urbana Convention, University of Illinois

January 1966 Lily Stott dies

13. Drama at the Central Hall

18 October 1966 Public clash with Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Attitude to the Church of England

14. Coming out of the ghetto

April 1967 First National Evangelical Congress at Keele University

Ted Schroder becomes All Souls curate

‘Double listening’

15. New man at All Souls

1968 Begins editing and contributing to The Bible Speaks Today series

20 September 1969 PCC considers future leadership of All Souls

18 December Michael Baughen becomes vicar

Noël Tredinnick musical director

16. Where the battle for holiness is won

1970–1 Third visit to Urbana

Honorary DD awarded by Trinity Evangelical School, Deerfield, Illinois

Leaks plans for major redevelopment of All Souls

Speaks at meetings and conferences in Australia

April 1971 Begins to divert substantial book royalties to Evangelical Literature Trust

Scholars programme begins January 1974 – with preaching programme, will become Langham Partnership International

Moves into Bridford Mews flat

Speaks and writes about the place of the mind in life of the Christian

Autumn 1972 Guest lecturer at Trinity Evangelical School, Deerfield

17. Giant at Lausanne

July 1974 Keynote address at Lausanne Congress. Pleads for new understanding of balance between evangelism and social action

Writes commentary on covenant he has drafted

January 1975 Continuation Committee in Mexico City – tensions with Americans

18. Uncle John

1974 Addresses Senior Evangelical Anglican Conference (SEAC) on relations between traditional evangelicals and charismatics

1975 Revises Baptism and Fullness

Michael Baughen Rector, John Rector Emeritus

November 1975 Adviser at fifth assembly of World Council of Churches

Writes Walk in His Shoes to accompany Tearfund soundstrip. Will serve as President 1983 to 1997

1976 Employs Roy McCloughry as first study assistant

Accepts epithet ‘Uncle John’

June 1976 At Bathurst Inlet dives in search of drowned Jacob Avadlukl

19. Meeting fantasy with reality

26 November 1976 Reopening of All Souls with Waldegrave Hall beneath

Malcolm Muggeridge delivers London Lectures

20. What is an evangelical?

April 1977 National Evangelical Anglican Congress at Nottingham University

Summer 1977 Second visit to South America

Visits Galapagos Islands

Views on evolution

January 1978 Chairs drafting of Willowbank (Bermuda)

Report on Gospel and Culture

Friendship with Chris Wright begins

21. Intimate encounters

19 December 1978 Last meeting with Martyn Lloyd-Jones

1979 Sister Joy takes an overdose of pills and dies

April to May 1980 Eastern Europe

Mark Labberton succeeds Tom Cooper as study assistant

1981 Visits India and Bangladesh

Meets Mother Teresa

16 February 1981 Preaches at All Souls – ‘Is God on the side of the poor?’

22. Preaching fit for a Queen

27 April 1981 Celebrates 60th birthday at The Hookses

February 1982 I Believe in Preaching

January 1983 Joins royal family at Sandringham

4 April 1982 Bash dies. Conducts memorial service

23. Institute and issues

Summer 1982 Michael Baughen becomes Bishop of Chester

January 1983 Richard Bewes Rector of All Souls

Mid-January 1982 London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC) launched

1983 Issues facing Christians Today

Saki stories

Views on homosexual partnerships

1985 Declines to allow his name to go forward as Bishop of Winchester

24. Climbing the hill called Calvary

June 1984 Completes The Cross of Christ

‘Biblical doctrine of atonement is substitutionary from beginning to end’ but has sometimes been crudely expressed Cross helps us understand who we are and gives essential perspective from which to view suffering

25. Wincing under attack

April 1988 Launch of Essentials: A Liberal-Evangelical Dialogue

Views on hell and annihilation create controversy

26. Lost in the jungle

13 February 1988 Margaret Thatcher attends ‘Prom Praise’

April to May 1988 NEAC III at Caister, Norfolk

July 1989 Lausanne II, Manila, Philippines

August 1989 Sails up Amazon and gets lost in jungle

1 November 1988 Breakfast with John Wimber

19 April 1991 All Souls orchestra plays at enthronement of George Carey

Lambeth reception celebrates 70th birthday

Festschrift publications

Appointed ‘Extra Chaplain’ to Queen

27. An urgent plea

1992 The Contemporary Christian: An Urgent Plea for Double Listening

7 July 1993 Debates human sexuality with Bishop John Spong

1993 Group Reform founded

1994 Views on the ‘Toronto blessing’

Guidelines on dealing with controversy

July 1996 Successfully sights snowy owl at Cambridge Bay, Canada

28. The luckiest man on earth

1996 John Yates succeeds Nelson Gonzales as study assistant

January 1998 Completes second revision of Issues

How his day begins. The Trinitarian prayer

On enjoying the beauty of The Hookses

Relationship with Frances Whitehead

May 1998 Embolisms impair eyesight. Gives up driving

Jan to Feb 1999 With John Yates to China, Thailand and Hong Kong

1999 Evangelical Truth: A Personal Plea for Unity launched at IFES World Assembly

Defines evangelicalism in Trinitarian terms

Chest infection turns to pneumonia

June 1999 The Hookses

29. Laps of honour

31 January 2000 With study assistant Corey Widmer to Kenya and Uganda

Time with David Zac Niringiye

June 2001 Frances Whitehead awarded honorary MA degree at Lambeth Palace

September 2001 Appoints Chris Wright as his successor as international director of Langham Partnership International (LPI)

February 2002 With Corey Widmer to East Asia

Falls and cuts leg. Serious infection develops

Prepares for death. Recovers

New Year 2003 Completes Why I Am a Christian

30. Shaping our world

10 April 2005 Time magazine lists him as one of 100 most influential people in the world

September 2005 Through the Bible Through the Year

January 2006 Awarded CBE and visits China and Hong Kong on last international tour

20 August 2006 Falls and breaks hip

2007 The Living Church: Convictions of a Lifelong Pastor - includes discussion of postmodernism and the emergent church

8 June 2007 Moves to College of St Barnabas, Lingfield, Surrey

17 July 2007 Preaches at Keswick forty-five years after first visit

Thanking God for John

March 2008 A week at The Hookses

Impact on East Africa recalled by KEST staff and David Zac Niringiye, Bishop of Kampala

July 2008 John Yates and Steve Beck assessments. How John has been entrepreneurial’

August 2008 Ken Perez and Mark Labberton assessments.

Sense in which John has been ‘creative’

Judge David Turner and Professor John Wyatt reminisce and assess

Conclusion: the unique John Stott