A New Take on Stott

"Imagine being a child overwhelmed by hundreds of jigsaw puzzle pieces - you just can't put them together! And then imagine a kindly old uncle comes along and helps you put the whole thing together, piece by piece. That is what it felt like reading John Stott's The Contemporary Christian series. For those of us who feel we can't get our heads around our Bibles let alone our world, he comes along and, with his staggering gifts of clarity and insight, helps us step by step to work out what it means to understand our world through biblical lenses. It's then a great blessing to have Tim Chester's questions at the end of each chapter, which help us think through and internalise each step."

- Rico Tice, Senior Minister for Evangelism, All Souls Langham Place, London, and co-author of Christianity Explored

The five-book series is divided into The Gospel, The Disciple, The Bible, The Church, and The World.

The Gospel focuses is on how Christianity is God’s good news for the world. Stott explains a biblical perspective on the human paradox about our dignity and our depravity.

The Disciple explores how following Christ is a multi-faceted responsibility through listening, acknowledging we are rational and emotional, discerning God’s call and will, and how love is the core ingredient of discipleship as it is the first fruit of the Spirit.

The Bible acknowledges the urgent need to continue in, respond to, interpret and expound God’s word as it has many times before brought us light in darkness.

The Church describes the tension between the ideal and the reality of our perceptions regarding church. Stott focuses on the ideal, on what God intends his church to be, and realistically sees the changes that need to be made in order to achieve the ideal.

The World explains our God-given responsibility of sharing the good news by word and deed throughout the world. Looking at the four aspects of the mission, Stott explains the model, the costliness, the mandate, the motivation and the urgency of the mission to which we are called.

John R. W. Stott (1921–2011) has been known worldwide as a preacher, evangelist, and communicator of Scripture. For many years he served as rector of All Souls Church in London, where he carried out an effective urban pastoral ministry. A leader among evangelicals in Britain and the United States and around the world, Stott was a principal framer of the landmark Lausanne Covenant (1974).