English Anglican preacher, theologian, and leading light of 20th-century global evangelicalism (1921-2011). Converted through the Children's Special Service Mission at age 16, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and ordained in the Church of England. He served at All Souls, Langham Place, London, from 1950 to 1975 as rector and until his death as "rector emeritus" — essentially a pastorate of six decades. Stott chaired the drafting committee of the 1974 Lausanne Covenant — the landmark document that consolidated evangelical identity on the authority of Scripture, the uniqueness of Christ, and the integration of evangelism and social concern.
Stott was, with Billy Graham, the most widely respected evangelical statesman of his era. Four contributions. (1) Preaching and the word. His Between Two Worlds (1982) remains one of the best books on preaching ever written — his framework of the preacher "bridging" between the ancient biblical world and the contemporary audience shaped thousands of pastors. (2) Doctrinal anchor for evangelicalism. Basic Christianity (1958) — a short, elegant introduction that has sold millions and made countless disciples. The Cross of Christ (1986) defends penal substitution at depth; The Message of the Sermon on the Mount and many other commentaries in the Bible Speaks Today series remain standard pastor's shelf references. (3) Global evangelicalism. Through the Lausanne Movement, the Langham Partnership (training pastors in the Global South), and his own extensive travel, Stott helped turn evangelicalism from a Western movement into a truly global network. (4) Integrity and simplicity. He lived in a modest two-room London apartment and gave away most of his book royalties through the Langham Partnership. He remained single his entire life and treated the Church as his family. Critics on the doctrinal right (his late-career cautious flirtation with annihilationism) and on the social left (his ambivalence about women's ordination) made him a target from both sides, which is usually a sign of principled center-holding. Stott's quiet, careful, gospel-saturated ministry remains a model.