Whoever emerges as the next leader of the worldwide evangelical movement will have to possess the many gifts so richly displayed by Stott: biblical fidelity, personal integrity, intellectual strength, humility, unpretentiousness, and the ability to warmly communicate the message of “basic Christianity” to people of all classes and races.

This past Friday, a memorial service was held at College Church in Wheaton, Ill., for the Rev. John R.W. Stott, a revered British clergyman and theologian whose death on July 27 at the age of 90 deprived the Christian church of one of its most universally beloved figures.

Although ordained as a priest in the Church of England, Stott was one of the leading figures in the evangelical revival of the postwar era, both inside the Anglican world and in the larger evangelical community. He played a key role in campus organizations such as InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and took a keen interest in the international ministry of the church, particularly in the nations of the global south. He was the chief author of the Lausanne Covenant, an important organizing doctrinal document for modern evangelicalism.

His impact was exceeded perhaps only by that of his fellow Anglican, C.S. Lewis, and Stott’s influence has arguably been felt more extensively in the institutional life of the church.

His intellectual and moral leadership, and the impeccable personal example he set in a lifetime of singular devotion, made him one of the unifying figures in the sometimes fractious world of evangelicalism. It was often said of Stott that if the evangelical world were to have a pope, which is admittedly an unimaginable prospect, Stott would surely have been elected to the job by acclamation, a powerful testimony to the unifying effects of his life and work.

All of which imparts to his memorial service a particular poignancy because it is not immediately apparent who, or what, will fill the enormous space left by his departure.

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