John Stott's Theology Equal to Luther, Barth
Evangelical leaders in Brazil have joined the chorus of voices around the globe mourning and commenting on the death of one of the greatest evangelical leaders the world has ever seen, John Stott.
Church leaders from Brazil have reacted to the news of his death by describing Stott as providing the world with one of the greatest commentaries on the book of Romans ever; alongside theological legends such as Martin Luther and Karl Barth.
Evangelist and Biblical scholar John Stott passed away Wednesday afternoon in England. The respected evangelical leader has left behind a host of close friends and bothers-in-Christ in Brazil, who have described Stott to The Christian Post as a “spiritual leader and friend.”
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The Anglican Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti, who received Stott’s visit to Brazil in 1980, said to The Christian Post that was just thinking recently about going to England to visit him.
“It was a loss… He was one of the main evangelical thinkers of the last century,” said the bishop.
Cavalcanti said he had a close relationship with Stott through the Alliance Biblical University (ABU), and the Lausanne Movement, of which he was a member.
“We’ve known each other since 1977. We met through the Anglican evangelical segment, the Lausanne movement, of which I was a member,” he said.
Cavalcanti recalled his meetings with Stott.
“Two times when Stott came to Brazil, he came to my house. The first time he came for breakfast, the second time for lunch,” recalled the Brazilian bishop.
Bishop Cavalcanti highlighted Stott’s ability to expose the Bible: “As a Bible expositor he was fantastic.”
Testifying the depth of Stott’s understanding of the Bible and in particular his exhortation on the book of Romans he said: “The three greatest writings on Romans were the comments of [Martin] Luther, Karl Barth and also his [John Stott].”
He further testified that Stott was an introverted but kind person, and had a very pastoral-like nature, Above all he always had concern for the welfare of others above himself.
Pastor Caio Fábio d'Araújo Filho, another of Stott’s close friend in Brazil, was sad to hear of the death of the evangelical leader, and posted text from him last message in Keswick on his blog as a mark of respect to Stott.
When Stott visited Brazil in 1989, Caio Fábio, as he is known, took him to the beautiful Amazon.
“John commented that never in such a short space of time had he seen so many new species of birds in his life,” recalled Caio Fábio in one of his articles in his blog.
A pastor in Rio de Janeiro, Renato Vargens lamented Stott’s death saying, “It is with regret that I received the news about the death of one of the greatest evangelical preachers of all time.”
“I owe a lot to this great man of God. His books contributed significantly to my theological development,” he said.
Stott died at 90 years of age and is revered for his ministerial life. In 2005, he was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
Famous U.S. evangelist Billy Graham described him as, “The most respected clergyman in the world today.”
He belonged to Anglican Church since 1936 and was the founder of the Langham Partnership International. However, perhaps his greatest contribution to the international evangelical movement came from his deep and varied writings; he published more than 50 books and hundreds of articles.
