(Spoken at the John Stott memorial service, Auckland Cathedral, 4 Sept 2011)

Our Father in heaven, although we are sad that John is no longer with us, we are also glad for John that he has now entered into that rest promised to all your good and faithful servants.

Father, - we give you thanks for John's life and for his legacy that lives on. We thank you for your Spirit who inspired him and shaped him and sustained him through a lifetime of faithful and devoted service. We thank you for Jesus who was so evidently his saviour, his master, and his friend.

We thank you Lord for his witness, his integrity, and his compassion, which spoke so powerfully to a watching world, and which was honoured even in Time magazine with his nomination as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

We are thankful too Lord for the inspiration you have brought through your gracious and humble servant John, to your church at large, and to us who are part of the evangelical family in particular.

The World Evangelical Alliance, who I represent here today, has been blessed beyond measure by John's work and support over a time span of 60 years, and we acknowledge with gratitude his role in helping found the alliance under the name World Evangelical Fellowship in 1951.

John's writing, teaching, and leadership, along with his heart for unity, service, and proclaiming the full Gospel of Jesus, laid a foundation for evangelicals which will continue long into the future.

A tribute from the World Evangelical Alliance said we have lost one of our founding fathers.

We are thankful also for the friendship with Billy Graham which led in 1974 to the first Lausanne Congress and John's contribution to the Lausanne Covenant, with its inspired phrase that "world evangelisation requires the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world"

Lord, we pray that you would inspire and help each of us to love and serve you as John has done. In honour of his memory, we pray that you would bring us to complete unity that the world would come to know the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Amen

by Glyn Carpenter
New Zealand Christian Network,
the NZ member of the World Evangelical Alliance

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