By Neil Earle
Wednesday night, November 2 some 1100 people, including seven members of the Glendora-Rancho Cucamonga WCG, heard British writer-theologian John Stott expound the subject: "Our God is a Missionary God."
The 84 year-old Stott, speaking at the University Church of Loma Linda, has been a Chaplain to the Queen and proclaimed the most respected clergyman in the world today by Billy Graham. Time magazine has listed him one of the most influential people of the 20th century. Showing his age more than a little, Stott nevertheless fascinated the audience with his thirty-minute overview of his subject. After a side blow at pluralism (the supposed validity of all religions) which he called "the pop ideology of the day," Stott admitted that some Christian attitudes past and present have been arrogant and imperialistic but "this is no excuse for believers to surrender the task of world evangelism."
This is a cause near Stott's heart as he has been a leader in the ecumenical movement and the calling to world outreach expressed in his role in the Lausanne Covenant of July, 1974. This was a recommitment to world evangelism in Switzerland by an international gathering of evangelicals "moved to penitence by our failures and challenged by the unfinished task of evangelization." Stott's talk in Loma Linda was a succinct statement of that credo which he divided into five parts:
Old Testament God was a Missionary God
The Christ of the Gospels is a Missionary Christ
The Holy Spirit of Acts is a Missionary Spirit
The Church of the Epistles is a Missionary Church
The Vision of Revelation shows a Missionary Climax
In that clear, logical, succinct British style of argumentation which suffused his forty books, Stott unfolded his points. "In Genesis 12:1-4," he said, "we see that Yahweh is not a tribal God. He called Abraham to be a blessing to all the nations. We sitting here tonight are beneficiaries of a 4000 year old vision." And Jesus? Stott showed that even Matthew's Gospel – the most Jewish of the four – has a global horizon. It is there we meet the Magi, perhaps pagan astrologers from Persia, the statement that many will sit down in the Kingdom "from the east and the west," and the crowning commission to make disciples "anthe te ethne" – to all the nations (Matthew 28:19-21).
Stott continued. The book of Acts shows the Holy Spirit leading the mission from Jerusalem to Rome. The limitation on mission in the Gospels was only temporary. In Acts the church clearly goes to the Samaritans, the half-way house between Judaism and the world community (Acts 8). He quoted former Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple in perhaps his most telling point of the night: "No-one can be indwelt by that Spirit and keep that to himself. If there is no flowing forth He is not there." The audience responded with a polite murmur of agreement.
Next Mr. Stott reminded us of what we are all to prone to forget – the church is not a club like a Golf Club. "Indeed the Church is the only cooperative which exists for the sake of its non-members. Many churches are self-centered and need to be turned inside out." He cited 1 Thessalonians 1:8 where Paul refereed to the gospel reounding out from the church in Macedonia to the surrounding area.
And the Revelation? Revelation 7 is the vision of the Great Multitude gathered around the throne – an ingathering from all the nations. Christianity, Stott concluded, "is not a safe, smug, selfish escapist little religion; it is an explosive and centrifugal force. It flings us into God's world." He ended with an appeal to become global Christians because we serve a global God.
Afterwards local WCG members Shelby Grundy, Ron and Susan Boyer, and Roger Lippross got to confer briefly with Rev. Stott on stage. Ron Boyer took the occasion to share some recent WCG literature with the special guest and all wished him well for the remainder of his tour.