John Stott: A Facilitator of Global Missional Theology

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In a significant 2006 article, missionary anthropologist Paul Hiebert (1932-2007) argued that a
significant aspect of global mission should be mediating the work of global theology. He wrote: “missionaries are bridge persons, culture mediators, who stand between different human worlds . . . global discussions on contextualization need missionaries and global leaders who understand both the gospel and human cultures well and can bridge between them.” Since Hiebert’s article was written, a significant output of literature has come from evangelicals—both western and majority world scholars—on global theology. 

In this paper, I will show that John Stott (1921-2011), rector of All Souls, Langham Place, and global ambassador for mission in the Lausanne Movement, anticipated Hiebert’s admonition and, since the 1960s, acted as an early innovator in global theologizing. I will support this claim by focusing on Stott’s work within the Lausanne Movement and from that argue for Stott’s principles for facilitating global theology.

Read the entire paper here: smither_stott_ets_2023.pdf

Note: image from JohnStott.org.

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