C Stacey Woods

Ordinary to extraordinary

C. STACEY WOODS
and the evangelical rediscovery of the university
By A. Donald Macleod
IVP. 238 pages
ISBN 978-0-8308-3432-7

This is a good and fascinating biography of a man who, from very ordinary circumstances in Australia, became a major force for evangelicalism in North America and then worldwide.

Much should be of interest to British readers. Professor MacLeod writes as a historian and has carried out very careful research, giving many extracts from letters and memoranda. He is not moralising, but describing developments and some of their fruits. It is focused on student work where Stacey Woods was first Secretary of the Canadian IVCF, then simultaneously of the IVCF of USA and finally of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES). He led all three movements from their very early stages to a position of strength. There is much of general interest. British readers will skip some of the details of people who are unknown here, but it would be a great pity to miss the gems that appear repeatedly.

Stacey had been trained in an excellent Brethren tradition in Australia. Coming to North America for further Bible College training, he found a distinctly anti-intellectual atmosphere which chimed in with some of his background. Christians were often frightened of the universities and even, in some cases, discouraged their children from going there. This explains the sub-title of the biography. Stacey had a great vision for establishing a strong biblical witness among high school and university students. He was a leader in establishing a new kind of intellectually confident evangelicalism in both countries. He struggled with anti-intellectualism, the place of apologetics in student work and other similar issues such as the relationship to local church-based ministry. One has to be thankful for Stacey’s ability to keep to biblical priorities while he saw the need to go beyond the basics in which he had been so well schooled. He quickly abandoned the negative views of God’s gifts in creation, social responsibility and intellectual outworking of the faith, which he and many in North America had inherited. But he also saw the danger of such concerns eclipsing the gospel and displacing evangelism.

When he became the first full-time secretary of the infant IFES, his dynamism and intense evangelistic fervour gave that movement a great momentum. Stacey was much helped by the fact that Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones had been brought in by Douglas Johnson of the British IVF to be its chairman. Lloyd-Jones and Douglas Johnson were two friends to whom he often looked for guidance.

At the same time this is not a hagiography. Stacey’s weaknesses are discussed alongside some excellent extracts from his memoranda to staff and letters. Like many other pioneers he was not an easy man to work with. There is much in this book that is worth pondering.

and the evangelical rediscovery of the university

Ordinary to extraordinary

Oliver Barclay

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