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Evangelical Truth - A Personal Plea for Unity

Evangelical Truth - a personal plea for unity
By John Stott
IVP. 151 pages. £7.99
ISBN 0 85111 596 9

When John Stott speaks, evangelicals still sit up and listen. There may be, as he says, many 'tribes' within evangelicalism, but most of them still acknowledge him as a leader, guide and model. Surely, therefore, no-one could be better placed to deliver a 'personal plea for unity.'
Stott is on familiar ground in this book. In the three main chapters he gives us his summary of evangelical truth, because that is the only basis for our unity. Each chapter is dedicated to one person of the Trinity, because he defines our evangelical distinctive as the revelation of God, the cross of Christ, and the ministry of the Spirit. Each is treated with his customary clarity, with good subheadings. All is argued from Scripture with conviction, warmth, passion and charity.
Many see the work of the Holy Spirit as the place of our most obvious disagreements today. Here too John Stott focuses us on the grounds for our unity in the areas of conversion, assurance, holiness, fellowship, mission and eschatology. He is adamant that 'a reliable test of the genuineness of every person and movement claiming the endorsement of the Holy Spirit is whether they honour the Lord Jesus Christ, draw attention to him and promote his glory.' He is realistic about issues on which there are differing views, but seeks points of agreement; for instance, we may argue about spiritual gifts, but should generally be agreed that the nature of the gifts is varied, the purpose of the gifts is the common good, and that the criterion for evaluating the gifts is the degree to which they build up the church (in size and depth).
I particularly enjoyed his opening introductory chapter, in which he has an eye not only on our internal differences, but also on how evangelicalism differs from other groupings in the world church. He states with force that evangelicalism is not a recent innovation, not a deviation from Christian orthodoxy, and not a synonym for fundamentalism.
The book's conclusion hits home. In a climate in which evangelicals are displaying 'our pathological tendency to fragment,' it is vital that we take to heart his call to integrity, stability, truth, unity, endurance and humility. He gives a list of twelve 'matters indifferent': issues on which we should allow one another to hold different views without breaking unity. This list certainly makes me uneasy - but Jesus never told us to expect things to be easy.
Stott says he is approaching the end of his life on earth, and that this year marks the end of his 60th year in Christian discipleship; he calls this book' a kind of spiritual legacy, this little statement of evangelical faith; this personal appeal to the rising generation.' Let us not be deaf.

James Dudley-Smith,
Wimbourne