Frank Entwistle 1937 – 2022
Frank Entwistle will best be remembered for his leadership of Inter-Varsity Press (IVP) for 25 years, retiring in 2002.
Set up in 1936 as the Publishing House of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship (later UCCF), IVP was the strongest and most widely-known independent evangelical publisher of its day. Frank Roland Entwistle grew up in Lancashire, imbibing a love of books and of reading from his father. Following his conversion aged 14, he set his heart on ordination, and later studied theology at St John’s College, Durham, choosing a special option on Luther and Calvin. He was prepared for ordination at Cranmer Hall. The fairly conservative faculty, and the strong inter-collegiate Christian Union (DICCU), gave Frank a thorough Biblical grounding. While at Durham he met his wife, Beryl, and they married during his curacy at St John’s Harborne in Birmingham. In 1965 Frank joined the home staff of what is now Crosslinks, editing the Society’s magazine and books.
John Stott - what you should know
The centenary of John Stott’s birth falls on 27 April 2021. As he died ten years ago, his name won’t be well-known to younger readers. This is one reason why we are holding centenary events, to introduce his name and his legacy to a new generation.
The breadth of John Stott’s influence is remarkable. Aged 29, he was appointed Rector of All Souls Langham Place, next door to the BBC. He wrote years later of how ‘dissatisfaction’ is a mark of a leader, and he showed it himself from early days. Decades before the term ‘fresh expressions’ was coined, he opened the All Souls Clubhouse, a church for the unchurched, in the poorer part of his parish. He started guest services, then unheard-of, beginners’ groups, and training courses for lay leaders. And he was a seer. So international students became a focus in the post-colonial 1960s as newly-established governments began sending their most able to the UK. The list goes on.
