Evangelical Faith: A Personal Plea for Unity, Integrity, and Faithfulness (John Stott, 1999)

At a time when the evangelical movement continues to fragment instead of demonstrating unity in Christ, when many believers who identify themselves as evangelicals are unable to identify what, precisely, that designation means, and when more and more outsiders speak of the movement with undisguised scorn, the elder-statesman of evangelicalism offers what he calls a “little statement on evangelical faith.” Stott uses that expression, it is worth noting, as he reflects on the fact that he will soon reach the end of his life. “I would like to leave behind me as a kind of spiritual legacy this little statement of evangelical faith, this personal appeal to the rising generation,” he writes. “This is how I would wish to be remembered and judged as I prepare to stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”

Evangelicals need to take this plea seriously. Not because it is written by Stott—though that is not without significance—but because we say we believe in truth, unity, integrity, and faithfulness.