The Case Stott Made for Christian Social Involvement

A Needy World

Evangelicals in the nineteenth century had a fine record of social involvement. William Wilberforce and John Newton campaigned against slavery. George Muller and Charles Spurgeon established orphanages in Bristol and London respectively. William Carey, the pioneer missionary to India, did a bit of everything: he campaigned for women’s rights and the humane treatment of lepers, started savings banks to combat loan sharks, founded schools for both boys and girls from all castes, pioneered lending libraries, introduced new systems of gardening, reformed agriculture, and published the classics of Indian literature.¹

But for various reasons, evangelicals lost their social conscience over the first two-thirds of the twentieth century. A growing welfare system created the impression that the care of the needy could be left to the state. The “social gospel,” a movement in the early twentieth century that redefined the church’s task as building the kingdom of God predominantly within history, meant social action became tainted by association. Perhaps most significantly, liberal theology put evangelicals on the back foot, turning them into a beleaguered minority within the wider church. As a result, it felt easier to hunker down in a ghetto than to get out into the big, bad world with an agenda for reform. The historian Timothy Smith called this retreat “the great reversal.”² Evangelical Christians, once in the vanguard of social reform, had shifted into reverse and retreated from the world.

3 Main Arguments

John Stott made the case for Christian social involvement repeatedly through his ministry. In The Contemporary Christian he identifies three main arguments. The first is the character of God.

The God of the biblical revelation, being both Creator and Redeemer, is a God who cares about the total well-being (spiritual and material) of all the human beings he has made. . . . God cares for the poor and the hungry, the alien, the widow and the orphan. He denounces oppression and tyranny, and calls for justice. He tells his people to be the voice of the voiceless and the defender of the powerless, and so to express their love for them.³

Stott on the Christian Life

Tim Chester

Exploring the enduring influence of John Stott’s views on the Christian life, this book will encourage a new generation of evangelical Christians to benefit from Stott’s life and teaching.

Stott then shows how these characteristics are reflected in both the Law and the Prophets. God’s people are commanded to care for the poor, and the prophets hold them to this obligation. It is not just that the commandments of the Mosaic law commend justice and care; they are explicitly presented as the way in which God’s people will “walk in all his ways.” The people are to do justice because God himself “executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing” (Deut. 10:12–20).

Stott’s second reason for social involvement is the ministry and teaching of Jesus. “There can be no question that words and works went together in his public ministry. . . . His words explained his works, and his works dramatized his words.”² Stott particularly highlights the emotions of Jesus. If we are to be Christlike, we too should feel anger at injustice and compassion for its victims.⁴

Stott compares the parables of the prodigal son and the good Samaritan. Although both involve victims, the prodigal is a victim of his own sin, while the man whom the Samaritan meets is the victim of other people’s sin. Both involve rescues that are acts of love. Each includes a sub-plot in which the alternative to obedience is exemplified. Stott concludes:

Thus each parable emphasizes a vital aspect of Christian discipleship— its beginning when like the prodigal son we come home for salvation, and its continuing when like the good Samaritan we go out in mission. Each of us resembles the prodigal; each of us should resemble the Samaritan. First we face our own sins, and then we face the world’s sufferings. First we come in and receive mercy, and then we go out and show mercy. Mercy cannot be shown until it has been received; but once it has been received it must be shown to others. Let us not divorce what Christ has married. We have all been prodigals; God wants us all to be Samaritans too.⁵

Third, Stott argues for Christian social action because it assists “the communication of the gospel.”⁶ “To begin with, [the gospel] must be verbalized.” Christians cannot give up on words. “There is a precision in verbal communication, whether the words are spoken or written, which is absent from all other media.”⁷ Nevertheless, it is also true that “we cannot announce God’s love with credibility unless we also exhibit it in action. So we cannot stand aloof from those to whom we speak the gospel, or ignore their situation, their context.”⁸

In Issues Facing Christians Today, Stott structures his argument in a slightly different way. He speaks, first, of “a fuller doctrine of God” in which we recognize that God is not confined to the religious dimensions of life or concerned only with his covenant people. Citing prophetic oracles against the nations, Stott comments, “It is clear from these Old Testament passages that God hates injustice and oppression everywhere, and that he loves and promotes justice everywhere.”⁹

If we are to be Christlike, we too should feel anger at injustice and compassion for its victims.

Second, Stott speaks of “a fuller doctrine of human beings.” It is the image of God, marred but remaining, in all human beings which “accounts for their unique worth and which has always inspired Christian philanthropy.”¹⁰

Third, Stott calls for “a fuller doctrine of Christ.” Here, as in The Contemporary Christian, he refers to the model given to us in Christ’s incarnation and ministry. “Jesus of Nazareth was moved with compassion by the sight of needy human beings, whether sick or bereaved, hungry, harassed or helpless; should not his people’s compassion be aroused by the same sights?”¹¹

Fourth, Stott talks of “a fuller doctrine of salvation.” “We must not separate Jesus the Saviour,” he says, “from Jesus the Lord.” He draws on the Reformation emphasis on love and faith belonging together. “Although justification is by faith alone, this faith cannot remain alone. If it is living and authentic, it will inevitably issue in good works.”¹²

Finally, Stott speaks of “a fuller doctrine of the Church.” Here he refers to a common theme in his teaching on the church: the need for holy worldliness—that is, a godly involvement in the world for the world.

This article is adapted from Stott on the Christian Life: Between Two Worlds by Tim Chester.

Tim Chester (PhD, University of Wales) is director of theological studies and lecturer in spiritual formation at Crosslands. He has over 25 years of experience in pastoral ministry, as well as being the author or coauthor of over forty books, including A Meal with Jesus; Reforming Joy; and, with Michael Reeves, Why the Reformation Still Matters.

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