John Stott - a memory

Dave Gobbett | 21:05, 30 April 2021

In 1997, I was the President of CICCU, the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian. John Stott was an honorary Vice-President at the time. One of many privileges of that year for me was going for afternoon tea at Stott's flat by All Souls Langham Place.

John Stott was full of encouragement for me and right concern about the spread of the gospel in Cambridge. This was soon after the death of Princess Diana (John Stott had been chaplain to the Queen) and he expressed his hope and prayer that the nation's solemn mood would lead to a spiritual openness.

'David, do you kneel to pray?' he asked me.

Towards the end of our time together, he offered to pray for me. 'David, do you kneel to pray?' he asked me.

'Ahem well, I ... erm ... ' (as a non-conformist I wasn't especially used to being physically expressive in my prayer life, and certainly not to talking about it!) '... I suppose I can do,' I hesitatingly reply.

'Well David, I kneel to pray, and find it to be pleasantly humbling.'

And so a twenty-one year old Dave Gobbett and a seventy-six year old John Stott kneel down together in his tiny flat in central London, and he passionately and powerfully prayed for me, the Cambridge Christian Union, and the spread of the gospel to the world.

John Stott's example of 'pleasant humility' left a mark that has never left me. A true gospel servant of the Servant King.

Dave Gobbett Highfields Church Lead Minister

Church Times: John Stott's legacy celebrated on his centenary