My dear friend (and perhaps yours, too) died this afternoon at 3.15. He passed peacefully into the presence of his Lord and Saviour whom he served so joyfully and effectively throughout his life.

Frances Whitehead, his niece Caroline and her daughter - Emily, his former study assistant, Matthew Smith, his fiancé - Eia and I were with him. There was no apparent pain and no famous last words. He died at peace both without and within. Rico Tice from All Souls church had visited him in the morning. Shortly before he died we read 2 Timothy and 4:6-8 seemed particularly applicable.

There will be obituaries in the main papers and a memorial service at St Paul’s Cathedral (eventually).

I will miss him very much – he taught me to love and follow Jesus Christ by his life as much as in his writings.

I thought you would like to know as soon as possible, so please forgive this for not being more personal.

‘The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord’.

"The evangelical world has lost one of its greatest spokesmen, and I have lost one of my close personal friends and advisors. I look forward to seeing him again when I go to Heaven." Billy Graham

"It will not be possible to write the history of the church in the 20th century without reference to John Stott. His remarkable ministry spanned the whole of the second half of the century and even in his eighties he was making an impact on the 21st. His leadership of the evangelical movement, both in the Anglican Communion and in wider inter-denominational settings, was a major factor in moving it from rather narrow-minded fundamentalism after the Second World War, to the fastest growing part of world Christianity that it is today. The list of movements and institutions he founded, fostered and strengthened can be read in the biographical pages of this website. His books have challenged and nourished millions of Christians into a balanced and thinking biblical faith. His legacy through the global impact of the Langham Partnership International and the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity is incalculable.

For the vast majority of people whose lives he influenced profoundly, however, he was simply ‘Uncle John’ – a much loved friend, correspondent, and brother, to whose prayers we will never know how much we owe. Like Moses, he was one of the greatest leaders God has given to his people, and yet at the same time, one of the humblest men on the face of the earth. He was, for all of us who knew him, a walking embodiment of the simple beauty of Jesus, whom he loved above all else.". Chris Wright, Langham Partnership International Director