Stott0727The Rev. John Stott, who led an evangelical resurgence in England and influenced Christians worldwide through his writing and preaching, has died in London. He was 90.

Benjamin Homan, president of John Stott Ministries, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that Stott died Wednesday afternoon, adding that Stott’s health had deteriorated sharply in recent weeks and he had been in severe pain: “His body was just wearing out.”

Stott’s death was announced on the website ofAll Souls Langham Place, the church he attended as a child, then led as curate and rector after he was ordained by the Church of England in 1945. The church website reported that Stott’s close friends and associates were at his bedside reading Scripture and listening to Handel’s Messiah when he died at his retirement home.

“Vast numbers of us, all over the world, from the African village to the American penthouse feel we have lost a father, a brother, a counselor, a friend, a model, a teacher, a strategist, though deeply thankful we have had the privilege of knowing this holy man of God, this faithful servant of Christ,” wrote Michael Baughen, Stott’s successor as All Souls’ rector in 1975. “His passion was Christ and the cross of Christ and his legacy in his wonderful writings which have fed and continue to feed so many will influence generations to come.”

Stott’s many books were widely read throughout the world for more than five decades and were frequently reviewed and recommended in WORLD. Among his most popular books was Basic Christianity, a primer on the faith that has been translated into more than 60 languages, according to his U.S. publisher, InterVarsity Press.

Stott was considered the leading evangelical intellectual of his time. He was a primary framer of the 1974 Lausanne Covenant, a declaration of beliefs and an assertion of evangelicalism as a global movement. The document is considered a milestone in the rise of evangelical Christianity worldwide.

Known as “Uncle John” to the many people he worked with, Stott was a lifelong bachelor who funneled his book royalties into scholarships, especially for students from developing countries who went on to lead evangelical movements where they lived.

Word of Stott’s death quickly spread throughout the evangelical community Wednesday afternoon via Twitter, with many offering praise for his life’s work. “If you would like to know what other people are thinking about John Stott’s life and legacy, you can find out (in bite-sized chunks) at Twitter,” wrote blogger Tim Challies.

Jonathan Inman, a North Carolina pastor, remarked, “This is a sea change in evangelicalism. [J.I.] Packer is the last man standing.”

For a glimpse at a turning point in Stott’s life, Timothy Dudley-Smith, in his 1999 bookJohn Stott: The Making of a Leader, quotes Stott on his reaction after the Rev. Eric Nash pointed him to Revelation 3:20 when he was attending Rugby School in Warwickshire, England, in 1938:

“Here, then, is the crucial question which we have been leading up to. Have we ever opened our door to Christ? Have we ever invited him in? This was exactly the question which I needed to have put to me. For, intellectually speaking, I had believed in Jesus all my life, on the other side of the door. I had regularly struggled to say my prayers through the key-hole. I had even pushed pennies under the door in a vain attempt to pacify him. I had been baptized, yes and confirmed as well. I went to church, read my Bible, had high ideals, and tried to be good and do good. But all the time, often without realising it, I was holding Christ at arm’s length, and keeping him outside. I knew that to open the door might have momentous consequences. I am profoundly grateful to him for enabling me to open the door. Looking back now over more than fifty years, I realise that that simple step has changed the entire direction, course and quality of my life.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article, with additional reporting by Nat Belz.