Belfast-born Revd Dr Chris Wright, International Director of Langham Partnership, was the preacher at the recent funeral of the influential Anglican evangelical, Rev Dr John Stott.
Hundreds packed in to John’s home church of All Souls Langham Place on Monday 8th August 2011. Many had queued for over an hour before the doors opened at 11.15am.
It was a Service of joy and thanksgiving which shone with the light of the Gospel, acknowledging the impact made in and through the life of one remarkable man. Together with John’s family were members of the St Barnabas community (where John spent his final days), All Souls clergy and church members past and present, alongside friends who had travelled from just about every continent.
The Service, led by Hugh Palmer, Rector of All Souls, opened to a declaration of praise with ‘Crown Him with many crowns.’ Noel Tredinnick (Director of Music) and a number of All Souls musicians, provided the accompaniment to this and the other three hymns, ‘Name of all majesty,’ ‘When I survey the wondrous Cross’ and ‘Glory to Jesus! risen, conquering Son.’
In his address Chris Wright remarked: “John modelled obedience of faith in his life of humility, integrity and simplicity, and commented on John’s passionate concern for evangelical Christian unity as obedience of love. He illustrated Christian hope by quoting John’s lifelong friend, Dr Billy Graham, ‘One day you will hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t believe it. I will be more alive than I am now, I will just have changed my address and gone into the presence of God.
The Rev. Dr. Christopher J. H. Wright (Chris to his friends!) was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1947. His parents were missionaries in Brazil, though Chris as the youngest son was born after they came back at the end of the Second World War. He grew up in Belfast and was nurtured as an Irish Presbyterian. He studied classics at Cambridge in the 1960s, and then started his career as a teacher in Grosvenor High School, Belfast. In the 1970s he studied for his doctorate in Cambridge, England, in the field of Old Testament economic ethics; his book from this work was published as God’s People in God’s Land (Eerdmans and Paternoster). He was ordained in the Anglican Church of England in 1977 and served as an assistant pastor in the Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Tonbridge, Kent, England.
In 1983 he moved to India with his wife, Liz, and four children to teach at Union Biblical Seminary (UBS) in Pune for five years. At this time he and Liz were mission partners with Crosslinks, an evangelical Anglican mission agency. While at UBS he taught a variety of Old Testament courses at B.D. and M.Th. levels. In 1988 he returned to the U.K. as academic dean at All Nations Christian College, an international training centre for crosscultural mission. He was appointed principal there in September 1993 and held that post for eight years. In September 2001 Chris was appointed to his present role as the international director of the Langham Partnership International.
Chris and his wife, Liz, belong to All Souls Church, Langham Place, where Chris enjoys preaching from time to time as a member of the ministry team.