Oral History Interview with David Adeney, 1988

David Adeney was a staff member of China Inland Mission, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. He worked with students throughout North America and Asia. He taped two oral history interviews with the BGC Archives in 1988 (Collection 393). In these he talked about his life and ministry, including his memories of working with John Stott. Click here to listen to the audio file of the comments transcribed below.

ADENEY: ...and.... One...one interesting thing was John Stott's visit to Hong Kong.

ERICKSEN: In?

ADENEY: It was...I think it was in 1963, that.... [Portion omitted] Because of the very liberal theological atmosphere in Hong Kong, we had some problems. The...when I first started in the Christian College, Christian, which is now a part of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, but there was...there was Chong Chee, which was a Christian college. They wouldn't allow us to meet on campus, and we would meet by the...on the beach by the sea shore, a small group of students, and we'd meet...we'd meet there and had some wonderful times of fellowship there. And then later on things changed, and I was even invited to...to speak at meetings, a series of meetings in the...in the college, and the chaplain became quite friendly, although he was...not completely one with us in theological positions. But we did have real problems with the Bishop...the Bishop of Hong Kong, quite an out...outstanding person in many ways, and he is very highly respected, but he was very liberal in his theology, and we arranged for John Stott to come and take a mission, and the students were terrifically enthusiastic about it. By this time they were a very active group, and.... They had withdrawn from the Student Christian Movement, and the Student Christian Movement now had it's...it's own organization. But the...the Christian Association was going ahead, was becoming more and more active and...and effective in the university. And so they arranged this mission for John Stott, and everything was arranged. This was twenty-five years ago. And John arrived in Hong Kong and then a bomb shell. The Bishop...issued an ultimatum: "John Stott would not be allowed to preach in his diocese." And according to the rules of the...of the Church of England, it's a very, very serious thing to disobey the bishop in whose territory you find yourself. And to our great dismay, John decided that...that he could not risk disobeying the Bishop. And we had to cancel the whole mission. The only thing he was allowed to do was to meet privately with the...the Christian Association leaders, and have...have fellowship with them, so.... And then he went to have a interview with the Bishop, and the Bishop told him he was immature in his faith, and the Bishop, I think possibly, rather regretted things because later on he called me in, and...and he said that he was thinking of inviting Alan Cole, (who was Australian or least as I know from Ireland, originally, but actually with the...with the OMF), that a...an Anglican, and...very, very...extremely gifted person, and he was going to invite him to come and have meetings in Hong Kong University, [laughs] and I think he's just trying to make amends for his having turned...turned down the request for...for John Stott. But from...from...from Hong Kong, John Stott went to Manila, and I went with him to Manila and we had a mission in Manila in which the Lord really used him. Many people came to know Christ. And I'll always remember his preaching in the cathedral at Manila. The cathedral at Manila is extremely high church, and it was my first experience in the...before the service, meeting with the choir and the clergy, and invoking the saints, and...and so on. John described the service as "bells and smells" [laughs]. But...but John gave a magnificent address there, and the Lord really used him in the Manila mission. So those were the...some of the early days...the development of the work.

ERICKSEN: What...can we talk a little more about John Stott, before we get away too far from him. What...what kind of fellow was he?

ADENEY: Well...I...I mean...to me, John is not only a prince of Bible expositors, and I don't think I know of anybody who can have such a gift of combining a prophetic and teaching ministry. Prophetic in the since of speaking to the...to the needs of today and doing it though the use of the Scriptures. Because John Stott's evangelism is also exposition, and his...his messages are...are...are so based upon the Script...the Scriptures, and...and yet he brings the...the Word of God with such effect that students respond to it and...and come to know Christ, and not only his preaching, but also his writing. I remember his...taking his...his book [pauses] Basic Christianity and lending it to a professor in a university in...in Hong Kong, (a man who had a...a very much of an intellectual background, and somewhat of a philosophical background, and he'd studied in Europe). And I lent him this...this book, and he kept it for a long time, and then he brought it back to me, and he had gone all through the book underlining various things and through that he became a Christian. And so whether it be John's preaching or his writing, he's so effective among students. But of course, he's more than that, he's a friend, and I thank God for him as a man who is so humble, and I think he's sort of afraid of being glorified, and this I think accounts for his unwillingness for anything to be written about him in biographical terms, and.... He's a man whose extremely disciplined in his own devotional spiritual life. And he's a man whom I felt I could go to for counsel, and.... John is ten years younger than I am, but I look up to him as a brother who has been...he's given me real encouragement, at the.... I remember when I was appointed president of the IFES, and I...my appointment came without my knowing about it, because a letter went astray and I was not even asked if I would allow my name to be put forward, and I wasn't able to be at the conference. And after the conference I re...suddenly received word that I was the new president of IFES, and.... After...little time after that I went through a time of considerable depression, and I felt very...very much concerned as to having taking on this position. Could I live up to it? And if I should fail my Lord, what would this do for the glory of His name and for the...for IFES? And I remember going and talking to John at a...I was speaking at a conference in England, And...I...we had a long talk together, and I shared with him some of my fears and doubts, and that was a very...very helpful talk that I'd had with him. And he's always been someone that...(I don't see him very often, but whenever I do see him), I feel encouraged in our fellowship together.