COME April and Methodists will be given the rare privilege of listening to and interacting with Dr John Stott, the world-renowned English Founder and Honorary President of the London Institute for Christianity. The author of more than 40 books, including best-sellers Basic Christianity, The Cross of Christ and The Contemporary Christian, will be the guest speaker at the Combined Pastors' Retreat to be held at Sofitel Palm Resort in Johor from April 13-15, 2004. Then on April 17, he will deliver a talk at the sanctuary of Barker Road Methodist Church at 4 pm. All Methodists are invited. The talk will be preceded by Bishop Dr Robert Solomon's Lunch Fellowship for Lay Leaders and heads of Local Church Executive Committee to be held at Sophia Blackmore Hall, 6th floor, Methodist Centre. The events are organised by the Bishop's Office of The Methodist Church in Singapore. Dr Stott will kick off his series of three talks to the pastors in Johor on April 13 after dinner. His address will be on "Biblical preaching in the modern world". On April 14, he will speak on "An octogenarian reflects: Lessons from a long life", and on April 15, he will discuss the topic "Contemporary challenges to the church". There will be time for small group discussions.

THE SPEAKER   DR JOHN STOTT was ordained in 1945 and served at All Souls Church, London as Assistant Curate (1945-50), Rector (1950-75), and Rector Emeritus since 1975. He was appointed a Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II (1959-91) and an Extra Chaplain in 1991. Since 1970, he has been travelling extensively overseas, especially in the Third World, and mainly to speak at seminars for pastors and at student conferences. The Evangelical Literature Programme and the Langham Scholarship Programme - providing books and scholarships respectively for pastors and seminary students - were created as a result of his ministry experiences in the Third World.