History

The Langham Partnership International is now a network of three integrated programmes and five supporting national member movements. But its history is more diverse and goes back more than thirty years.

The ministry began with John Stott in the U.K.
In 1969 John Stott founded the Langham Trust to fund scholarships for young evangelical leaders from the Majority World. Recipients would study at British universities, working toward doctorates in biblical and theological fields and then returning to teach in seminaries in their home countries. The name was taken from All Souls Church, Langham Place, London—the church where John Stott was rector (senior pastor) at the time. Those who received scholarship funding from the Trust became known as Langham Scholars, a worldwide family that has now grown to well over 120. The programme is now known simply as Langham Scholars.

In 1971 John Stott founded the Evangelical Literature Trust, into which he assigned all the royalties from his extensive writings in order to provide books for students, pastors and theological libraries in the Majority World. Royalties from John Stott’s books still form a substantial portion of the funds deployed by Langham Literature (as the Evangelical Literature Trust is now known).
These two trusts continued as independent charities in the U.K. for many years with separate boards and administrators. In 2001, the Evangelical Literature Trust and the Langham Trust were joined as a single charity: the Langham Partnership in the U.K. and Ireland. LP(UKI) has now absorbed and replaced ELT and LT.

The ministry has grown internationally
Friends of John Stott in other countries wished to support these strategic ministries. In the United States, a group of friends launched the Langham Foundation in 1974, which later took upon itself the name of John Stott Ministries (JSM). Similar groups were started in Canada and Australia. All of them provided funds for literature (ELT) and scholarships (Langham Trust).
In the United States, JSM merged with the Foundation for Advanced Christian Training (FACT) to support a number of doctoral scholars from the Majority World in American and Canadian seminaries. In 2002 another group of Stott’s friends in East Asia, which included some former Langham Scholars, formed and registered the Langham Foundation there for the same purpose. In the same year, a third LPI programme was added to Scholars and Literature, namely Langham Preaching.

An international partnership has formed
In 2001 the national organizations in the U.K., United States, Canada and Australia decided to work together as a network with a common statement of faith, vision and mission, and so the Langham Partnership International was formed. Chris Wright was appointed as International Ministries Director to provide coordination for the national bodies and for the programmes, and to take over leadership of the overall ministry from John Stott.

In 2003, the five national organizations (now joined by East Asia), signed a protocol that defines their common purpose and convictions, and commits them to working together in delivering the three programmes. Each national member of LPI remains an autonomous charity in its own country, but by working closely together in the Langham Partnership International, they strive to fulfill the original vision and longing of John Stott to see churches in the Majority World served by godly pastors who are well trained and well resourced, and who know how to preach the Bible faithfully and relevantly in their own context.