Tom Houston was one of the most highly-gifted leaders of his generation. He led three movements of global reach, bringing a fine mind to analysis and strategy, and an unusual gift in preaching.
He was a great supporter of OCMS and spoke on several occasions often on the subject of governance on which he wrote extensively. This included his book of 2006 entitled “Public and private morality: reflections on King David for today’s leaders” in which he said:
“Almost every time we open our newspapers we are confronted by the downfall of someone in a prominent leadership position ….Where are we to look to find role models in leadership? A surprisingly relevant case study becomes evident if we go back 3,000 years to a total beginner, jolted in his teens on a pathway to leadership. He has to learn everything through hard knocks – there was no help from his family.”
In addition Regnum Books, the publishing house of OCMS published Tom Houston’s acclaimed ‘ ‘My Story with Governance’, in 2014 and it is available in e-book format.
Surprising relevant in church and world of today.
Tom Houston was born in 1928 in Scotland and studied at the University of Glasgow (1945-50) obtaining an MA in Classics.
From 1951-1954, he served as minister at Johnstone Baptist Church in Scotland, and then (1955-59) served as chaplain to a large children’s home in Bridge of Weir, preaching three times weekly to 500 deprived children and 150 Epileptic Patients and 250 staff. Here he ran youth activities, studying the backgrounds of all the deprived children with a view to character and career counselling.
In 1959 he was called to be the first pastor of Nairobi Baptist Church, the first multi racial church in Nairobi. By God’s grace through his ministry the congregation grew from 40 to 1500. He preached consecutively through one third of the Old Testament and two thirds of the New Testament. The church was financed locally without funds from abroad. In 1991 at the age of 63 he became pastor emeritus, returning to preach, consult and counsel younger staff and members.
In 1971 he joined the British and Foreign Bible Society as communications director, taking over as executive director in 1977. In 1976 managed the publication in the UK of the Good News Bible, which by 1984 had reached the largest UK Market share of Bibles. He was also responsible for edited Mission Praise (1984) which became widely-used.
In 1981 he became a board member of World Vision International and in 1983 became the first non-American president to head this large evangelical relief and development agency operating in 185 countries.
In 1989-1998, he was international director and later, minister at large, of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, creating and maintaining networks of communication and cooperation between evangelical churches and parachurch organizations across the international and denominational spectrum.
He was involved with the Federal Board of Mission Europe, through which he was instrumental in bringing five Billy Graham crusades to Great Britain and he also facilitated the work in the USSR as Blair Carlson, Director of Cape Town 2010 and longtime Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) staff writes:
“Mr. Graham sent me to Moscow to represent BGEA at the first Lausanne gathering in the former Soviet Union just months before the fall of the USSR in 1991. Tom was the Director and the catalyst for this gathering. I was most impressed that so many, if not all, of the former republics of the Soviet Union were represented. The spirit of the conference was one of praise and worship. Tom’s leadership set the tone. It gave hope and encouragement for the furthering of the gospel in a political environment that had for so long tried to curtail it.”
Tom was joint author with Billy Graham and others on Evangelism: Strategy for the 80’s. He was also author of a number of other books including Characters around the Cross. Characters around the Cradle, and Characters around the Church and in My Story with Governance. He wrote of how the Bible speaks of ‘role’, not ‘rank’, .He had no sense of self-importance in the roles he held, always pressing his gifts into service, for God’s glory.
He once outlined his ambition in life in the following way:
“Starting from the Bible, I aim to help churches and Christian Organizations in any country I can access, so to preach and live the Good News of Jesus Christ, that the quality of life of the nation is materially improved and in its culture approximates more closely to the Kingdom of God’.
He looked after his wife Hazel for several years until her death in 2009 saying at the time “This is my ministry now”. He is survived by two children Moira and Findlay and two grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Obituary written by David Cranston and Julia Cameron
