Rev Dr John Stott concluded his final public engagement at the Keswick Convention last night, asking, "What is God's purpose for his people?"

As the world says goodbye to one of the most celebrated evangelists of the modern era, Dr Stott told the crowd: "I want to share with you where my mind has come to rest as I approach the end of my pilgrimage on earth. God wants His people to become like Christ. Christ-likeness is the will of God for the people of God."

Giving his last major address before retiring from public ministry, veteran preacher and Queen's Chaplain Dr John Stott electrified his audience and was greeted with a standing ovation.

Building his sermon on three texts, Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 3:18 and 1 John 3:2, Dr Stott affirmed that "if we claim to be a Christian, we must be Christ-like".

He went on to stress that the five main examples in the New Testament of how Christians should seek to imitate Christ: "We are to be like Christ in his Incarnation," he said. "It was unique, in the sense that the Son of God took our humanity to himself in Jesus of Nazareth, but the amazing grace of God in the Incarnation of Christ is to be followed by all of us. We are to be like Christ in his Incarnation in the amazing self-humbling which lies behind the Incarnation."

Dr Stott is revered the world over for his life of ministry. The world famous evangelist Rev Billy Graham testified him as "the most respected clergyman in the world today".

Now 87 and increasingly fragile, Dr Stott's frailty vanished as he started to preach for the final time publicly.

He warned his audience that being Christ-like in "patient endurance...may well become increasingly relevant as persecution increases in many cultures".