Why I'm Thankful For Tim Keller
A new biography helps us appreciate God's work through the New York pastor
Paul, in most of his letters, often took time to express his gratitude for his fellow brothers and sisters. To the church in Phillippi, he said, “I thank God every time I remember you (Phillippians 1:3).”
To the church at Thessalonica, he urged, “Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13).”
Today we so often see headlines of Christian leaders failing and falling, whether abusing their power or straying from Christian orthodoxy. Christian pastors and leaders should be held accountable. But there is also a place for honoring imperfect, but, godly men and women who fulfill their calling. Today I want to express thanks for the ministry of Tim Keller.
I just finished reading Collin Hansen’s excellent book, Timothy Keller, His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation. It’s not quite a full biography, but a summation of his early influences, his calling to pastor in New York City, and his influence on the church. I encourage folks to read it, to get insights into pastoral ministry, to listen to Keller’s passion for spiritual revival, and to be convicted by Keller’s love for the local church, the Scriptures, and for evangelism.
What struck me about Keller’s career and calling is his willingness to go and be sent to New York, despite his misgivings. Recruited by the PCA to help plant a church in America’s least evangelized city, he tried for a year to find someone willing to do it. This was before many of the excellent church-planting networks and resources existed. Nobody went, so Tim and Kathy said, “We will go” and packed up their young family and moved to Manhattan.
And he went, not with the traditional church growth models of the late eighties and early nineties. Instead, Keller went to a city with barely a percentage of evangelical Christians and preached hour-long expository sermons, Reformed theology, and biblical sexual ethics. He was as counter-cultural as you could get. And yet God blessed Keller’s faithfulness with slow, but steady growth. Like a true missionary, Keller read everything he could about the city, connecting the hunger and longings of a secular city to the living water of the gospel, using real-world illustrations that drew people into the Scriptures. Hansen’s book chronicles the hard and difficult seasons of ministry in New York. It was not easy, especially during and after 9/11, when Redeemer helped heal a hurting city.
There is a lot to critique in Tim Keller’s models of ministry and many have. Some specific ways of ministry in Manhattan, New York may not work elsewhere. We shouldn’t deify our leaders, even the good ones. We shouldn’t be unwilling to recognize flaws. But what we should admire is Tim’s obedience to the call of God to go and preach the gospel in New York City. We should admire his faithfulness to his marriage, to the gospel, and to the Scriptures in a time of rampant leadership failure.
I first heard Tim preach at the 2011 Gospel Coalition Conference, a Christ-centered message through Exodus. It was really the first I had heard of this kind of Christ-centered preaching and biblical theology that sees the Scriptures as one, unified whole. His book, A Reason for God gave me a new and confident way to share the gospel with those who have hard and seemingly unanswerable objections. I’ve handed that book to several people who struggled with belief and have seen them come to saving faith in Christ. And his willingness to not flinch from hard, counter-cultural truths on things like marriage with compassion and wisdom has been an inspiration to me.
A few years ago I was on a trip to New York City to visit with some friends in the media and I realized I had a Wednesday night free. So I looked up Redeemer Presbyterian Church and decided to check it out for myself. Believe it or not, Keller was not only there but was preaching a sermon on biblical, sexual ethics. In New York City.
There are areas with which I disagree with Keller, of course. As a convictional Baptist, I think he’s wrong on baptism. But I’ve learned a lot from him, by watching, reading, and listening from afar. I’m thankful for this brother’s faithfulness to Christ in a hard and difficult place to do ministry, a place where church planters often struggle. And I’m especially thankful for the many brothers and sisters I will one day see in Heaven whom the Holy Spirit brought to faith through the gospel work of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, The Gospel Coalition, and the many books, sermons, and articles.
The Bible tells us that godly, faithful leaders are a gift to the church. And so I’m thankful for Tim Keller.