Why we love Keller - Part 1

Ok, so why do we love Keller? I have two main reasons, but like I said, there are probably heaps more.

The first reason why I think we love him is because he knows how to tell people about Jesus. Seems pretty simple but it ain't as simple as we'd like to think, that's why we like him.

The scientists tell me that climate change is real and it's happening, in the Christian world, climate change happened a while ago. Hauerwas reckon that change occurred on a Sunday night in 1963 when a local picture theatre dared to open on a Sunday night. Whether it was then or sometime about then, Christianity was getting voted off the island.


Until then, Christianity had lived the good life for many years. Almost everyone was a Christian of some sort or other. Clergy were respected the church was a powerful social force in society. Being a Christian meant that your opinion mattered, rather than being automatically irrelevant. All of this was changing. It was the beginning of the end of Christendom. Christianity had lost its pride place at the table of Western culture.

'The world can no longer be divided into “Christian” and “non-Christian” territories separated by oceans.' (Bosch, Transforming Missions, 3)

Like a frog in slowly boiling water, Christians were slow (and some still haven't) to realise the danger.

Keller is a guy who seems to have got it. He's a guy who seems to have seen the shift and has worked out how to do church in a post-Christian world. Keller knows how to tell post-Christian and post-Modern people about Jesus. And that is one reason why we like him.

You can hear it in his preaching. You can see it in his church planting. He seems to be on to something, and we all (for very good reason) want a piece of the action.

Why do we love Keller? He knows how to tell people about Jesus.

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Picture from Fox Theatre St Louis.

Why pick Keller?

In case you’ve been living in a cave, Keller is way cool right now. Look at him, he's one of those people that is so smart his brain takes all the juice and leaves none for growing hair. And lots of the ideas flowing from his big brain are getting traction and plenty of airtime. A friend thinks he’s the Driscoll for the anyone old than 25. I've heard of 50 year old blokes going on pilgrimage to NYC to hear Keller preach. People can’t get enough of the TK, or Ghostface as the call him in Tas.

As I worked on my project, a question I got all the time was, 'Why pick on Tim? I mean, we love him so much! He has done such great stuff. Even if I have to buy his sermons, he’s still a rockin preacher! Keller’s a good guy, isn’t he?'

This question frustrated me a little. Surely if we rate someone so highly we ought to think a little bit about what they are on about, no matter who they are. Friend or foe. If they have something new or novel, surely we gotta ask the question, ‘Is that right?’

And that’s what my project was about. An attempt at asking a mate who has an interesting idea about the best way to do things, ‘Is that right?’

Now Keller is a good guy. I’m a fan and over this year I have grown in my respect and appreciation for him. But we still gotta ask the question, ‘Is his priority to the city right?’

But before we ask that question, I reckon it's worth working out why we love Keller so much. I had two ideas but there are probably a whole lot more.

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Picture from Redeemer City to City.

Why write a blog? Why write this blog?

Far from thinking that I have something profound to say, I have had a chance to read, think and write at great length about Tim Keller's priority to the city. I recently (today) submitted my 15,000 word project (thesis) as part of my final year at Moore Theological College. I chose, for some reason, to evaluate Tim Keller's priority to the city. (The nerdy title was: An Evaluation of Dr Timothy J. Keller's Missiological Priority to the City.)

My hope is to share some of the things that I have learnt over the summer with the hope that some of it might be remotely helpful to someone somewhere.

I hope we all enjoy the ride!