Keller's Missiology - Part 1

So where to from here? Well, we've worked out some of the reasons why we love Keller. Now we're going to look at his missiology to see how he does what he does. Now missiology is a nerdy word to describe the study of mission, looking at its methods and purposes. Simply, how does Keller go about telling people about Jesus?

Missiology can be broken down into three major concerns.

• The nature of mission - What do you think mission is?
  
• The goal of mission - What do you hope to achieve?
  
• The method of mission - How are you going to do it?

First, we'll look at the nature of mission according to Keller.

What is Redeemer? Redeemer is a very imperfect effort to be a missional church in New York City.
(Tim Keller, 'The "Missiology" of Redeemer', April 2001, in Keller & Thompson, Church Planter Manual, 223)

Here is where we need to read between the lines a bit. When Keller says that the church is missional he is saying that mission is not just something the church does. Mission is what the church is. The idea of the missional church flows from the preceding idea of missio Dei. This is the idea that God is the one on a mission and the church participates in God's mission. The church doesn't send people out to do mission but it, as a whole, is the sent one.

We can see this again as Keller says,

We want absolutely everything we do to be missional--engaged in showing the beauty of the gospel to the world around us.
(Tim Keller, 'The "Missiology" of Redeemer', April 2001, 223)

In sum, Keller believes that the nature of mission is the the mission of God (missio Dei) in which the church participates as it exists to present the good news of Jesus to the world.

Now I think that this is great. Keller and his church seek to 'show the beauty of the gospel' to the city through their words and their actions.