Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

Tim Keller’s preaching and writing deeply shaped my approach to ministry. While I don’t agree with him on everything, his impact on the church—and on me—is undeniable. His life offers lessons that continue to shape us today. To that end, I want to highlight four takeaways from a recent biography about Keller.

Many in our church know that one of the biggest influences in my early pastoral life was the late Tim Keller. He was a famous preacher in Manhattan from 1989 to 2017. He died in May 2023 (interestingly, the same day as another pastor who had a huge influence on my ministry, Harry Reeder). Tim Keller preached the sermon, “Why Plant Churches?” which I listened to in the spring of 2006. That sermon set the course for my whole life. I dropped out of a PhD program in Math at the University of Washington, headed to seminary in St. Louis, and have now been at a church plant for the last 16 years.

There are no perfect leaders. My hope is that we would be a church that knows how to benefit broadly from the wisdom of the body of Christ.

Some in our church will know that in a recent sermon, I mentioned some ways that I disagreed with Tim Keller’s philosophy of ministry, particularly in how he discipled his church politically. Since his death, there has been a growing body of criticism of Keller in this area (with much of which I agree); and so, in that sermon I wanted to make a point to honor him as well. Overall, I believe we’ll find in heaven that Keller was a godly and productive Christian leader who defended inerrancy and orthodoxy in the church and inspired thousands of churches to be planted all over the world.

There are no perfect leaders. My hope is that we would be a church that knows how to benefit broadly from the wisdom of the body of Christ. Not uncritically, but humbly. That is part of what we mean when we say we believe in the “holy catholic church.” Particular churches tend to be strong in some areas, and weak in others. That is certainly true of our church. It was also true of Keller. So, while I understand some of the critiques about his ministry, I still believe there is a tremendous amount to learn from it. 

To that end, I want to highlight four takeaways from a recent biography about Keller. Pastor Matt gave this book to me for Christmas, and I found it a delight to read as it reminded me of the things I love about Keller, as well as some things about him that excited me about being a pastor. These four points are all aspects of Keller's life that I hope will continue to shape us as a church at CCB.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY ADULT LIFE

The season of Keller's life that was most intriguing to me was one that I probably knew the least about—his college years at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. During his time there in the early 1970s, there was a revival of sorts happening on campus, as well as on campuses around the country. The Jesus Movement had brought thousands of boomers to the Lord, many who were hungry to study the Bible and share their faith with unbelievers. Keller was involved in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, where he learned some of the basic biblical piety that would be the foundation of his ministry throughout his life. He also would discover early on the leadership gifts God had given to him. Clearly, God was already forming him in college toward the leader and pastor he would become in the years ahead.

Also during those early adult years, Keller became connected to the Ligonier Study Center in Pennsylvania, where he came to know R. C. Sproul. Sproul later became the most well-known Reformed theologian of the boomer generation. Sproul’s study center was inspired by the early study centers called L’Abri, founded by Francis Schaeffer, the most famous one being in the Swiss Alps where young skeptics would come to discuss theology. Sprouls’ study center later grew into the influential Ligonier Ministries, now based in Florida. In the early days of the study center, Sproul hosted what he called “gabfests,” which were basically long discussions in which students and young adults could ask Sproul questions about the Bible, theology, church history, or culture. These gatherings also had a meal and one-on-one mentorship. Some of Keller’s deepest thoughts about theology were formed through this ministry.

There is nothing that draws a person into a sermon better than when they feel that the preacher understands them and their questions and struggles. 

In my own life, college and my first years of marriage in my early 20s were years that deeply shaped the rest of my life. It seems that Western Washington University was also having a kind of revival in the late ‘90s when I first went there. Christians all around the state knew that if you wanted Christian community, you went to Western (very different from how it is now). In our first apartment, my wife and I hosted a weekly gathering called RC Night, where we would watch RC Sproul videos, discuss theology, and share a meal. I remember people telling us back then, “Oh, just wait, these beliefs that you are so passionate about now will get tempered when you are older and likely change.” Our experience has been just the opposite. Older godly people were giving us such solid truths in those early days, and we are amazed at how our deepest convictions about the Bible, theology, the church, and family have only deepened as we have grown into middle age.

Reading about how these “gabfests” impacted the Kellers inspired me to start our own “twenty-something suppers” for young people in their 20s to share a meal, fellowship, and have a discussion about theology. My hope is that our church would always see the young people God brings to us, believe they have a tremendous amount to offer, and intentionally invest in them so that their lives and marriages and families are built on the firm foundation of the wisdom of God’s word and the history of Reformed theology.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EVANGELISM AND REVIVAL

Another theme that came out in Keller’s life starting with his years at Bucknell was his passion for evangelism. He wanted to talk to anyone and everyone about the Bible and Jesus Christ. Keller was especially gifted at translating the truths of the Bible in a way that didn’t water them down, but made them understandable to his audience, Christian or not. When I first encountered Keller’s preaching, this is what attracted me so much to him.

The ability to make complex ideas simple first showed itself during Keller’s time as a student at Gordon Conwell seminary. After lectures on theology, students were often drawn to him to discuss what they’d just learned. Keller had a way of synthesizing ideas and then explaining why these ideas matter, how they touch on life and culture. His reputation for this started even before he was a pastor. 

One of the great paradoxes of the Christian church is it must simultaneously maintain its distance from the surrounding culture (resolute to not be conformed to the ways of the world), while also graciously welcoming the outside world to come to Christ and join our community.

This ability to talk about the deep truths of the Bible in a plain and accessible way is what made him such an effective evangelist. In fact, just this past summer I was in London, and I met a man who owned a restaurant in the city. Covid was an immensely stressful time for him, and so his wife told him to try listening to Keller’s sermons on his drives into the city. The man was not a believer, but the sermons led him to Christ, and he was now an active member of the church. Countless converts share a very similar story.

Anyone who has listened to Keller’s preaching knows there is a particular sensitivity to the doubter or skeptic who might be present in a service. He will always “steelman” opposing arguments, saying “Now you might be thinking…” and then go on to explain the opposing views more articulately than the opponents themselves could have said it. There is nothing that draws a person into a sermon better than when they feel that the preacher understands them and their questions and struggles. 

I have always believed that by addressing the doubts and questions of skeptics in sermons, there is the added benefit of serving the believers there as well. Many of them have these same questions (so it builds up their faith), but it also provides an example of how to answer the questions they might hear from their friends.

It should be our expectation (and hope) as a church that there are always non-Christians present. If we meet someone new, we shouldn’t expect that they are Reformed Presbyterians. We should assume this is the first time they’ve walked into the doors of a church and have no idea what to expect. One of the great paradoxes of the Christian church is it must simultaneously maintain its distance from the surrounding culture (resolute to not be conformed to the ways of the world), while also graciously welcoming the outside world to come to Christ and join our community. 

I believe our church does this, and Keller’s biography was an encouragement to never lose that paradox of our community.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT AND CITIES

Tim Keller became well known as a preacher and pastor largely because he planted a successful church in Manhattan. In the sermon that God used to call me to be a pastor, Keller explained that in the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul went to Athens (the intellectual center of the Roman world), Corinth (the commercial center), Ephesus (the religious center), and Rome (the power center). He did not go to the countryside. He went to the main cities.

That is why Keller went to New York. There is no city that influences the cultures of the world more deeply than New York. As Hansen describes the early years of Redeemer:

Keller wasn’t focused on recruiting evangelicals already in the city. He wanted to re-create L’Abri as a local church for a strikingly secular city. At Redeemer, Christians were encouraged to bring their non-Christian friends. He met with these friends during the week to learn their objections, and then he incorporated those objections into his sermons the next week…One common conversation starter was, ‘Is all well with your soul?’ (p. 194)

Keller was known as a neo-Calvinist or Kuyperian (Abraham Kuyper was a theologian who became the Dutch Prime Minister in the early 20th century). These strains of the Reformed Christian world (which our church is a part of) emphasize that God’s redemption applies to his whole creation, not just to individual human souls. Therefore, the gospel has implications—not just for how your soul gets to heaven when you die, but also for everything in human society including the arts, institutions, politics, and work.

The church should not isolate itself from the culture, but be God’s primary agent for transformation from within the culture.

With this belief in mind, Keller regularly included cultural references into his preaching. He wanted to show how the “gospel changes everything” (a very neo-Calvinist phrase). He talked about movies and the arts and philosophy and psychology. The gospel touches and shapes everything about human life and society. 

At the time of writing this article, our church is waiting to hear back on an offer we have put on a building in downtown Bellingham. Reading Keller’s biography reminded me of the original vision of our church when we were planted, a vision to be in the heart of the cultural life of Bellingham and near Western Washington University. The church should not isolate itself from the culture, but be God’s primary agent for transformation from within the culture. The city of God is mixed into the city of Man, there to be a counter-culture from within. That counter culture touches every aspect of human life—from work to family to sexuality to education to politics. We are a church that wants to see “every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).

Now in the years following Redeemer’s success, many young church planters have gone into cities to follow in his footsteps, generally not experiencing the same fruit Keller’s ministry did. Keller’s wife Kathy was a tremendous partner and helper to Keller throughout his ministry. At one point in reflecting on the success of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, she said, “You want to know how to plant a successful church? Find out where God is beginning a revival, and move there the month before.” The Kellers understood that cultural transformation cannot happen unless individuals are converted to Christ. You cannot put a new social or political system on top of a people whose hearts have not been changed by the gospel. Therefore, revival is essential to reformation and cultural renewal. 

Because of this emphasis on revival in the book, I made a new prayer card in my prayer card stack that reads, “Revival in Bellingham.” It is my prayer that the Holy Spirit would be poured out on the city of Bellingham, that many would see the beauty of who Jesus is, turn from their sin, and come to worship the living God. I invite our church to join me in this prayer.

One last component of Keller’s approach to God’s mission was that he was not only an intellectual, but he was very committed to works of mercy as well. His first two books were on diaconal ministry and organizing a church to care well for the poor. He saw in Jesus a combination of care for the physically broken, with a willingness to speak the truth. From the start they built institutional structures to care for people inside and outside of the community. Revival always brings together this combination of truth and love.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GOSPEL

Possibly the thing for which Keller was most beloved was his persistent preaching of the gospel of grace every time he stood in the pulpit. Keller had deeply internalized the truth from Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation.” The gospel is a power. It is, in fact, the only power that can rescue people from the bonds of sin and destruction in their lives. That’s not just true for non-Christians, but also for Christians who are seeking transformation and freedom from sin. Christians need to hear over and over again who they are in Christ.

His best-selling book (The Prodigal God) is an exposition of Jesus’ parable in Luke 15. Keller constantly preached against works-righteousness, and believed that the true source of joy in the Christian life is to know we are all prodigals, and that Jesus is the true elder brother who welcomes us with joy when we come home to the father. As Keller put it, “Because it just so happens that nobody ever comes home from the pigpen who hasn’t had the arm of the elder brother around his shoulder” (p. 141). He goes on to say,

There is no more perfect and no more wonderful story that gives us the whole meaning of the gospel than this…If there is not dance, if there is no music, if there is no joy in your life it’s because, either like the prodigal you’re letting your badness get in the way of God, or like the Pharisee you’re letting your goodness get in the way. You’re trying to control him one way or the other. I don’t care how religious you are. If there’s no joy and there’s no dance, you still don’t get it. (p. 143)

If we want to be a church with joy and dancing, we must never let go of the wonderful grace of God he gives freely to us in his beloved Son Jesus. May that grace continue to be the power that drives all that we do.