Tim Keller Is Not Your Pastor …

Posted by Scott McClellan on December 2nd, 2009 at 3:36 pm

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I hate to break it to you, but Tim Keller is not your pastor … unless, of course, you actually go to his church. At least, that’s what the church’s website implies.

Keller, as you probably know, is a well-respected author and the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. The growth of the church has often piqued the interest of the church world — 5,000 attendees anywhere outside the Bible Belt, especially in NYC, is nothing to sneeze at — but the rest of the world is taking note, too. Recently, Redeemer was the subject of a New York Magazine profile that gets right to the point of things: “Why are so many New Yorkers flocking to evangelical Christian preacher Tim Keller?” It’s as though the implied follow-up question is, “Shouldn’t they know better?”

Anyway, the article mentions that 25,000 people download Keller’s sermons every week, which prompted me to check out Redeemer’s website. On the sermons page, I came across an interesting bit of text:

Redeemer’s primary method of evangelism has always been through the planting of gospel-centered churches. The Free Sermon Resource is not intended as a “broadcast ministry” which would create “virtual” members listening from home, rather than getting involved in their local congregations. Instead, we hope that this will serve as a “resource” for the broader movement of the gospel in the world: both as an evangelistic tool to share with our inquiring friends, neighbors and co-workers, and as a way of sharing our core principles, or “DNA,” to assist in the planting and nurturing of gospel-centered churches around the world – many of them in places difficult to reach via traditional means. Please enjoy listening and sharing the good news!

In that paragraph there’s an interesting (although somewhat indirect) statement about Redeemer’s view of the Internet and the local church. Redeemer invites you to download some of Keller’s sermons, but they don’t invite you to consider yourself a “virtual” member of their church. While most churches offer some or all of their sermon content without instruction or qualification, Redeemer has lightly stamped their content with a “How Not To Use This …” statement. Personally, I find it thought-provoking, and whether or not you agree with Redeemer’s stance on “virtual” issues, you might consider if there any qualifying statements you should make as you distribute media content through your website or other channels.

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10 Responses to “Tim Keller Is Not Your Pastor …”

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Collide Magazine, nathanjohnson83. nathanjohnson83 said: Collide Magazine » Blog Archive » Tim Keller Is Not Your Pastor … http://bit.ly/8lSs2t [...]

posted at 3:46 pm on December 2nd, 2009 by Tweets that mention Collide Magazine » Blog Archive » Tim Keller Is Not Your Pastor … -- Topsy.com

They make a good point. As Christians, we're supposed to be reaching out to our communities and joining with other Christians in our area to serve, grow, and make disciples. When we get sucked into a virtual church we become Christians in a vacuum… and that doesn't work. Isolation kills faith. For a while, I was listening to sermons from Mark Driscoll in addition to attending Praxis Church in Phoenix. I found them really helpful as topical issues came up in my life and the lives of my friends, but I had to make a point of only listening for those reasons. My primary focus is the city God has put me in and the people he has placed me near. I think the folks at Redeemer Church understand this and are bringing it up in a pretty non-threatening way. Go ahead and listen, but be an active part of a church in your community.

posted at 10:00 pm on December 2nd, 2009 by Stephanie Horn

Why would Redeemer not just create an internet campus…An internet campus with 25,000 people! That's the missional thing to do isn't it?

posted at 11:00 pm on December 2nd, 2009 by matt

I don't think an internet campus is missional. There's no interaction between the members. They won't be able to do missional activities together if one member is in Maine and another is in California. There is no way to engage and be a part of your community if the members aren't even in the same vicinity.

posted at 11:28 pm on December 2nd, 2009 by Jason

Great commentary, Scott. I think you know what I think about "virtual churches." While I think they have some benefit, I think Redeemer's emphasis on church planting is far more important for our future as Christians. You can do some great things online, but there is more to be gained by embodying the gospel in local contexts.

I'd like to see big churches throwing huge dollars toward expanding their influence technologically do the same in sending missionaries and church planters into the world.

posted at 12:40 am on December 3rd, 2009 by Ben Simpson

Good for them. There's something important communally about connecting with people face-to-face.

posted at 4:32 pm on December 4th, 2009 by Jeff

If the church continues to think as you have suggested… We are in trouble.

Online communities provide more interaction now than in the history of mankind. Through sites like Facebook, Flickr, Blogs, etc. I am able to interact with other artists and clients across the globe. We all know that it allows us to reconnect with people from all different time periods of our lives – dating back to elementary school. This interaction is 7 days a week and the church is missing out if they don't embrace it.

There are tons of missional things that can be done online. Promise and I rallied are online friends together to raise a couple thousand dollars for a children's home in Kenya. John Acuff is building an orphanage in Vietnam and it's all from interaction with his online communities.

posted at 4:50 pm on December 4th, 2009 by Barton Damer

Barton,

If we continue to view the church in false dichotomies, we are in trouble.

The church in question isn't ignoring the existence of the internet. Rather it is embracing its power. It's just saying that there are limits to how much 'community' can be facilitated through online channels. I fully agree with that.

How is the online community going to help raise my daughter, or provide meals if we suddenly need it? Nearly everything online requires self-disclosure (and whatever doesn't is downright scary!). In my church life I am as I am, and I can't edit or protect myself nearly as much as my online persona. It's a much richer interaction, and a more immediate and demanding experience than participating through a screen, however wondrous that screen may be.

The internet can be leveraged for good, immense good. But it can't provide a surrogate for real human experience. As the church we should be the first to prophetically recognise that!

posted at 6:51 pm on December 5th, 2009 by brad

[...] (and they’re seeing approximately 25,000 downloads a week!), you aren’t a member unless you attend in person. Someone else was riffing on the idea of a new smartphone with an ad them struck him as [...]

posted at 1:52 pm on December 5th, 2009 by Is it Controversial to say this is Controversial? | Living Martyrs

Hey, your post is really interesting. It seems like a lot of churches are making statements about how technology isn't a substitute for becoming a true member of the church. For example, Mars Hill recently had to make a similar statement about their iPhone app. How do you think we should overcome this misinterpretation by the rest of the world and portray technology within the church correctly?

posted at 7:33 pm on December 8th, 2009 by Hillary Morris

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