Tuesday Testimonial: Tim Keller

Timothy James Keller was an American Presbyterian pastor, Reformed theologian, and Christian apologist. He was the chairman and co-founder of Redeemer City to City, which trains pastors for service around the world. Keller was also the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and the author of The New York Times bestselling books The Prodigal God (2008), Prayer (2014), and The Reason for God (2008). The prequel for the latter is Making Sense of God (2016).

Keller was ordained by the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). He served as a pastor at West Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Hopewell, Virginia, for nine years while also serving as director of church planting for the PCA. Keller was recruited by his denomination to start Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan in 1989 after two others had turned down the position. Redeemer Presbyterian Church grew from 50 people to a total attendance of over 5,000 people each Sunday as of 2008, leading some to call Keller "the most successful Christian evangelist in the city". In 2004, Christianity Today praised Redeemer as "one of Manhattan's most vital congregations".

The church's emphasis on young urban professionals, whom Keller believed exhibit disproportionate influence over the culture and its ideas, has given the church an unusual makeup for a US megachurch. The majority of the congregation is made up of single adults; it is also over forty percent Asian-American, and has many congregants working in the arts and financial services. In his preaching, "he hardly shrinks from difficult Christian truths, but he sounded different from many of the shrill evangelical voices in the public sphere." Keller often critiqued both the Republican and Democrat political parties and avoided taking public stances on political issues, resulting in a politically centrist church.

Listen as Dr. Tim Keller explores questions around faith and proof: How do we decide what to believe? How do faith and reason relate? Can you believe something that you can’t prove?