Ministry in the New Global Culture of Major City-Centers

Redeemer.com ^ | 21st Century | Tim Keller

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N. Pierce: “Great metropolitan regions...not nation-states--are starting to emerge as the world’s most influential players.” Cities are growing in the ‘Third World’ at an enormous rate and are regenerating in the U.S. and Europe. In the U.S. even smaller cities have seen a renaissance of their downtown cores, as professionals, immigrants, international business leaders, empty-nest baby-boomers, artists, and the ‘young and hip’ move back in. The coming world ‘order' will be a global, multi-cultural, and urban order.

So globalized city-centers are the strategic ‘leading edge’ of world culture. So what are they like? Would we say that young city-center dwellers are ‘post-moderns’? That analysis is too simplistic.

The cultural reality in city-centers is that all the ‘world-views’—traditional, modern, post-modern, and post-post-modern exist in significant strength. We should not imagine that ‘post-modernism’ is a juggernaut that will take over. Global city-centers are complex ‘salad’ bowls’ of them all. Effective ministry must recognize that and not simplistically aim to only reach ‘post-moderns’ which will only be a slice of city-centers.

The traditional world-view will be especially present with first-generation immigrants who have made it professionally in the city-center and come to city-center churches.

The modern world-view will be especially present with Anglos, with middle aged people, and with those working more in business and science.

The post-modern world-view will be especially present with younger Anglos, and those in the arts (80% of which are Anglo.)

The post-post-modern world-view is seen in younger non-Anglos and in today’s teenagers.

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Tim Keller's Redeemer Presbyterian (PCA) is "one of Manhattan's most vital congregations," according to Christianity Today [12/04], started a Church Planting Center in 2001, and its phone has not stopped ringing since. He is committed to the church planting movement and 'entering the culture's stories and retelling them with the gospel'." Redeemer's vision is to spread the gospel, first through ourselves and then through the city by word, deed, and community; To bring about personal changes, social healing, and cultural renewal through a movement of churches and ministries that change New York City and through it, the world. Keller promotes a robust Reformed Christianity that has a vision that encompasses not only doctrinal statements, but also our piety, evangelistic outreach, and missions of mercy.

[achilles2000]

Clueless. I wish them much success...but sadly clueless.

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Keller leads one of the most influential churches in Manhattan and has been responsible for the planting of over 100 urban churches. He's also author of a book that made the New York Times bestselling list, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.

Keller's ministry has managed to accomplish a great deal in terms of reaching out to New York City "dwellers" in an intellectually and culturally compelling way without watering down the Gospel or abandoning core doctrinal truths.