Focus on the city
I was struck by this report of Tim Keller's address to last week's Lausanne Congress in Cape Town. Keller, to me, is the most compelling of the US mega-pastors. He is an intelligent leader in a constituency where that is not universal (notice the report's rather daft reference to his "deep thinking"; so do certain evangelicals characterise someone who has an original thought in his head). He also has a deep commitment to social justice, which is a factor in his church's commitment to the urban community. It was on the subject of "the city" that Keller addressed the congress: Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan told attendees of Lausanne III that if Christians want human life to be shaped by Jesus Christ then churches need to go into cities. Cities are where churches can reach the next generation (young adults want to live in the city); reach more unreachable people (people are far more open to the Gospel in th...