Timothy Keller: Centre Church

Timothy Keller's book Centre Church presents the reformed evangelical tradition's understanding and approach to church ministry through a series of concepts surrounding various polemics. His basic premise is that church ministry should be understood as a balance between two ends of a polemic, of which he lists three primary polemics which divide the book into three sections.

The first polemic is situated around issues of doctrine. In this section, Keller attempts to define what the gospel is. He explains that the two sides of this polemic are between legalism and relativism and that if pastors are not carefully attuned to how they are portraying the gospel, they can easily get caught in the pitfalls presented by both sides. It is important for us to recognize that the Gospel is not everything in Scripture, but that the Gospel affects everything involved in creation.

In the second polemic Keller posits surrounds the concerns of how the gospel is portrayed. In this polemic, the balance is struck between the extremes of under and over appreciation of culture. The pastor should be conscious of the various significant aspects that require sensitivity when applying the gospel to the cultural context in which the pastor finds him/herself. An oversensitivity might lead the pastor to drown out the gospel in favour of the cultural particularities, whereas and under sensitivity might lead the pastor to an ineffective presentation of the gospel. Both lead to an ineffective, or unfruitful ministry for various reasons. Throughout this section, Keller makes clear that while there are various 'models' of doing church and ways of understanding how church and culture work together, no model properly grasps an all encompassing structure by which the church should understand itself. Rather, all models fall short in some aspect, though they may be most useful in particular times and places, they are not right for all times and places

The third and final polemic presented to the reader surrounds issues of mission. I think what Keller is trying to present are issues of method as in, how should the church structure itself in order for the gospel to be proclaimed and contextualized? Keller uses the terms organization and organism to distinguish the polemic in this section and emphasizes the need for the church to balance itself between these two extremes. Too much clout afforded to the organization that is the institution of the church and the work of the Holy Spirit begins to be systematically drowned out. Whereas too much concern for the church being led and developed by the Holy Spirit and it will lack any form through which the Holy Spirit can work.

            Throughout the book Keller provides a number of helpful insights no doubt coming from his decades of experience working with both established churches and church plants. First off, it is often pointed to as a sure sign of his fruitful ministry, that we cannot overlook the fact that Keller has planted a church in the heart of one of the most ruthlessly anti-Christian atmospheres in North America, New York. This immediately tells me that this author has something important to tell us. Secondly, he certainly has a desire to draw attention to the hearts of the people who are coming to encounter Christ. I think that his emphasis on the idolatrous heart is good. Idolatry is good language for helping people understand the misplaced desires of their hearts.

            While Keller seems honest in his attempt to provide a framework for how the gospel should go out, there are a few elements of his work that I find either off putting or simply missing the point. First off, I think he misunderstands pietism. Throughout chapter 15 I found that as I read each paragraph, I could not help but think, ‘he is getting this wrong. This is not who we are.’ After I realized that he was misunderstanding this vein of Christianity that I would understand myself to be apart of, it was rather difficult to thoroughly believe what he was saying about other traditions and about his own. There is a possibility that he simply misunderstands, however, knowing his background and the circles that he is apart of makes me wonder if he is willingly trying to subvert my tradition.

            Secondly, I think that his understanding of the gospel is too limited. It is clear that he is coming from a specific tradition that understands the gospel through specific lenses. Keller’s error comes as he attempts to make his tradition’s specific perspective ‘The Gospel’. In essence he reveals one of the idols he holds being his own tradition. It would have been more appropriate to qualify his explanation of the Gospel stating that this is how the gospel works out in his tradition. In which case there is allowance to start a conversation about which is the best approach for understanding the gospel, but even that is a conversation to be having with the specific cultural context that he is in.

Thirdly, I think he is too specific about where the balance should be placed on any of his given polemics. He does not give enough credence to the cultural application or implications of the gospel. It seems as though he wants to say that this is how ministry should be done throughout all places and all times. And I think this is a misappropriation of his work.

In the end I think Keller’s work is moderately useful for a general framework and structure used for understanding ministry in specific locations, but I certainly do not think that everything he says should be used and applied in every situation. 

Keller, Timothy. Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012.