Archive for the ‘Tim Keller’ Category

Posted on January 6, 2008 - by Stephen Murray

The Big Boys…According to Facebook

Who are the biggest ‘influencers’ in western Christianity today? Who are the real movers and shakers in the Christian public sphere? There’s only one guaranteed place to turn to for real answers when it comes to social influence: Facebook!

So here’s the top 10 Christian icons according to Facebook groups (…well the top 10 I could find, or chose to find anyway).

1. Rob Bell – Rob is the undisputed heavyweight of Christian Facebook leaders. His Nooma/Rob Bell group weighs in with 2775 members.

2. John Piper – The Pope of the Reformed tradition runs with a 1423 member group.

3. Donald Miller – Christian author of the moment Donald Miller weighs in with a group of 1203 members.

4. Mark Driscoll – The future Pope of the Reformed tradition ‘resurges’ into 4th spot with a group of 1059 members.

5. John MacArthur – Spreading Grace to You MacArthur rolls in at 5th with a group of 647 members.

6. Brian McLaren – Everyone is going to hell with Brian McLaren in this group of 624 members.

7. CJ Mahaney – If you’re Reformed and Charismatic then he’s your man! CJ whips out a group of 425 members.

8. Tim Keller – The missional maestro from New York racks up a group of 360 members.

9. Matt Chandler – The local ‘Village’ pastor steps up to the big league with a group of 264 members.

10. Benny Hinn – Through an absolute miracle Benny wiggles his way into the top 10 with a group of 215 members (although I couldn’t quite figure out if the group was an appreciation group or something he shouldn’t show to his family).

And there you have it – on the flawless authority of Facebook. (PS – let me about any other interesting ‘Christian Icon’ groups).

Posted on December 4, 2007 - by Stephen Murray

Return to Normal – Whatever that is?

Back to blogging after a few days off entertaining family here in Cape Town and fixing my car which is giving me the urge to be in heaven in the ‘paddy-whacks for Adam’ queue thanks to the ensuing entropy we experience and live with post-fall (and yes I know, if I was in the Garden I would have done the same…blah, blah, blah). Anyway, a lot has happened in the blogsphere since I’ve been away. Many of you commented on the gospel forum post which was great. I’ve received a ton of Facebook messages from friends suggesting that having Tim Keller comment on my blog is the pinnacle of blogging and so I should just give up now while I’m ahead. Sorry to disappoint, but I think I’m going to keep going and try not let the whole ‘celebrity Christian comment syndrome’ get to me (be humble! be humble! be humble!). And so here’s two links of interest that caught my eye as I scrolled through HUNDREDS of feeds flooding my feedreader this morning:

Anthony Bradley, one of the coolest reformed dudes around asks the question: Why aren’t reformed dudes cool like Rob Bell?

And…Jollyblogger is a contributor to a new book coming out about Christians and New Media. 

Posted on October 15, 2007 - by Anthony

Keller and the risks of being an Evangelical

Darryl over at DashHouse.com has put some notes together of Keller who recently spoke at the EMA in London.  Keller spoke on the risks of being an Evangelical in an age where the term has lost its meaning in so many ways.  Here are some excerpts:

• Evangelicalism used to occupy the middle ground between fundamentalism and liberalism. It was orthodox, pro-scholarship, and facing the world. Recently, evangelicalism has become more hostile and condemning of culture. A younger generation has given up on evangelicalism as a middle ground and are looking for a new consensus. This group goes by a number of names, such as post-evangelicals or the emerging church.
• A new gospel is being preached about the Kingdom of God and Jesus Christ overcoming the evil powers forces of injustice in the world. [Update: This version of the gospel rarely talks about personal sin and God's wrath.] The pendulum has swung the other way.
• To respond, evangelicals must understand and practice biblical repentance as a result of believing the gospel. This will allow evangelicals to admit their sins, even if they disagree with 80% of the criticisms from the post-evangelicals, and even if the remaining 20% is expressed poorly. To the degree that we understand the gospel, we will be able to freely admit our shortcomings as an evangelical movement.
• Don’t ever think that we can respond to legitimate criticisms of our practice by defending our doctrine. In defending our doctrines, we have not responded to the criticisms of our practices. Orthopraxy is part of orthodoxy.
• It is necessary to draw boundaries. What really matters is how we treat the people on the other side of those boundaries. People are watching. We’re going to win the younger leaders if we are the most gracious, kind, and the least self-righteous in controversy. The truth will ultimately lose if we hold the right doctrines, but do so with nasty attitudes and a lack of love.
• We need to approach the controversies with a repentant heart corporately and say, “Despite all the bad things that are being said here, there’s a core of truth here and we need to deal with it.”

Amazing insights, if you want to be challenged as a thinking Christian get hold of Keller’s stuff where ever you can find it.  Sell you car if you need to.  Actually, you can download most of his stuff off other sites (Redeemer Presby) so don’t sell you car…that would be silly.

Posted on September 12, 2007 - by Stephen Murray

Eucatastrophe on the Blogroll

Dan Cruver writes a really great blog over at Eucatastrophe so I’ve decided to add him to the blogroll. He was kind enough to add my other blog ‘The Gospel Conversation‘ and so he definitely deserves a shout out – thanks Dan. I must mention that Dan’s a fan of Graeme Goldsworthy and so you budding biblical theologians should have plenty to chew on at his blog. He’s also a fan of Keller, Piper and O’Brien so there’s much overlap in interests with ‘…daylight‘. Go give him a look.

Posted on August 31, 2007 - by Stephen Murray

Slaves and Women at ‘Conn’-versation

There’s a great post over at ‘Conn’-versation which, in part, discusses William J. Webb’s book ‘Slaves, Women and Homosexuals‘. Webb’s book has been something of a controversial book in recent times due mainly to the new ground he attempts to break in the area of hermeneutics. It’s worthwhile to go over and check out both the post and the stream of comments discussing the ideas of the book – notably Tim Keller chips in with some food for thought on the issue. My opinion (albeit brief) is there amongst the comments too just in case you’re wondering.

Posted on August 4, 2007 - by Stephen Murray

Keller at his Best

The Resurgence have posted 4 articles by Tim Keller on the subject, ‘Ministry in the New Global Culture of Major City Centers‘. These four articles are bursting at the seams with serious reflection, insight and practical advice. If you minister in a major city anywhere in the world then you NEED to read these articles – Part I, Part II, Part III & Part IV

Posted on May 31, 2007 - by Stephen Murray

Keller, Preaching and Service Leading

“Worship and preaching in the “vernacular”. It is hard to overstate how ghetto-ized our preaching is. It is normal to make all kinds of statements that appear persuasive to us but are based upon all sorts of premises that the secular person does not hold. It is normal to make all sorts of references using terms and phrases that mean nothing outside or our Christian sub-group. So avoid unnecessary theological or evangelical sub-culture “jargon”, and explain carefully the basic theological concepts, such as confession of sin, praise, thanksgiving, and so on. In the preaching, showing continual willingness to address the questions that the unbelieving heart will ask. Speak respectfully and sympathetically to people who have difficulty with Christianity. As you write the sermon, imagine an particular skeptical non-Christian in the chair listening to you. Add the asides, the qualifiers, the extra explanations necessary. Listen to everything said in the worship service with the ears of someone who has doubts or troubles with belief.” Tim Keller – Evangelistic Worship

This is a reminder to me of just how much harder I need to be working on my sermons. I know how I cringe when I listen to guy who has totally ignored the above comment – it grates your ears as you think about the unchurched who might be sitting next to you. It’s not just the preaching but the whole service leading too.I find it so wonderfully refreshing when this is really taken into account and practiced in corporate meetings of the church. It makes the world of difference – in terms of breaking down unnecessary barriers to non-Christians hearing the gospel. At St. Stephen’s we try to make sure, as service leaders, that we’re keeping all of this in the back of our heads. In fact its only recently that I’ve realised just how crucial good service leading is – it means I have to work harder on preparing how I’ll lead the service rather than just rocking up on Sunday evening.

I suppose you also don’t want to make it too rigid where the onlooker gets the sense that everything is programmed. In a liturgical church like ours (albeit contemporary liturgy), this is a real danger. It’s not overcome-able though – I’ve seen plenty of guys, who I know have prepared their service from top to bottom in detail, and yet the way they lead it is relaxed, low-key and very relational. It really comes down to hard work on the part of the service leader.

Keller continues on the subject of clarity in services:

“Explain the service as you go along. Though there is danger of pastoral verbosity, learn to give 1 or 2 sentence, non-jargony explanations of each new part of the service. “When we confess our sins, we are not groveling in guilt, but dealing with our guilt. If you deny your sins you will never get free from them.” It is good to begin worship services as the Black church often does, with a “devotional”–a brief talk that explains the meaning of worship. This way you continually instruct newcomers in worship.”

Some people might question this as to whether it won’t all end up becoming a bit pedantic – and the Christians in the congregation start feeling like they’re being treated as children – and I think that’s a real concern. But once again , I think through hard work and careful preparation it can be avoided. Either way I think Keller’s words are crucial for us to stomach and think about our local churches.

Posted on May 28, 2007 - by Stephen Murray

Reformed Missional Conversation in South Africa

In the last 3 or four years a lot of my thinking has been captivated by ‘emerging’ culture and thinking through ministry in this ‘emerging’ culture. I only started reading emerging literature about a year and half ago (I did attend a seminar on emerging concepts about a year before that, but I must have been sleeping because I didn’t really make the connection). Only when I started reading McClaren, Miller, Driscoll and loads and loads of blogs did I realise that much of their ‘protest’ was where my thinking was and had already been for a few years.

Soon frustrations appeared as my conservative Reformed theology clashed with much in the emerging conversation. I found myself distancing myself, theologically, from certain streams within the Emerging Church and then beginning to wonder if there was any value to the conversation at all. At that point the likes of Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll and Steve McCoy came to my rescue – showing that Reformed theology could be completely compatible with an emerging outlook on ministry and life. I discovered the emerging watch-word that is ‘missional’ and realised that I was searching for ‘missional‘ all along in my thinking. As I read I became more and more excited about future possibilities of ministry.

At this point a further frustration struck – everything was going on in theory or (in my case) over the Atlantic in North America. So for the last few months I’ve been scratching my head as to how I might bring this whole conversation down to earth – here on the southern end of the beautiful continent of Africa. So here’s what I’m thinking:

I want to start a Reformed missional conversation here in South Africa. In about 3 weeks time I’m giving a talk to a number of ministers in Kwa-Zulu Natal on the subject of the Emerging Church. This is the perfect opportunity for us to begin that conversation – a conversation dedicated to Reformed distinctives that are thoroughly missional and really address the emerging culture – with an end to seeing this conversation earthed in our churches here in South Africa.

At this point I just want to get word out. By the time I give the talk I will hopefully have set up a blog where the conversation can continue and grow. Right now I want to try and gauge general interest out there – so firstly if you are interested in this sort of thing then let me know by posting a comment or dropping me an email – secondly, if you know of anyone who might be interested point them this way – and so I want to open comments on this post for your thoughts and suggestions. For those of you who are outside of South Africa – your contributions and experience will be greatly appreciated and welcome. Let me know what you think.

#Update (14/06): The new blog can be found at The Gospel Conversation

Posted on May 4, 2007 - by Stephen Murray

The Bible in an Emerging Africa

For over a year now I’ve read and taken part in the community blog Emergent Africa. I’ve enjoyed it greatly and really enjoyed getting to grips with the way young people in South Africa are attempting to ‘emerge’. However of late I’ve found myself becoming increasingly saddened and disappointed by the posts starting to surface there. Today’s post is one such example – and whilst I appreciate the honesty with which it is written, it is entering into a realm of theological (which is ironic since the conversation is supposed to be driven by orthopraxis not theology) deconstruction that is beginning to look radically different from historic orthodox Christianity.

I’m reminded of Tim Keller’s words in his paper on ‘Post-Everythings‘ addressed to his own PCA denomination (and really all in the historically reformed tradition), Dr. Keller said:

“I see people who are desperately trying to reach the post-everythings who in their desperation are trying to throw out essential elements such as the substitutionary atonement, forensic justification, imputed righteousness, the Sovereignty of God, or the inerrancy of Scripture. Many of them are probably over-adapting to the post-everything situation. But while they do not have our theological resources, often we do not have their level of engagement with the people of the emerging society.”

I see too much of this throwing out of essential elements and I cannot identify with it – it deeply grieves me and causes me much concern about the future of our church here in Southern Africa.

Go to Emergent Africa, read some of the posts, and make up your own mind.

Posted on April 13, 2007 - by Stephen Murray

Missional Influences

‘Missional’ is a tag I use a lot for many of my posts and it also characterizes the type of ministry that I wish to be involved with in the future. I suppose its pretty near the forefront of what I think about all day when I think about ministry. Today I stopped and reflected as to how things came to be this way in my thinking. Which influences shaped my missional thinking. So I’ve decided to list a few (in no particular order – some are more recent influences, others influenced me a while ago. I’ve particularly not included Scripture as an influence because pretty much all of these influences below have helped me to reflect thoughtfully on the Word of God):

• • My good friend Sam who is now a church planter and pastor in Pietermaritzburg.
  • The writings of Steve Timmis and Tim Chester – Sam and I read ‘The Gospel Centered Church‘ together when I was still quite a new Christian.
  • The writings and talks of Tim Keller – I think most would agree that Keller is the unofficial bishop of missionals in the reformed tradition.
  • My studies in Biblical Theology – thanks especially to the writings of Graeme Goldsworthy for helping me to see God’s unfolding plan for his Kingdom.
  • A group of gospel-centered pastors in Kwa-Zulu Natal who took me through a 2 year apprenticeship programme. Thanks Grant, Ray, David, Michael, Wayne and Duane.
  • Christ Church Glenwood (the church Grant and Ray pastor) in Durban – I’d never seen a church like this before with such an emphasis on local mission, especially with the students of UKZN.
  • St. Stephen’s, Claremont – my current church continues to inspire me as they continue to be missionaries for Jesus in the Cape Town community.
  • Bishop Frank Retief – the current presiding bishop of CESA. His commitment to the gospel and church planting over so many years is astounding.
  • Phillip Jensen and the Sydney Anglicans - I’ve never been to Sydney but I’ve read a lot of Jensen’s books and listened to his talks and they’ve left me wanting to help people to come to truly know Christ.
  • Short term spells of working in townships and low income areas in Cape Town – when you’re there on the ground with them you can’t but help becoming missional.
  • The great friendships I’ve built up and discussions I’ve had with my colleagues from Sub-Saharan Africa – thanks Asaf, Leo, Velile, Jean-Blaise, Pastor Pirai, your stories have encouraged me to use whatever gifting I have to be missional here in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • The wonderful self-sacrificial missionaries I met in Malawi last year – you redeemed the concept of ‘missionary’ for me.
  • The crew from U-Turn who work tirelessly with homeless folk everyday – you show that Jesus’ love is very practical.
  • Mark Driscoll – he makes me laugh and he loves Jesus and wants people to be in a right relationship with God.
  • Donald Miller – whether you like him or not ‘Blue Like Jazz‘ is brilliant – it helped me to treat people as human.
  • The Emerging conversation – I have a love/hate relationship with the EC, but the things I love in the EC I really do love.
  • The writings and talks of Don Carson – No one has helped me understand the gospel with more richness and fullness.
  • The Faculty of the Bible Institute of South Africa – you’ve taught me to love people.
  • My friends Mark and Anthony – you both often talk to me about ‘missional’ things. These times have been good, let’s pray that God will help us translate these conversations into faithful ministry on the ground.
  • The world of blogging – its been a lot of fun and I’ve learned stacks from taking part in it.
  • Emergent Africa – seeing your guys’ hearts on these issues has been a privilege.
  • My beautiful country – South Africa – she inspires me to see Jesus as her King.

What are your influences?