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Loving the City: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City
Even if you don’t go to the city to minister, make no mistake—the city is coming to you. Regardless of your particular cultural or geographical context, you will need to consider the city when forming a theological vision that engages the people you are trying to reach. In Loving the City , bestselling author and pastor Timothy Keller looks at the biblical foundations for contextualizing the gospel as we communicate to the culture in a way that is both respectful and challenging. He articulates the key characteristics of a city vision, showing how the city develops as a theme throughout Scripture, from its anti-God origins, to its strategic importance for mission, to its culmination and redemption in glory. Finally, he examines the need for thoughtful cultural engagement, unpacking four models for engaging culture, showing the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and emphasizing a blended approach that balances the key insights of each. Loving the City will help you to minister to your cultural context in a way that is biblically faithful and fruitful. This new edition contains the second section of Center Church in an easy-to-read format with new reflections and additional essays from Timothy Keller and several other contributors.
336 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 2016
About the author
Timothy J. Keller
454 books5,882 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Timothy Keller was the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, which he started in 1989 with his wife, Kathy, and three young sons. For over twenty years he has led a diverse congregation of young professionals that has grown to a weekly attendance of over 5,000.
He was also Chairman of Redeemer City to City, which starts new churches in New York and other global cities, and publishes books and resources for faith in an urban culture. In over ten years they have helped to launch over 250 churches in 48 cities. More recently, Dr. Keller’s books, including the New York Times bestselling The Reason for God and The Prodigal God, have sold over 1 million copies and been translated into 15 languages.
Christianity Today has said, “Fifty years from now, if evangelical Christians are widely known for their love of cities, their commitment to mercy and justice, and their love of their neighbors, Tim Keller will be remembered as a pioneer of the new urban Christians.”
Dr. Keller was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and educated at Bucknell University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary. He previously served as the pastor of West Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Hopewell, Virginia, Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, and Director of Mercy Ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America.
Timothy Keller was the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, which he started in 1989 with his wife, Kathy, and three young sons. For over twenty years he has led a diverse congregation of young professionals that has grown to a weekly attendance of over 5,000.
He was also Chairman of Redeemer City to City, which starts new churches in New York and other global cities, and publishes books and resources for faith in an urban culture. In over ten years they have helped to launch over 250 churches in 48 cities. More recently, Dr. Keller’s books, including the New York Times bestselling The Reason for God and The Prodigal God, have sold over 1 million copies and been translated into 15 languages.
Christianity Today has said, “Fifty years from now, if evangelical Christians are widely known for their love of cities, their commitment to mercy and justice, and their love of their neighbors, Tim Keller will be remembered as a pioneer of the new urban Christians.”
Dr. Keller was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and educated at Bucknell University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary. He previously served as the pastor of West Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Hopewell, Virginia, Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, and Director of Mercy Ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
April 3, 2023
the good: contextualization, evangelism properly emphasized, asks for critiques of his writing and responds to it, right analysis of “the city” (specifically how cities are super important for reaching the nations)
the bad: overemphasis of “the city”, creates hype around things that aren’t important, Kellers responses to critiques were meh, writing often comes across as a ‘i know better than you’ tone as opposed to a pastoral tone
this book didn’t convince me to stay in iowa city for an update on what I initially thought would happen but it didn’t convince me of much lol
the bad: overemphasis of “the city”, creates hype around things that aren’t important, Kellers responses to critiques were meh, writing often comes across as a ‘i know better than you’ tone as opposed to a pastoral tone
this book didn’t convince me to stay in iowa city for an update on what I initially thought would happen but it didn’t convince me of much lol
February 24, 2021
This is an amazing book and a must read for all churches who are looking to reach their community and also understand tensions in the church when it comes to tensions and thoughts about the church and culture.
November 22, 2023
Incredibly insightful. Worth reading carefully. Really good book.
March 7, 2024
I listened to this book so does it even count? Really good chapters on gospel contextualization. Helpful for learning about sharing the gospel w people nowadays.
June 15, 2023
Really good book by Tim Keller that looks at the importance of the city in Christianity and how scripture and experience show that cities have a huge impact on the culture of a church and of a nation whether for better or for worse. He calls on Christians to reengage the city instead of retreating from it and to work to contextualize the gospel, much like a missionary does, to individual cities. Side note, this portion of the book helped me better make sense of the growing divisions in many conservative denominations. As cities and suburbs/rural areas grow more and more different, how our churches interact with the culture at large will begin to look more different leading to increasing mis-understanding between the disagreeing parties. Keller also goes into how church and culture interact and how this relationship often plays out practically. This book does a good job in presenting different views that exist in history and today on how Christians are to engage culture. In true Keller fashion, he does a good job of describing all the different views presented in a way that allows you, as the reader, to see yourself represented well. I especially liked how he noted that people do not neatly fall within the different models given, but that models are helpful for conversation and to help people refine what and why they believe something.
January 13, 2022
Maybe 2.5 stars, maybe 3.5 stars. Can't decide. I waver.
Keller is intelligent, but, it seems to me, stuck in his system. I was most frustrated by his response to Gabriel Salguero, who challenged his approach for prioritizing cultural elites.
Keller is intelligent, but, it seems to me, stuck in his system. I was most frustrated by his response to Gabriel Salguero, who challenged his approach for prioritizing cultural elites.
March 2, 2024
Man I love me some Keller. This book is helpful, broad, practical, and challenging. The largest critique I can come up with is the usual Keller critique, this book glorifies the middle ground. But I found it immediately practical in how I live, minister, and engage with the city I live in. I am thankful for men who think and write on issues that I know little about.
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March 22, 2024Helpful introduction to thinking about the relationship between Christ and culture. Appreciated his chart and explanation of the four main models. Will return to that section in the future.
[did not read chapters 5-8]
[did not read chapters 5-8]
January 16, 2022
really liked this book - gave me lots to reflect on and work towards!! there were a few sections that dragged on so if I read it again I'd probably pick and choose chapters
September 23, 2020
Keller breaks up this book into three sections: Gospel Contextualization, City Vision, and Cultural Engagement. I found the sections on Gospel Contextualization and Cultural Engagement most helpful. The chapters on City Vision I did not find as convincing but he did give me some things to think about.
Keller defines contextualization as "translating and adapting the communication and ministry of the gospel to a particular culture without compromising the essence and particulars of the gospel itself." He helped me see for the first time that that contextualization is something we are all partaking in whether intentionally or unintentionally. Keller's insights were extremely helpful in understanding the way my cultural context leads me toward misinterpreting and misapplying Scripture. Instead, he provides some helpful ways in which we may consider intentionally contextualizing the gospel in our particular cultural context while being keenly aware of ways in which we are unintentionally contextualizing, leading to unintended stumbling blocks for the gospel message.
Keller's best chapters were on cultural engagement. He improves on Niebuhr's Christ and Culture and provides a modern assessment of different models of the relationship between church and culture. He walks through the pros and cons of each model (Two Kingdoms, Counterculturalist, Transformationist, and Relevance) and makes a case for a hybrid approach that uses the best aspects of each model without the baggage that causes us so quickly to be prideful and arrogant of the camp that we most associate with. His approach to assessing these models in a biblical theological fashion through the major turning points of redemptive history (creation, fall, redemption, restoration) helped me understand the biblical themes each model is trying to guard. Definitely going to come back to Ch 9-12 if I study this topic in the future.
Keller defines contextualization as "translating and adapting the communication and ministry of the gospel to a particular culture without compromising the essence and particulars of the gospel itself." He helped me see for the first time that that contextualization is something we are all partaking in whether intentionally or unintentionally. Keller's insights were extremely helpful in understanding the way my cultural context leads me toward misinterpreting and misapplying Scripture. Instead, he provides some helpful ways in which we may consider intentionally contextualizing the gospel in our particular cultural context while being keenly aware of ways in which we are unintentionally contextualizing, leading to unintended stumbling blocks for the gospel message.
Keller's best chapters were on cultural engagement. He improves on Niebuhr's Christ and Culture and provides a modern assessment of different models of the relationship between church and culture. He walks through the pros and cons of each model (Two Kingdoms, Counterculturalist, Transformationist, and Relevance) and makes a case for a hybrid approach that uses the best aspects of each model without the baggage that causes us so quickly to be prideful and arrogant of the camp that we most associate with. His approach to assessing these models in a biblical theological fashion through the major turning points of redemptive history (creation, fall, redemption, restoration) helped me understand the biblical themes each model is trying to guard. Definitely going to come back to Ch 9-12 if I study this topic in the future.
September 21, 2019
It's hard for me to review this one. There were parts I thoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot from and there were parts where I needed to stop reading from frustration because Keller's view felt so narrow in its scope. So I'll review through the books three parts:
1. Contextualization: probably the most helpful section of the book as it speaks to how the gospel is heard and understood by people differently. Keller shares the ways that contextualization can be done faithfully and how this has been abused.
2. City as the Center of the Gospel: This section was the most frustrating for my rural heart. As cities are the greatest place of interaction and population, Keller argues that ministry should be city-focused. If we can reach the cities, he claims, we can reach the world. I want so much to agree, but I feel so discouraged in reading this because it reads "rural doesn't matter." I know that's not what Keller is going for here (clearly his book is meant for those within the city) but he is clear that he thinks city ministry is much more important in the grand scope than rural ministry.
3. Models to engage with culture: Maybe I've just been oversaturated in this area, but I don't find the transformationalist, relevant, counter-cultural, or 2K models helpful. And I think Keller is similar. He argues for a combination of all four, not sprouting off in their various directions, but rather focused on their respective "cores" for what each have in common (given his strong push for contextualization, this makes total sense).
All in all, a hard book for me to read. Maybe I'm just not as much of a Keller fan as others, and maybe my rural heart is influencing me a bit too much. Either way, this is one that does not (and cannot) have all the answers for ministry period, regardless of city or country, USA or abroad.
1. Contextualization: probably the most helpful section of the book as it speaks to how the gospel is heard and understood by people differently. Keller shares the ways that contextualization can be done faithfully and how this has been abused.
2. City as the Center of the Gospel: This section was the most frustrating for my rural heart. As cities are the greatest place of interaction and population, Keller argues that ministry should be city-focused. If we can reach the cities, he claims, we can reach the world. I want so much to agree, but I feel so discouraged in reading this because it reads "rural doesn't matter." I know that's not what Keller is going for here (clearly his book is meant for those within the city) but he is clear that he thinks city ministry is much more important in the grand scope than rural ministry.
3. Models to engage with culture: Maybe I've just been oversaturated in this area, but I don't find the transformationalist, relevant, counter-cultural, or 2K models helpful. And I think Keller is similar. He argues for a combination of all four, not sprouting off in their various directions, but rather focused on their respective "cores" for what each have in common (given his strong push for contextualization, this makes total sense).
All in all, a hard book for me to read. Maybe I'm just not as much of a Keller fan as others, and maybe my rural heart is influencing me a bit too much. Either way, this is one that does not (and cannot) have all the answers for ministry period, regardless of city or country, USA or abroad.
November 9, 2018
This book is clearly written for pastors and other church workers in urban settings, but contains valuable perspectives for laypeople living in cities who struggle with how to live in and relate to a world that we both love for its cultural richness and fear for its opposition to Christian values.
Keller wisely offers neither a theological treatise on culture and the city, nor a practical "how to" model for urban church planters to adopt in their own settings. Instead, he uses Scripture to outline what a gospel-centered theological vision of ministry means in our urbanizing world. He offers few prescriptive statements on what Christians and churches in cities should be like, but instead provides a Scriptural, balanced, and grounded reflection on Christ, culture, and cities that provides quite a lot of fodder for contemplation and discussion.
This one will remain on my shelf for periodic reference and a palate cleanser for when I'm tempted to become cynical about my church or city life.
Keller wisely offers neither a theological treatise on culture and the city, nor a practical "how to" model for urban church planters to adopt in their own settings. Instead, he uses Scripture to outline what a gospel-centered theological vision of ministry means in our urbanizing world. He offers few prescriptive statements on what Christians and churches in cities should be like, but instead provides a Scriptural, balanced, and grounded reflection on Christ, culture, and cities that provides quite a lot of fodder for contemplation and discussion.
This one will remain on my shelf for periodic reference and a palate cleanser for when I'm tempted to become cynical about my church or city life.
March 13, 2020
This book is broken down into three sections: 1. Why and how to contextualize the gospel to the culture of the community we serve; 2. A Biblical view of cities; 3. Four paradigm through which Christians engage with culture, their respective strengths and weaknesses, and how to navigate between them. I liked sections 1 and 3 a lot better than section 2. The ideas are interesting. A lot of my own questions about culture and contextualization are sorted out. I feel thankful and inspired.The author is very, very smart.
The book is pretty heavy on analytical thinking. Almost scholarly. So maybe not everyone's cup of tea.
The book is pretty heavy on analytical thinking. Almost scholarly. So maybe not everyone's cup of tea.
March 6, 2023
Really well written, Keller is an incredibly intelligent author. His insights were helpful and the responses and reflection chapters were probably some of the most helpful parts of the book. Specifically the last one relating cultural engagement models to the Imago Dei.
In one of his responses he disregarded the notion that pursuing the non cultural elites could have a great impact on the cultural. While I understand what he was trying to say, I would have liked to see more dialogue and conversation in this area.
In one of his responses he disregarded the notion that pursuing the non cultural elites could have a great impact on the cultural. While I understand what he was trying to say, I would have liked to see more dialogue and conversation in this area.
April 15, 2025
I found this second section of center church to be really insightful. I think some of the content in it is rehashed from the first book. But it’s not unwelcome.
For the most part, I was hoping for more of a read on how to love the city. And a lot of this book is sociology and how we’ve gotten to this cultural moment of cities as places of technological and ideological factories. Which is good, but I was hoping for a bit of the how to, and not just a bunch of models. Keller does address that in the later portions of the book though.
I’m excited to finish off the series with the last book!
For the most part, I was hoping for more of a read on how to love the city. And a lot of this book is sociology and how we’ve gotten to this cultural moment of cities as places of technological and ideological factories. Which is good, but I was hoping for a bit of the how to, and not just a bunch of models. Keller does address that in the later portions of the book though.
I’m excited to finish off the series with the last book!
June 9, 2018
What I really appreciate about Tim Keller is his humility. His words are gentle yet firm. He consideres *most* of the viewpoints from his Mega-Urban Church viewpoint. Which I appreciate. I particualry liked his perspective of minorities within the Evangelical Church. Now I understand why Redeemer Presbyterians Church (Keller's church) is diverse with diverse pastors (i.e: Abraham Cho).
Overall, it's a great book. I am excited to see what Madison, WI will look like.
Overall, it's a great book. I am excited to see what Madison, WI will look like.
January 19, 2025
The Jane Jacobs Tim Keller crossover I didn’t know I needed. If you’re a Christian, especially a suburban Christian, I’m literally begging you to read this book. Keller and his co-authors do an incredible job of outlining why (and how) we should love cities while not ignoring their problems. Be prepared for some detailed theological writing as this book seems more geared towards practitioners, but well worth the effort for us laypeople as well.
July 9, 2024
This provides decent insight into a Gospel-centered approach to culture, but it does emphasize urban ministry far more than any other type of ministry. I get that Keller’s ministry was urban, but the ideas presented would’ve been helpful if they were contextualized for other contexts as well as urban ministry.
Worth skimming, but it might take some work to see how beneficial it could be.
Worth skimming, but it might take some work to see how beneficial it could be.
March 28, 2022
This was a helpful read on not only doing ministry in cities, but more generally learning how to engage whatever context one finds themselves in. Keller calls ministers to humbly engage culture with the hopes of seeing Jesus be known, disciples grown, and the church flourish.
April 5, 2023
Maybe my favourite Keller book. A really helpful "yes, yet, so" perspective applied to every different way of engaging with the cultures of the world. If you like third-wayism, you'll love fifth-wayism.
May 14, 2018
Keller nails it! I now want to minister in a city!
September 4, 2018
A solid Tim Keller book.
September 29, 2019
Partially read. Very compelling read on the importance of city ministry.
January 31, 2024
Interesting work on how to contextualize the truth of God's word. Motivating towards a more urban ministry.
February 24, 2024
How to contextualize the gospel to our church culture. Four approaches - Two Kingdoms, Counterculture, Transformationist, Relevance
Read
April 17, 2024tough to get through after covering what was needed in VST
June 4, 2024
First book read for school, some things to think about, some things I really don’t agree with.
Anyways, will discuss in the classroom.
Anyways, will discuss in the classroom.
March 9, 2017
This is the same material from Center Church, just divided up into 3 more easy to handle books. The difference is that these include essays from other leaders written in response and sometimes critical of Keller's material, as well as Keller's response to those responses.
September 18, 2017
Fantastic read on holistic urban mission given from various perspectives. Rare to find a source like this that is not one size fits all.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews