My Response to Tim Keller’s Cape Town 2010 Paper 2

Being one of the bloggers with Cape Town 2010 Blogger Network, I wanted to offer some feedback to Tim Keller’s recent paper, “What is God’s Global Urban Mission,” posted at Lausanne.org, as an advance paper for Cape Town 2010.

I have been very thankful for Keller and his commitment to solid biblical teaching, urban environments, and church planting. I heard him speak in Atlanta a few years ago to a group of missionaries; and he did a wonderful job challenging us in our endeavors.

There is very little in Keller’s excellent paper that I disagree with. He says many of the things he has been saying and writing about for years. While I do not wish to summarize the paper here, I’ll try to add some commentary to some of the points that struck my attention on my initial read.  I want to encourage you to read the paper, before reading the rest of my post.  GET PAPER HERE. 

First, Keller does an excellent job reminding us of the fact that, as followers of Jesus, we are to live as salt and light in the world not only by calling people to repentance and faith, but also by improving our cities. While he makes the argument to work for the prosperity of the city from Jeremiah’s words to Israel, he puts a new twist on it, one that I’ve not heard articulated by others.

After referencing Jeremiah, Keller jumps to 1 Peter and his letter to dispersed believers. By juxtaposing these Old Testament and New Testament passages, Keller makes a stronger argument for why the Church should seek the welfare of the city. For example, he writes:

“The values of an earthly city contrast sharply with those of the city of God, yet citizens of the city of God must be the very best citizens of their earthly cities. God calls the Jewish exiles to serve the common good of the pagan city. He also has a very practical goal: serving the good of the pagan city is the best possible way for the people of God to thrive and flourish—’if it prospers, you too will prosper’ (Jer. 29:7). God is still concerned with his plan of salvation, the establishment of his people—and that is exactly what happened. Because the Jews moved in and sought the peace of the great pagan city, they accumulated the influence and leverage needed to eventually return and restore their homeland.

Continuing on, he directs our attention to Peter’s words:

“Is there any reason to believe that the model for Israel in Babylon should serve as the model for the church? Yes. In exile, Israel no longer existed in the form of a nation-state with its own government and laws. Instead it existed as an international community and counterculture within other nations. This is also now the form of the church, as Peter and James acknowledge when addressing believers as ‘the dispersion’ (James 1:1) and ‘exiles’ (1 Peter 1:1). Twice Peter uses parapidemois as a word for exiles—’resident aliens’—people who live in a country neither as natives nor as tourists passing through. Peter calls Christians to live in the midst of pagan society in such a way that others see their ‘good deeds and glorify God’ but warns them to expect persecution, nonetheless (1 Peter 2:11–12). The echoes of Jeremiah 29 are evident. Like the Jewish exiles, Christian exiles are to engage in their cities, serving the common good rather than conquering or ignoring them. They should expect that the society around them will be both hostile and attracted by believers’ lives and service in the city. Peter indicates that believers’ good deeds will lead at least some pagans to glorify God.”

While some writers cite Jeremiah and then tell the Church to do likewise, Keller’s use of the New Testament lends more credibility to this model being for the Church today.

Another good point is where he writes, “If the gospel is unfolded at the urban center, you reach the region and the society.” While this statement does not offer us any new information, it is, once again, a great reminder of the strategic significance of the cities for global evangelization. If more of us truly believed the potential in this reality, we would see radically different missionary paradigms being used today.

In light of this strategic significance, Keller makes another good point:

“The coming world order will be a global, multicultural, urban order. World cities are increasingly crucial in setting the course of culture and life as a whole, even in areas of the world, such as Europe and North America, where cites are not literally growing in size.”

While we have known this fact for some time, I would dare ask, “How many of us are leading our churches, seminaries, colleges, mission agencies, etc. with this reality guiding our strategies?” My guess is that very few of us are doing so. Therefore, until we begin to respond to the contemporary realities, I hope that Keller continues to be redundant with these matters.

One comment I would add here is that Keller did not mention that most of the largest cities in the world (and fastest growing-a point he did allude to) are outside of the traditionally western countries.  While cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, London, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Sydney, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver (and a host of others) will remain influential for many years to come (and strategic for missions), we in the West must recognize that the day of size is over for western cities when making global comparisons.

When discussing why cities are significant to world missions, Keller writes:

“There is a second reason that world cities are so important to the Christian mission. The millions of newcomers in burgeoning cities have characteristics that make them far more open to the Christian faith than they were before arriving.”

Now, while this matter is true regarding receptivity (and a matter on which the Church should strategize accordingly), the opposite is also true: Some people who were nominal in their faith traditions in their homelands, become more devout to those traditions when they migrate to a new land.

Finally, I greatly appreciate Keller’s comments on the need to do a better job equipping Kingdom Citizens for life in the secular world.  He makes a great point here:

“Second, traditional evangelical ministries tend to give believers relatively little help in understanding how they can maintain their Christian practice outside the walls of the church while still participating in the world of the arts and theatre, business and finance, scholarship and learning, and government and public policy.”

The Church must move away from the unbiblical sacred/secular dichotomy that has engulfed us for centuries. We are long past the time when we should have been teaching our children and youth that they need to consider prayerfully obtaining marketable degrees and skills that they can use for global mission. And yes…we should even be telling the same story to those who feel called to an Ephesians 4:11-12-type of ministry. Thankfully, a few seminaries (unfortunately, only a few), in the States, have developed some creative endeavors for their students to receive solid theological education AND simultaneously a marketable degree that would place such ministerial students in very strategic places in the cities of the world.

I commend this paper to you for your reading, pondering, discussing, and applying its truths. I know it will bring some great discussion in Cape Town. Keep up the great work, Tim!  Thank you, for beating the urban drum!