Tim Keller

Timothy J. Keller is an American pastor, theologian and Christian apologist. He is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (RPC) in New York City. He is the chairman and co-founder of Redeemer City to City , which trains pastors for ministry in global cities. He is co-founder of The Gospel Coalition* and founder of Hope for New York. He is also author of some of The New York Times bestselling books.

Tim was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

He has degrees from;-
B.A. Bucknell University (BN) 1972
M.Div Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) 1975
D.Min Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS) 1981

Tim became a Christian while studying at BN through IVC Fellowship and became a staff member.

He was ordained by the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).

He served as a pastor at West Hopewell Presbyterian Church, Hopewell, Virginia for 9 years. At the same time he was director of church planting for PCA and on the faculty at WTS where he and his wife, Kathy, were involved in urban ministry.

The church planting involved looking at the needs of New York. Although working at WTS he continued to commute to New York and joined the prayer meetings at RPC.

Tim was recruited by PCA to start RPC in 1989. He lacked experience but succeeded after 2 others had turned it down. His congregation of 50 in 1989 grew to over 5,000 each Sunday by 2008. This led to some calling him the most successful Christian Evangelist in the city

Over the next 28 years RPB exploded in size and influence!

In 1992 RPC founded Hope for New York. its mission was to mobilize volunteer and financial resources to support non-profit organizations serving the poor and marginalized in New York City

Tim is co-founder of The Gospel Coalition (2005) a group of reformed leaders from around the USA.

He is chairman and co-founder of Redeemer City to City (CTC) which starts new churches in New York and other global cities, and publishes books and resources for ministry in an urban environments.

For 28 years he led a diverse congregation of young professionals that grew a weekly attendance of over 5,000.
(Read the 5 pages Redeemer History - Redeemer Churches and Ministries)

On 1st July 2017 Tim stepped down from his role as senior pastor of RPC to concentrate on CTC . This will enable him to teach and mentor church planters and seminary students full time in a joint venture with Reformed Theological Seminary’s (RTS) , the City Ministry program

June 2020 Tim was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Tim will be remembered as a pioneer of the new urban Christians.
* Christianity Today*