Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Announcement: Gospel in Life has moved to Redeemer City to City

Episode Date: July 20, 2023

A special announcement from Kathy Keller and Steve Shackelford, CEO of Redeemer City to City. To learn more about Redeemer City to City, watch this video or visit redeemercitytocity.com. 

Hi, I'm Kathy Keller and I have something that I want to share with you. As we go through life, things change. Our lives change sometimes catastrophically. I'm happy to announce one of the better changes of this year, however. On January 1st, 2023, gospel and life changed parent organizations, moving from being part of Redeemer Presbyterian Church to being part of Redeemer City to City. To give you a little context, long before there was the Ministry of Gospel and Life, Tim and I were busy starting and nurturing Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.

In those early years, God did some amazing things. We saw a number of affiliate ministries grow and flourish, nourished by volunteers from the congregation. At the very beginning of Redeemer in 1989, one of the first of these was the sermon ministry. We had a volunteer who on his own initiative recorded Sunday sermons and passed out copies to anyone who wanted them. This ministry grew exponentially adding employees, equipment, and office space. And by the late 90s, it was mailing out cassettes all over the world.

After about 25 years, it became known as gospel in life. And in a separate development in 1997, Redeemer Church raised funds to start the Redeemer Church Planting Center in 2001, which was later renamed Redeemer City to City. Today, Redeemer City to City is a ministry that supports gospel movements all over the world. They do this in two ways, primarily. First, by training leaders and pastors to grow gospel movements in the cities where

they work, and second, by helping them plant new churches in the global cities where they live. It's also the organization that Tim co-founded and when he stepped down from preaching, as the senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in 2017, it's where he went. So a few years later, when Redeemer's congregations took the next step and moved from being one big church to three individual churches, it was important that Gospel and Life find the right place to land. It was the unanimous decision that the new home for Gospel and Life should eventually be within City to City. I share that brief history with you to help

you get a sense of why this announcement is both exciting for all of us here at Redeemer City to City and also an incredible opportunity. With Gospel in life now officially a part of City to City since the beginning of the year, we have begun developing a strategy for how to bring the teaching and resources of Gospel in life to more people through translations and New local expressions of gospel and life in other parts of the world We also hope it will make it easier for us to get more of our resources into the hands of leaders around the world My favorite attribute of God if I'm allowed to pick one is his immutability My favorite attribute of God, if I'm allowed to pick one, is his immutability.

He doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. That's actually his name, Yahweh. I was who I was. I am who I am. I will be who I will be. But under the sun, all things change. And God's good providence. We both trust and rejoice that his kingdom will always go

forward. Before I continue, here's a brief welcome from our CEO Steve Shackleford. Thank you Kathy. I'm so excited to greet all of you and welcome you to Redeemer City to City. Some of you know us well and some may be new to our ministry. It's a privilege to host the Ministry of Gospel and Life on our global platform, and we look forward to getting to know you. Over the last 20 years, Redeemer City to City and the global ecosystem we serve has helped start

more than 1200 churches in cities around the world and train 79,000 pastors and leaders. As you may know, when Tim stepped down from his role as Senior Pastor at Redeemer Churches, he and Kathy joined the staff of Redeemer City to City, and Tim also served as chairman of the board. Their love and commitment to cities may have started with New York City, but they long ago recognized the vast mission field cities represent, and their ministry continues to reach large influential cities across the US and the globe. Tim Sermons were heard in 218 countries last year.

Story after story recount how pastors and leaders who served city to city became acquainted with our work through one of Tim Sermons. Leaders get introduced to our gospel DNA through Tim Sermons, which can often lead to more intense training and coaching provided throughout the city to city global networks. We're privileged to steward this work alongside Kathy and the Gospel and Life team, and we look forward to seeing the message of the Gospel of Grace continue to change lives and impact cities around the world. Thank you, and I'll hand it back to Kathy.

I'd like you to consider three ways in which you can respond to this news. Pray is number one always. I know many of you pray regularly for the ministry of gospel and life, and I first want to say thank you. But I also want to invite you to pray even more for the new opportunities. We hope to share with you about how God is leading us

to bring the gospel to more people through innovation, translations, and expanding our reach. So please be praying for God to open doors and give us the means to share the gospel wherever He leads us. Number two, share. Many of you have shared with us how God has used the teaching and resources of gospel in life to change lives and help people grow in their faith. And we've also heard how many of you have shared our teaching and resources with friends and family who haven't yet experienced the joy of knowing Christ personally.

Please keep up the good work. It's easier than ever to share teaching and talks with someone now that all of our servants are free on the website. And we know that the best way for someone to encounter the gospel is through friendly and caring conversations between a person exploring Christianity and someone who knows Christ. So please keep win some Lee and hopefully sharing your faith and our resources with friends and family who need the gospel.

This ultimately fuels new gospel movements as new people come to faith. And last, number three, we need your support. We're so grateful for everyone who generously supports gospel in life financially. Your generosity has made it possible for us to offer all the sermons on our website for free while continuing to cover the cost of staff, offices and other ministry expenses. As we present new opportunities for expanding the ministry of gospel and life by teaming with Redeemer City to City, please carefully consider how you might give to support this new chapter of our ministry together. might give to support this new chapter of our ministry together. The entire Gospel and Life team and I are hopeful and expectant for what God will do next through this new relationship in ministry.

Now, we look forward to sharing more with you about it as God provides the opportunities. While people try to offer their condolences for Tim's death, I know that he's more fully alive than he has ever been. It is up to us to help others know the gospel that he loved and preached because the gospel can change everything. you