Tim Keller to leave head pastor role at Redeemer

Redeemer Presbyterian Church pastor Timothy Keller announced Sunday he is stepping away from the pulpit, starting July 1. The move is part of a vision plan established by the New York City church in 1997 that will transition the single, multi-site congregation into three distinct churches with their own pastors and elder boards. Keller’s wife, Kathy, called the plan “a vision for not being a megachurch.” Keller will continue ministering at Redeemer, teaching Reformed Theological Seminary courses and working with its church-planting network. Each of the three newly formed Redeemer congregations will be tasked with planting three more churches, extending Keller’s passion to evangelize the city. During a 2010 interview with WORLD, Keller reflected on his success in New York: “I know other people who have been every bit as faithful, if not more faithful than me, and do not have anything like the same kind of amount of success. I do not look at myself as being more effective than them, but I am more successful and therefore more blessed, for only reasons that God in His sovereignty would know.”