Tim Keller Did Not Avoid Difficult Topics for the Sake of Being ‘Winsome,’ Says Kathy Keller

“The thing that people don’t know is that after every sermon for years until he started preaching in multiple sites, Tim would have a Q&A after every service and invite people to stay,” said Kathy. During that time, people could “ask whatever questions they had that either arose from the sermon or that they just came with or whatever. And 100 to 200 people would stay after every service.” 

In her article on the topic, Kathy said, “Most of those sessions weren’t recorded, so only the memories of those who attended will be able to attest to the variety, complexity, and occasional ferocity of those questions.” 

“Some people had real, honest questions. Other people just thought, ‘Oh man, this is just too good of an opportunity to pass up an evangelical orthodox Christian standing in the middle of Manhattan saying, hit me with your best shot,’” she said. “And they did.” 

“Every single week there would be, you know, some hot-button issue,” Kathy said. “And then the foundation hot-button issues: Do you really believe that Jesus is the only way to get to God? Do you really believe that people without Jesus are going to go to hell?” 

“Then there were all the subsidiary issues,” she added, but she noted that Keller often answered a question with a question: “Do you think Jesus rose from the dead?” 

When people protested that wasn’t the question they had asked, Keller would say, “Here’s the thing. If he did, then you have to re-examine everything in your life. But if he didn’t, then I’m just spouting hot air, and there’s no reason for you to take seriously anything I say. It’s just my opinion.” 

Keller would tell them, “You got to figure out first whether Jesus is who he says he is and then come and ask that question because it makes a difference to the answer.”

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“But he would always answer these questions,” Kathy said. “He would never shy away from them, no matter how hard it was.” 

In her article, Kathy also described Redeemer getting evicted by a Methodist church because of Redeemer’s stance on same-sex attraction. “In the almost 37 years I’ve lived here, NYC has never shown itself to be sympathetic to the preaching of the gospel or gospel-centered practices,” she wrote.