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Perhaps there was a day in which Christians thought that you evangelized largely through intellectual argument, but now I hear people saying, "No, it's all personal. If you're going to win people to Christ you just have to be authentic. You have to just reach out to them personally. You can't do the rational." In other words, Christians are saying the rational isn't part of evangelism. The fact is, people are rational. They do have questions. You have to answer those questions.

Don't get the impression that I think that the rational aspect takes you all the way there. But there's too much emphasis on just the personal now.

Maybe you know I'm a 57-year-old man. You'd say, "Of course you'd say that." But I'm knee deep in 20-somethings. So it's not like I don't know how people are today.

What are the changes that you see for your ministry?

I think the main challenge is Redeemer has done a lot of things that have really engaged the city and have really helped a lot of people find Christ, and have had a lot of people connect to the needs of the city.

The question is, How do you make sure that not only the particular theological and ministry DNA of the church is such that other people can get ahold of it? We have not done a particularly good job of that. We like to be organic. We like to say, "Will you come and hang out with us?" But now if somebody in Hong Kong says, "We want to do this. Give us stuff," we don't have an efficient way of getting it to them. I have not done much in the way of writing, which is one of the ways you get DNA out there. We have not done a lot in the way of putting this into forms that people can just pick up and use. In that sense, that's got to change.

And along with it, I just need to do a much better job than I have of leadership development, mentoring, and training. So we've actually started doing that. It's somewhat embryonic, but there's a real passion for it.

Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

The Reason for God is available from ChristianBook.com and other retailers. The book's website has MP3s from Keller's talks while on tour, a reader's guide, and other resources.

Keller wrote "A New Kind of Urban Christian" for Christianity Today in 2006.

Articles about Redeemer Presbyterian include:

New York's New Hope | From inner-city gardens, to fine-art exhibitions, to political activism, street-smart churches are changing the culture of America's largest and most dynamic city. (December 1, 2004)

Manhattan Ministry a Year Later | "As of September 2002, weddings, counseling, and courage in demand" (November 18, 2002)

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June 2008, Vol. 52, No. 6