Apr 20, 2012
neil
9 Comments

Tim Keller on the 5 things that keep his ministry strong

Tim Keller spoke at the City to City conference this week in New York on the difference between ‘inner power’ that which flows out of our relationship with the Lord and ‘external power’ that which comes from position, status or prestige. Focusing on ‘external power’ is deadly, but ‘inner power’ brings life and vitality to you and your ministry.

Here are his 5 things we have to work at, plan for, be disciplined at if to have independent, inner, source of power

  1. Private devotions – regular, consistent; morning  (40 mins), lunch-time (5 mins – recap), evening (40 mins), bed-time (pray with Kathy)
  2. Spiritual friendship – Christian brothers & sisters who hold you accountable. Intimate friendship. Hebrews 3.16. Who have you given the right to do that?
  3. Right kind of pastoral counselling – Regular evangelism, discipleship, helping others. Some form of serving.
  4. Study & reading – you’ve got to read your head off!
  5. Corporate worship – do you really worship in your services or are you merely the producer and director?

 

9 Comments

  • Stephen Murray April 20, 2012 at 12:03 pm

    Hi Neil, thanks for sharing. Could you possibly elaborate a bit more by what he meant when he said “right king of pastoral counselling” #3

    Reply
  • Andrew Holt April 20, 2012 at 3:21 pm

    Sounds like it would be worth listening to the full talk – is it available online? Tried searching for it but to no avail.

    Reply
    • neil April 23, 2012 at 6:41 pm

      Hi Andrew. I don’t think it was recorded. I know a book is in the pipeline but no idea on publishing date.

      Reply
  • Simon April 21, 2012 at 4:10 pm

    Hebrews 3.16 ?

    Reply
    • neil April 23, 2012 at 6:41 pm

      Hi Simon. Should read Hebrews 3:12 and following. Thanks for spotting that.

      Reply
      • Simon April 24, 2012 at 5:34 pm

        No problem! Thanks for sharing it in the first place!

        Reply
  • Web Crawling | stephenmurray.co.za April 23, 2012 at 6:23 pm

    [...] Powell has a great summary of a talk that Tim Keller recently gave on the 5 things that keep his ministry strong. A very good [...]

    Reply
  • Peter April 25, 2012 at 3:07 pm

    Thanks for this post. I just finished a “Spiritual Formations” course and for me it brought to the forefront again the importance of the “inner life”. My mantra is, “I want to minister out of my overflow not my reservoir”.

    Reply
  • Learning in the grip of grace » Tim Keller on Staying Spiritually Vibrant April 25, 2012 at 11:25 pm

    [...] A Faith to Live By 0savesSave If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the RSS [...]

    Reply

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