Christian author and pastor Dr. Tim Keller has died after a more than three-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
His death was announced in an email by Redeemer Churches and Ministries—a network started by Keller.
“We are forever grateful for his leadership, heart, and dedication to sharing the love of Christ with others. While we will miss his presence here, we know he is rejoicing with his Savior in heaven,” wrote church leadership. “There will never be another Tim Keller and we will all miss him.”
Keller and his wife, Kathy, founded Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York City, in 1989 and continued pastoring for nearly 30 years. Its membership grew to more than 5,000 weekly attenders.
The 72-year-old also cofounded The Gospel Coalition and wrote multiple bestselling books.
He is remembered for his pragmatic approach to Scripture, which appealed to young, skeptical professionals; he was nicknamed the “C.S. Lewis” of this generation.
“Like Lewis, he had a gift for avoiding any whiff of pedantry or preachiness,” Molly Worthen, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told “The Washington Post.: “He had a gift, as Lewis did, for … homing in on the core ideas of the gospel and understanding the perspective of a skeptical reader, an atheist or a person who has been bruised by Christianity.”
Ahead of his passing, his son, Michael Keller, shared an update Thursday night on social media asking for prayer for his father.
“Over the past few days, he has asked us to pray with him often. He expressed many times through prayer his desire to go home to be with Jesus. His family is very sad because we all wanted more time, but we know he has very little at this point,” he wrote.
The post continues, ‘In prayer, he said two nights ago, “I’m thankful for all the people who’ve prayed for me over the years. I’m thankful for my family, that loves me. I’m thankful for the time God has given me, but I’m ready to see Jesus. I can’t wait to see Jesus. Send me home.”‘”
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