From April 23-25, 2013, the network of churches called City to City Europe held its fifth meeting in Prague, Czech Republic. Over 200 church planters and leaders from about 60 different cities across Europe were in attendance. Our first such meeting in London 2005 had just 15.

For two and a half days, attendees discussed the themes of having a gospel-driven church, gospel-centered community, and gospel-centered preaching, with a variety of breakout sessions on topics such as healthy church growth, the distinctives of urban church planting, and ministry in deprived areas. It was an encouraging time of fellowship among friends, both new and old, who are involved in the network. Many valuable connections were made, new relationships established and challenging ideas debated.

One of the highlights of the meeting was a testimony from René Breuel, a church planter in Rome who has been reaching the university crowd in a central part of the city. He talked about a young man in his congregation who had come to Christ and started to share the gospel with his classmates. René also gave a history of his church plant, sharing how he and his wife Sarah got involved in their community and have been leading people to Christ. You can listen to his talk here.

René’s story is just one example of how God has been at work in the cities of Europe, and stories like these are the reason why churches are being planted. To date, CTC Europe has been involved to some degree in over 75 church plants and mother churches, with dozens more churches that are affiliated in some way with the network. As the network expands, it becomes increasingly important that the gospel of Jesus Christ drives everything. Please pray that there will continue to be a spirit of unity and a passion for the gospel in these churches.

As one participant from Amsterdam said after the meeting ended with communion: “We are one in Christ our Saviour!”

For audio, video, and papers from the meeting, please visit the City to City Europe website (registration required).

April is our second busiest month of the year (see you soon September). With all that’s going on in the office, we’ve managed to recruit a couple of guest bloggers to keep the blog fresh and exciting.

Pete Armstrong explores the history of the neighborhood where he’s planting a church. The Bowery is the oldest street in Manhattan. It was once a Native American foot trail and has since seen a long history of cultural clashes and change. As Pete says, “The gospel has something to say to both the penthouse and the flophouse in our neighborhood.”

David Plant, director of Youth Ministries at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, writes about the “boomerang effect” seen in center city youth ministry. Unlike suburban high school students who dream of going off to college and moving on, students who grow up in New York (and other center-cities) dream of going to college and moving back. David explores what a long term approach to youth ministry might look like.

Our very own Tim Cox also shares some tips and general strategy on how to thoughtfully approach social media and content creation as a church plant. He narrows it down to five simple points: Don’t Spam, Be Deep, Delegate, Be Diverse and Track Data. The whole concept of Social can be scary to most church planters, but if you can delegate this to people who love to do it and care about your church, the result can be really beautiful.

Finally, Gary Watanabe is working to train coaches to walk alongside church planters well after their churches are launched. Gary had such an incredible time leading coach training sessions in New York and Sydney that he decided to blog about it. Please pray for the coach training that has begun in Sydney and new programs we hope to launch later this year in New York and Latin America.

Our very own Tim Cox recently shared some tips and general strategy on how to thoughtfully approach social media and content creation as a church plant. As a digital native, he consults and speaks on the power of social media, writing blog posts, and how to reach your community, both small and broad.

Tim narrows it down for us in five simple points:

Don't Spam - Most businesses and orgs use social media to get people to do things, like buy their product or attend their events. Don't do it. Just use it to tell stories and include as many of them as possible. People will love reading your stories.

Deep - It's easy for me to post cynical things on Facebook, and most people post what's easy. Because of this I'm seen as a jerk. Another person I follow only shares photos of the stuff she buys so I immediately label her as materialistic. Maybe this is true, but really we're deeper than that. Being deep means taking the time to post happy, sad, needy, generous things. Post prayer requests along with praises. Post failures with successes. Be as real and as deep as possible.

Delegate - By including more people you're getting a diversity of voice, and you’re relieving pressure on the one person who all of this stuff usually falls on. Create a sandbox for your posting people to play in. Determine what is a good post and what isn’t. Always make sure to spell check, check for grammatical errors, and never use too many exclamation marks (!!!!!!!!).

Diversity - Post a lot of different types of things. See what's working and what's not. Then post more of what's working. This also applies to platforms. Start an Instagram, Vine, and Twitter profile if you don't have it. Post on it and see what's working and what isn't. If a platform isn't worth the effort, ditch it.

Data - Track and refer to your stats weekly or monthly. Every Monday or every first Monday of the month look at what's working and what's not. Make sure your website traffic is being tracked by Google Analytics and check out the referral sources. Where on social is most of your traffic coming from?

These tips provide great direction and a singular focus when thinking about where to start with social media. But what is Tim’s best advice? Focus on creating content. Content drives people to your social feeds, and more content drives more people.

Find out where all of your good content is — all of the stuff that's valuable — and partition it into buckets. You'll fill the buckets with a bunch of raw content, part the raw posts into usable content, and then schedule them out for regular posts on blogs, social, video, etc. Record what you can on audio, video, and photos and post it. Make your whole sermon or worship song available and then create clips on Soundcloud or YouTube. This way, there's a steady stream of content being posted during the week with minimal effort, which frees you up to be as creative as possible during the week.

Here are some ideas when we’re thinking about content:

Conversations - What are quotes from conversations you’ve recently had with people? Pictures. Video. Whatever. You can pillage your personal posts for this stuff and reuse it. When you repost or reshare, put a new spin on it. Don't just copy and paste.

City Stuff - What are the things that you LOVE about your city? That bike that's locked up in the most paranoid way possible. Your favorite tree. Places where you stop walking and just look.

Key People - My key people are Vincent at the newsstand, Tobin and Lance at Culture Espresso, Jeff and Matt on my pinball team, and Alison, my favorite server at Bogota. They have stories. Tell them. Feature them.

Needs- Inevitably you'll come up against needs in your community. What was needed and how was it fulfilled? Let people know how they can help and how to get involved. This is a great way to think about sharing praises and prayer requests from your community.

Events - Jimmy’s show is tomorrow night, let's all surprise him by actually going this time. Post video, audio, and photos.

The key is making this as natural as possible. One of the things you'll probably need to do is spend some time collecting things from people in your core group. Spend some time researching. It's like scrapbooking online.

To conclude, you need a church website with a blog that addresses your current thoughts, stories, and questions. Tumblr is a great platform for blogging, so that's a good place to start. Your main website provides a place to put the key info (including audio and video) and then readers can easily jump over to the blog where you can share more casually. The blog should be updated regularly by as many people as possible. Email is ok for announcements and newsletters, but social is going to be where the community will be featured and grow.

It might feel burdensome at first, but if you can delegate this to people who love to do it and care about your church, the result can be really beautiful.

It’s almost the end of March and we wanted to update you on what’s been happening at City to City.

This month, Tim Keller challenged us with his Questions for Sleepy and Nominal Christians. In describing what a revival would look like today, he says, “When sleepy and nominal Christians get revived, attractive and bold in their witness, people who would never have believed before begin to get converted.”

That’s not all we were challenged with this month. A couple of weeks ago Dr. Keller and Katherine Leary Alsdorf got together to talk about their recent book, Every Good Endeavor, at a Center for Faith & Work event, “Work: What Is It Good For?” (You can watch the entire talk here.) Tim reminded us that doing a job for the glory of God doesn’t always mean passing out tracts and evangelizing to your coworkers. It means doing your job well. “What does it mean to be a great Christian pilot? Land the plane!”

Although we’re all called to work for God’s glory, that certainly takes on different forms. On our blog this month, we heard from Pete Armstrong who is a church planter in New York City at Dwell Church. He shared his story of how managing a coffee shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan turned into a journey that eventually brought him to planting a church in lower Manhattan. You can read the rest of the story of how Dwell Church came to be, “A City Where God Dwells With Us - The Story of Dwell Church”.

And finally, please celebrate with us this Easter as new churches launch in Athens, Greece, South Boston, and Tribeca. Alex Pipilios and Tim Coomar - church planters in Athens - both completed City to City’s Church Planter International Intensive in New York in 2010 and 2011 respectively, and the church Exarcheia will hold its first service in the same city where the Apostle Paul preached against idolatry on his second missionary journey. More recently the neighborhood saw some violence as part of the riots in Greece. Please pray for new life to be found in Christ in both of these communities.

It’s almost the end of February and a lot has been happening at City to City.

This month Tim Keller shared some of his insights on preaching to the collective heart. He says, “there are many working definitions of ‘culture,’ but I think one of the best is that culture is a collective heart. It is a set of commanding commitments held and shared by a community of people.”

And speaking of a community of people, Stephen Murray who is a church planter in Cape Town is starting something new for the people in his community. He’s rented out a coffee bar in the city and will hold discussions on the most common objections that people have to Christianity. He’s calling this gathering The Reason for God and his discussions are based on Tim Keller’s book and study guide of that name. These gatherings are part of the pre-launch phase of the church and a way to form relationships with non-believers.

If you’re interested in South Africa, Redeemer Presbyterian Church is taking a group on a short-term mission trip to Johannesburg this summer to visit our growing network of church plants there. They’re building the team now, so if you’re interested in going or supporting, you can get in touch with Christina for more details.

If you’re not ready to go overseas but are looking to embark on a new venture where you live, consider attending the Entrepreneurship Initiative (Ei) Forum in April. Katherine Leary Alsdorf tells us how entrepreneurship can serve the city to bring about movement in exciting new ways, and also gives details on how to register for the Ei Forum.

This month we’ve been reading The Atlantic and Huffington Post and we were pleasantly surprised to see that apparently they’ve been reading The Meaning of Marriage. Author Emily Timbol has even tweeted us to meet up for coffee the next time she visits New York.

And if you’re still looking for more Tim Keller, you can now search 1,200 of his sermons by passage or topic through Logos Sermon Archive. Sermons from 1989-1993 are available immediately, and transcripts from 1994–1998, 1999–2004, 2004–2009, and 2010–2011 will be released in subsequent months.

How is planting a church near a university unique? How can churches minister effectively in these contexts? Following are some ideas from three church planters located near major universities in their cities:

Tuck Bartholomew is the pastor of City Church, located a few blocks from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. His church is about six years old.

Charlie Drew is the pastor of Emmanuel Presbyterian Church, near Columbia University and Manhattan School of Music in Manhattan. The church is twelve years old.

René Breuel is planting Chiesa Evangelica San Lorenzo located in central Rome, next to the metro hub and La Sapienza, which is Europe’s largest university with 150,000 students. His congregation is less than a year old, with a large proportion of seekers considering the faith.

1. Why is planting churches near major universities strategic?

Tuck: The university season of a person's life is among the most spiritually formative times. Students that were raised in Christian homes are beginning to make their faith their own, and students previously unexposed to Christianity are often more open to exploring faith. Strong churches located within university communities are missionally preparing students and faculty to be relocated to the major cities of the country and world. I also noticed when I was a pastor in New York City that many of our strongest leaders had been involved in student ministries while in university.

René: University churches are striving to engage the world’s centers of expertise, and when this type of dialogue and faith presence is done well, it helps to enhance the intellectual credibility of the wider church too. People see knowledgeable Christians who can interact with other views thoughtfully at a culturally strategic location. Some of our best apologists, like C. S. Lewis, came out of a university setting.

Charlie: Major universities deeply influence the thinking of their students, who will go on to be cultural leaders. This is particularly obvious when it comes to the international students we have from China—they would never have made it to a place like Columbia unless they were talented and bound for leadership positions back home.

2. What makes university churches unique? How does it impact your philosophy of ministry, preaching and apologetics?

René: For me, this environment stretches us beyond simple answers and makes us acknowledge the role of ambiguity and doubt as a part of the journey of faith. We try to give people space and time to consider faith, and to voice their doubts without fear. The constant interaction with inquisitive people makes us strive for excellence in our preaching and public presentation. I guess it makes us humbler too.

Tuck: We do not want to "preach" at persons - rather we attempt to open a conversation and dialogue with them. This shows up in stylistic decisions about preaching - we embrace a more conversational style, but it also shapes the content of a sermon or lesson. I have a weekly discussion of the sermon text with staff and lay leaders in the community in order to talk about the text itself, but also to try to understand those aspects that will sound most odd to non-believers. A person that has been in or around the church for a season will begin to take many things for granted - I want to anticipate that and even draw attention to that in a sermon. This helps the non-Christian sense that we are truly open to a conversation, but it also helps the more seasoned Christian learn to be more humble and engaging in their private conversations with neighbors and colleagues.

Charlie: University churches are exciting places to minister because students are young and open to new ideas. They are also unstable places. We lose 25 – 30% of our people every year. This means that finding, building, and keeping leaders is a challenge. Our rapid turnover leads us to lay strong emphases on (1) welcoming, and (2) commitment. They need to sink their roots into community quickly if they are to benefit spiritually from their relatively short time here.

3. What are some of the concrete ways with which you have engaged the university next to you and its students and faculty?

Charlie: We have sought routinely to befriend, pastor and encourage campus ministers and Christian faculty. When we have had interns we have always devoted a portion of their time to campus work, and we are working towards having a university pastor on our staff within the next 2-3 years. I speak 3-4 times annually at university campus gatherings and devote a significant portion of my time to international student ministry (I have led a weekly Bible study and English language conversation group for 4-5 years now).

Tuck: 45% of our church congregation has some affiliation with the University of Pennsylvania. From the beginning we have sought to engage the different student ministry groups, and several campus ministry staff are part of our congregation. Two years ago we hired a campus minister in partnership with a Pittsburgh based campus ministry who hosts weekly dorm discussions and a monthly Sunday evening dinner for students in his home.

René: We’ve co-sponsored two debates with campus ministries like InterVarsity and Agape on campus this year where I debated two atheists. For seekers, seeing a local pastor debate instead of a visitor helped them transition into joining a church.

4. What are the challenges this setting presents to your sustainability and growth?

Tuck: The greatest challenge is the need for creative fundraising given the transience of our community. We realize that growth will be slower when our population is young and unstable. We are six years old, but only recently entered the process of selecting and training elders and deacons.

Charlie: Students are young and spending (rather than making) money. They cannot be counted on to support the church financially or as leaders. For this reason we have from the beginning devoted a great deal of energy to being more than a university church. One of our first part-time hires was a director of children’s ministry. We knew that we needed to find and cultivate families and young professionals if we were going to be able to sustain our ministry to students.

René: We also try to maintain a core of professionals and families who are here long-term. But it is important also to assimilate and empower new arrivals quickly too, and make this flow of people arriving and sometimes leaving for other places a celebrated dynamic in the church. As Charlie said, when someone moves away, we see that not so much as a loss than as an opportunity to share of ourselves and bless other places.

5. What would you say to church planters considering planting a church near a major university?

Tuck: Consider it. Planting in university communities is strategic and invigorating, but it also has its own brand of fatigue. Identify other people doing this type of work and shadow them as part of your self-assessment and planning. We started a church planting residency this year that we hope will help young pastors learn more about pastoring and preaching in contexts like ours.

Charlie: For one thing, they should brace themselves for the pain of departures year after year. For another, they should seek not to be a “university church” but rather to be a “community church in a university setting”—reaching students but building a broader constituency. This is crucial not only because students cannot form a financial or leadership base, as we mentioned, but also because students need to be introduced, while they are still at university, to the larger church world that they will inhabit when they leave school. One of the downsides of campus ministries is that they are artificial social environments made up of the same sort of people in the same season of life. If students do not discover the diversity of the wider church while at school they won’t know how to embrace the real church when they get out.

René: It is a big and strategic need, go for it! I would love to see a new generation of churches that engage major universities and through them the wider culture. Don’t cut corners on your education and preparation, but don’t feel intimidated by the environment either. The gospel really is powerful to redeem people. And a practical thing: if being relational is not your gift, make sure you have good people on your leadership team that connect well with others.

For the past 4 years, CTC has welcomed a group of hand-picked church planters from global cities for five weeks of training called the International Intensive. This year, we're up to 18 church planters and ministry leaders–a new record! We've had to get creative with squeezing the extra chairs into the conference room.

Another first for this International Intensive was the introduction of a new textbook. Center Church, a book about connecting doctrine with ministry expression, was released in September and the Intensives received early copies to use throughout the trainings.

Please pray for these men and women starting new ministries in global cities:

Aaron Damiani - Chicago
Alex Deuscher - Berlin
Brad Morrice - Montreal
Bruce Clark - Toronto
Gelson Nogueira - Madrid
Leandro De Almeida - Santiago
Lee Eagelson - Belfast
Nick Mikhaluk - Kiev
Nicolas Kyalangalilwa - Democratic Republic of Congo
Matthieu and Christa Klass - Brussels
Olivier Engels - Brussels
Patricio Oyarzun - Santiago
Peter and Ruth Roberts - Liverpool
Robert Miller - Melbourne
Shane Rogerson - Melbourne
Stephan Pues - Frankfurt
Samuel Lago - Santiago
Tim Swan - Santiago

Redeemer City to City (CTC) is pleased to announce that Dr. John R. Hutchinson has accepted the position of President, effective September 1, 2012.

“We are delighted that God has called John to join us in a powerful and unique calling: to help leaders build gospel movements in global cities,” said Timothy Keller, CTC’s chairman of the board.

Dr. Hutchinson most recently served for 14 years as Senior Pastor at McLean Presbyterian Church (PCA) in McLean, Virginia. He earned his Master of Divinity and Doctorate of Ministry degrees from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mississippi State University. He is married to Cynthia and has three adult children.

"I look forward to building on the established foundation that Redeemer City to City enjoys, working with Tim Keller to lead the organization through its next chapter serving God’s Kingdom around the world,” said Hutchinson. “I am humbled by and thankful for the opportunity to join this compelling vision.”

Dr. Hutchinson and his congregation at McLean Presbyterian Church partnered with CTC in resourcing a church planting network in Berlin, Germany. Prior to serving as Senior Pastor at McLean Presbyterian Church, John started a growing congregation in Jacksonville, Florida. John has a proven track record of creating collaborative teams to deliver a long-term vision.

The president’s role is to work with the board of Redeemer City to City, Tim Keller, and the senior team to plan and manage the execution of the organization’s vision. In addition, the president will attract and develop the staff of CTC, build relationships with church planters and donors, and secure the needed financial resources for the organization.

The president role builds on the strong foundation laid by Reverend Terry Gyger, who has served the CTC faithfully with his vision, energy, and deep relationships with church planters and donors.

The Presidential Selection Committee and CTC board is indebted to Mr. Price Harding and CarterBaldwin Executive Search for the expertise, extensive work, and personal attention during the search process. Their commitment to identifying the most qualified of candidates was invaluable.

There was once a common language for public moral discourse in the West based largely on the Bible. It was assumed that most people knew the basic tenets of Christianity, and if someone walked into a church, the language and customs they found there would be familiar to them.

Today, in our increasingly diverse and "post-Christian" society, we can no longer assume that this is the case. As media headlines and personal anecdotes remind us almost daily, the church in the West is on the decline and losing members fast, especially among the young and urban. Thanks to globalization and spread of urban culture, these challenges are now increasingly relevant not only for ministers in cities, but also in the suburbs and small towns.

For pastors this poses a special challenge. How do we adapt to a "post-Christian" culture without abandoning orthodox theology? How do we communicate the classic doctrines of grace and substitutionary atonement in our globalized culture and context? In a culture that no longer believes Christianity is a force for good, let alone the source of ultimate revealed truth in the person of Christ, how do we adapt our ministries without compromising them?

At Redeemer Presbyterian Church and Redeemer City to City, we have been wrestling with these questions for over twenty years. The result of that long struggle has now been captured in Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City, Timothy Keller's long-awaited book on ministry in an urban context, which will be released by Zondervan on September 4. The book will describe three core commitments which have shaped the ministry of Redeemer and informed the training we give church planters:

Gospel-centered: The gospel of grace in Jesus Christ changes everything, from our hearts to our community to the world. It completely reshapes the content, tone and strategy of all that we do.

City-centered: Cities increasingly influence our global culture and affect the way we do ministry. With a positive approach toward our culture, we learn to affirm that cities are wonderful, strategic, and underserved places for gospel ministry.

Movement-centered: Instead of building our own tribe, we seek the prosperity and peace of our community as we are led by the Holy Spirit.

Based on these commitments, the book will offer challenging insights and provocative questions. Rather than doing “business as usual” on the one hand, or abandoning age-old theology and doctrine on the other, Keller outlines a way to develop “new” ministry expressions based on “old” theology—how to communicate the classic doctrines of salvation by grace and substitutionary atonement in our urbanized world.

Doing this will require more sophisticated reflection on both the gospel and our culture. It will also require ministry to be much more balanced: emphasizing word and deed, personal holiness and cultural engagement, doctrinal depth and kingdom-centered cooperation.

You can find the trailer, reviews, and related articles at Centerchurch.com, with more materials on the way. Our special thanks to all of the church planters, pastors and network leaders who have helped shape the content of this book.

Gloria Furman lives in Dubai, where her husband Dave pastors Redeemer Church of Dubai. Gloria enjoys serving the ladies in her community as a doula, and is currently writing a book for Crossway on applying the gospel in the mundane, based on her blog Domestic Kingdom.

The homes in Dubai are surrounded by 10-foot cement walls. When we first moved into this neighborhood to plant a church some years ago, I prayed that God would help me to reach my neighbors in spite of these obstacles. I was so intimidated by those walls and struggled to see how I would ever be invited inside.

Privacy and modesty are highly valued in the Middle East, and traditional culture here dictates that women should cover up when they leave their houses. This is why it was so egregious for King David to wander about on his palace roof where his gaze extended into the privacy of others’ homes.

I never imagined that God would facilitate gospel conversations by having one of my neighbors watch our family from over the wall that separated our homes.

I first tried to introduce myself to my neighbors by baking some cookies and bringing them next door. I put the cookies on a fancy plate, dressed the kids up, rang the bell… and got no answer. Dejected, the kids and I walked back through the gate.

The second time, a maid answered the gate. She didn’t speak much English, but she said the lady of the house wasn’t home. I asked her to give the family our greetings, and she smiled and said she would, but I wasn’t sure we had understood one another.

A few days later the bell on our gate rang. It was the maid from next door, and in her hands she held my plate, which was now full of baklava-style sweets. In this culture you never return an empty plate to someone. I love this custom!

The next weekend we hosted a church potluck at our house. My husband likes to say that if you haven’t been to an international church potluck then you’re missing out on a little taste of heaven. Shish tawook, vegetable curry, pizza, scones, puddings, kabobs, noodles, biryani… we get to eat some world-class food in our church!

The next day I finally got to visit with my neighbor. We shared some traditional coffee and dates and talked about our families and her favorite show on the cooking channel. Then she tossed a question into the conversation that turned our chat into completely uncharted territory.

“Last night I was watching through my window upstairs. I saw all these people from many countries turning into your gate carrying food,” she began.

“Yes! We had a potluck dinner. Have you heard of a potluck dinner before? The people in our church all prepared some food at home and brought it to share,” I explained.

Then came an onslaught of questions from my neighbor. “Why were all of those people eating together? How do you know all of those people? Does everyone eat everyone else’s food?” She fired question after question at me until she finally asked what was really on her heart. “Why would you want to eat with people who are not from your country?”

Racism runs deep where we live. My neighbor’s question swung a door wide open for me to talk about the gospel. I shared with her about God the Creator who made human beings in his image. I told her about what happened in the Garden and the trajectory toward destruction that we set for ourselves when Adam and Eve sinned. I told her about Jesus and his cross and how saving faith in him not only reconciles us to God, but to one another. I told her that Jesus was given the nations as his inheritance and how he is delighted to be the Shepherd King for every tribe and nation.

She was astonished. “This is not what I thought your religion was. My religion also includes people from all over the world, but we would never do something like eat meals with one another.”

Through more careful questioning and clarifying, I helped my neighbor understand how the gospel distinguishes Christianity from the other religions. This was earth-shattering to someone who sincerely believed that all religions were basically the same and that we just have different cultural expressions of it.

I left her house that afternoon amazed by the power of God. Over time I have been invited inside those walls to talk with her more about the gospel. The truth of Christ is just that captivating and can break into even the most seemingly impenetrable places.

One thing I’ve learned from this relationship with my neighbor is that I must maintain my confidence that physical and spiritual walls cannot hinder the gospel. And big plates of chocolate chip cookies certainly can’t hurt!

University towns like Oxford, Cambridge or Palo Alto may not technically be classified as "global cities," but it's hard to deny their importance to global culture, shaping the nation's next generation of thinkers, politicians, and thought leaders. College graduates flock to cities for jobs and become a large part of the center-city population. The questions heard on college campuses are often the same ones heard in places like London, New York, or Hong Kong.

This also makes universities excellent training ground for church planters and evangelists. C. S. Lewis spent most of his life in Oxford, became a Christian there as a result of a friendship with several Christian professors (including J.R.R. Tolkien), and many of his most brilliant insights were sharpened by his academic training.

During the week of February 6-10, the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (OICCU), an umbrella group of Christian ministries at Oxford which has existed for over 130 years, sponsored "This is Jesus," an annual week-long outreach of talks and Q&A sessions on some of the biggest questions students have about Christianity. The speakers were Michael Cain, pastor of Emmanuel Church, Bristol, and Timothy Keller, who together with his wife Kathy and son Michael (currently a college pastor in New York) spent a full week meeting directly with students and wrestling with their questions.

The evening sessions drew up to 600 students and generated significant interest in further discussions about the gospel. In Britain and much of Europe, hostility to evangelical Christianity has been increasing, and unfortunately many churches are in significant decline. As Samuel Chan, the prayer secretary for OICCU, describes student ministry at Oxford: "Many have heard about Jesus: relatively few have said yes to Him. Pray for a time of reaping! We're not content with just having people hear about Jesus, but we desperately want to see more [coming to belief]."

You can listen to the audio talks or view some of the Q&A sessions from the conference. Please pray for the students in Oxford to come to know God both intellectually and personally.

Robert Guerrero joined Redeemer City to City in January 2012. He is our New York City Church Planting Catalyst, who will network with existing churches and to identify and coach new church planters.

Born to Dominican parents in New York City, Robert has spent much of his life in the Dominican Republic. He earned a degree in theology from Moody Bible Institute and has planted churches in both Chicago and Santo Domingo, with a focus on holistic ministry and outreach to the unchurched.

Here's a short interview with Robert where he talks about how he arrived at Redeemer City to City and his vision for new churches in New York City. We are excited to welcome Robert and his unique gifts and experience to the team, and we hope our New York planters will have a chance to meet him soon!

This is the fifth event of eleven planned Gospel in the City events across Asia from Fall 2010 to Spring 2011. These events will culminate in our first Asian Intensive, a five-week training for planters who are at or near launch, which is normally held in our New York office. Previous events were held in Singapore, Taipei, Hong Kong and Sydney.

Tokyo is one of the largest, most secular, and most expensive cities in the world. If New York is a tough town for church planters, Tokyo is undoubtedly tougher.

So we are thrilled that about 30 participants came to City to City Asia's first outreach event in Tokyo on January 16-17. Gospel in the City is a two-day learning experience that exposes urban leaders to core principles on how the gospel changes hearts, communities, and cities.

The event was hosted by Grace City Church Tokyo, a CTC-affiliated church. The sessions were led by pastor Makoto Fukuda and by Bart Garrett, lead pastor of Christ Church in Berkeley, which is also affiliated with CTC and now hopes to support GCC long-term. Daniel Iverson, a missionary with MTW Japan, and Seima Aoyagi of GCC also led talks.

According to Geert De Boo, a Dutch missionary working with GCC since its inception, this will be the first event of its kind in Tokyo. The goal is to jump-start a city-wide movement of gospel-centered church planting movements and partnerships, with a focus on finding and recruiting like-minded church planters and leaders with a vision for impacting the city for Christ by engaging it with the gospel.

The entire training was given in Japanese (which required a sizeable translation project), and we hope represents a great step towards furthering the movement in Tokyo.

Some highlights of the training:
1. That we were able to see this event happen at all! Japan is a difficult mission field, less than 1% Christian, and with very few workers in the Gospel. It was a reminder that "God has many in the city who are his people" (Acts 18:10).
2. Breakout small group discussion sessions in which the principles of the Gospel DNA that each speaker presented were addressed and applied to the city context. A lot of insights were given into the challenge of contextualizing the Gospel in a culture and city like Tokyo.
3. The increasing interest and desire for gospel-centered, urban church planting vision and realization of the need for networking or partnering in order to see it fulfilled.

You can also see pictures of the event from a participant.

Our thanks to Rev. Fukuda and others on his team for all the work they did with the amount of responsibilities they already have as church planters, aid workers, and ministers of the gospel! Grace City Church Tokyo, which launched less than two years ago, has already been thrown into service in extraordinary ways. See our past stories:

Grace City Church Tokyo Prepares for Launch
Network Rallies to Aid Japan
At Work in Tohoku and Tokyo

In this new year, many of us are making plans or pondering resolutions for the coming months. These can range from losing weight or getting more organized to changing jobs, moving our families to a new city, or taking up a new call.

Taking stock of our calling, where God has brought us up until now and where he is leading us, is always a relevant question, particularly for those called to live out their faith in an unstable economy, a transient city, or any kind of ministry. If God has created each of us with certain gifts and a calling for our lives (Ephesians 4, Romans 12), then seeking our calling is not just about personal fulfillment or getting ahead, but it is a matter of finding out how we are meant to glorify him.

Here are a few resources from our network on finding your calling.

1. Neat & Tidy Tips for Figuring Out Your Call and Messy & Ugly Confessions in Figuring Out Your Call

Julia and her husband Alastair Sterne are planting a church in Vancouver, and were part of our 2011 International Intensive. Here she recounts some of the very practical wisdom she's learned along the way to becoming a counselor and wife, and now, moving 3,000 miles to start a new church.

2. On Calling with Peter Ong

Peter Ong is in our Fellows program for prospective church planters. In this audio interview, he describes his journey from parachurch minister to elder to his new venture: starting a church-plant of a church-plant in Flushing, Queens. He also describes how as a pastor he helps his congregation to find their own identity in Christ and let that foundation drive their calling, and he gives some advice to those who might want to plant a church in New York City.

3. Vocation: Discerning Your Calling

Finally, in this article Tim Keller talks about finding a vocation, both in our careers and in our church communities. In a work-obsessed world, often driven by sex, money and power, we can look to our communities and the needs around us to see opportunities to serve as a steward of God's creation. "Your family background, education, and life experiences—even the most painful ones—all equip you to do some work that no one else can do."

Happy New Year.

This week we noticed a home for the holidays theme in our church planters' blogs, so rather than repost one or all three of them, we decided to highlight each of them and their unique perspectives on being home for the holidays. Chances are you'll find something to relate to in at least one of them.

1. Need some help for spending time with non-Christian family this Christmas?

Neil Powell, network leader and planter of City Church Birmingham, gives some practical advice and a book recommendation for those attempting the delicate task of sharing one's faith with family members.

2. Difficult Family Holidays

Rev. John Haralson, senior pastor at Grace Seattle, addresses how to make the best of time with family when our relationships with family members are strained at best. He reminds us to remember what is good and fallen in both our families and ourselves.

3. Why My Perfect Family Is Better Than Yours!

Finally, as usual, Mez McConnell of Niddrie Community Church in Edinburgh made us laugh with his spoof of the annual family newsletter, which unconsciously (or consciously) can begin to sound like a list of accomplishments.

God bless you and yours this Christmas.

This report was sent to us from Sydney. Our special thanks to Fiona Smartt at CCIW for coordinating the event.

Almost 100 people gathered in the heart of the city of Sydney earlier this month (Nov 15-17) for Australia’s first Gospel in the City event.

Attendees travelled from all across Australia to attend the three day church planting and renewal conference exposing church leaders to what has been called Redeemer's Gospel Ministry DNA.

A combination of both current and potential future church planters and leaders came to hear City to City presenters Stephen Um and Tuck Bartholomew outline a vision for how the gospel shapes all of life, from the heart, to a church ministry, and to a movement across an entire city.

A highlight of the conference was the stimulating discussion generated by the rich diversity among the church pastors and leaders present. There were many fruitful conversations about applying the theological and practical principles of the Gospel DNA across diverse denominational contexts, different urban cities and a wide spectrum of cultures.

The conference concluded with a final dinner where 20 people gathered to discuss next steps for church planting in Sydney and beyond.

Gospel in the City Australia was hosted by three Sydney churches, Cornerstone Presbyterian Community Church, Christ Church Inner West Anglican Community, and St Philip’s York Street who have partnered with Redeemer City to City to grow a church planting movement amongst new and existing churches in Sydney.

We look forward with anticipation to see how, under God, this significant conference bears fruit in the months and years ahead.

Below is a brief summary by Simon Murphy, a church planter we are privileged to work with in Singapore. Simon is currently pastoring Redemption Hill Church. Pictured: CTC Asia Director Jay Kyle with two Singaporean church leaders.

Just last week, October 14-15, CTC hosted its first Gospel in the City event for the region of Singapore. Participants gathered from a variety of churches and spent two days looking at some of our Gospel Ministry DNA.

Gospel in the City is typically a two-day (sometimes the duration is extended to a week or more) learning experience that exposes urban leaders to core principles on how the gospel changes hearts, communities, and cities. So far, CTC has held Gospel in the City events in Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Hong Kong and Johannesburg. Several more are slated in various cities over the next six months including Sydney, Seoul, Taipei, Tokyo, Mumbai, Manila, Kuala Lumpur.

For this training, CTC Asia Director Jay Kyle and CTC Associate Director Mark Reynolds conducted the training along with Rev. Peter Wang. In attendance were a combination of local Singaporean pastors and potential future planters. The sessions on grace renewal, city focus and contextualization were particularly helpful, with many being exposed to this ministry philosophy for the first time.

Being the first event of its nature in Singapore, Gospel in the City stimulated a lot of discussion as to how churches could apply the material in an Asian context. Lots of discussion was given to how a movement of gospel churches could grow in Singapore and beyond.

We are incredibly grateful to City to City Asia for organizing the event, for the trainers who flew a long way to be here, and to all who came to the event. The gospel is growing and bearing fruit all over the world.

Every September, CTC welcomes about a dozen church planters from different global cities to New York for our annual International Intensive. This four-week program is a time for church planters who are getting ready to launch to spend some time away from their ministries and cities and reflect together on how to approach them in a gospel-centered way. They also build relationships with each other for support, friendship and accountability.

This year's class consisted of:

Albert Tate - Los Angeles
Alexandros Pipilios - Athens
Alastair & Julia Sterne - Vancouver
Dave Furman - Dubai
Keith Case - Miami
Marcelo Robles - Buenos Aires
Marco & Diana Rizo Escalante - Mexico City
Mez McConnell - Edinburgh
Phaedra Seraphimide - Athens
Randrianjkohary Tanteraka & Mahefatiana Andomampionona - Madagascar
Rikko Voorberg - Amsterdam
Samuel & Carol Foucachon- Paris
Samuel Kim - Beijing

This year's class was able to spend time with church planters and staff from Redeemer Presbyterian Church as well as participate in worship services, special events (such as a Center for Faith and Work event with Michael Gerson and Gideon Strauss), and CTC's annual Open House.

You can read about last year's program here. Of the 2010 class, several have now launched churches while the rest continue to work towards a launch date. Please continue to keep them in your prayers!

Please pray for Mexico City and for an expansion of the movement of the gospel there. It faces the challenges of many global cities, including inequality, political unrest, rapidly changing social norms, and the global economic downturn. For a complete statement of the vision, including how to support Victor and his family, visit www.redeemermexico.org.

One of our core beliefs is that the gospel changes everything. It is as crucial to the life of a church planter as it is for the new believer.

For that reason, the goal of much of our church planter training is not just learning theology or practical skills, but ultimately it is the transformation of the learner. Leaders are subject to pressures, temptations, and often isolation, which can affect their ability to find community, accountability, and maintain both their ministries and their personal relationships.

Over the past four years, our Director of Global Training, John Thomas, has developed a 16-module Urban Incubator for New York City church planters meeting regularly over the course of two years. The Incubator incorporates both a rich and interactive curriculum and relationship-building for church planters walking together through the intense financial, professional, and personal pressures of planting a church.

In the hopes of spreading this community-based, transformative learning to other regions, John has also developed a facilitator guide to help trainers teach each module. Earlier this August, the first ever "Train the Trainer" took place in Princeton, NJ, with twenty church planters who are leading networks in ten countries. It was a highly interactive time of modeling, simulations, and spirited discussion of how to train gospel-centered church planters.

For leaders who are learning how to train other leaders, the danger is to focus on lectures and papers focusing solely on content and methodology. Our hope is that gospel-centered relationship-building remains at the core of this "curriculum," even in the teaching methods used, which are meant to be learner-centric and adaptable. The participants were all encouraged to tweak, translate, and contextualize the curriculum to their own contexts, and to keep in touch with each other to share what they learn as they continue to use it.

Among the comments from the training were the following:

"I went back not just with all the teaching and training you imparted, but I think I went back with a little bit of the passion you bring into your ministry. I won't forget that for the rest of my life."

"The Incubator curriculum is a tremendous help. I really cannot believe you allow us to use it. Thank you!"

Our thanks to Shari Thomas and Tami Resch from Parakaleo, a ministry for church planter spouses, and to Allen Thompson, one of the pioneers of Redeemer City to City's work with leaders, for their participation in the teaching and planning of the event.

We've posted pictures of the event on our Facebook page, or you can see the complete album on Flickr. You can also give directly to Redeemer City to City's work equipping network leaders in global cities.

The topics of hell, final judgment, and the Rapture have become prominent water cooler subjects recently.

A common reaction today is to reject the idea of hell entirely, stemming from a suspicion of moral absolutes or a denial of the possibility of final judgment. Some prominent Christian figures have predicted doomsday scenarios which have been widely covered (and ridiculed) in mass media. Depictions of hell become cartoonish and ever less believable.

The question becomes, how do we understand the biblical doctrine of hell in our scientific and secular culture? Are we beyond believing such things? How do we contextualize this discussion in our churches so that these historic beliefs become relevant in our postmodern age?

Zondervan has just released a new book called Is Hell for Real or Does Everyone Go To Heaven? Contributors to the book include Albert Mohler, J. I. Packer, Robert Yarbrough, and Timothy Keller. Readers will find examples from several pastors and theologians to help equip them in engaging both the traditionalists and secularists that enter their church doors.

Tim Keller's chapter, "Preaching Hell in a Tolerant Age," is available for free download from our Resources section. You can find other resources on Preaching there as well.

Our thanks go to Dr. Norberto Saracco, Marcelo Robles, and Osni Ferreira for their help, coordination and sponsorship.

(Pictured above from left: CTC Director of Global Training John Thomas, Brazil movement leader Osni Ferreira, and Buenos Aires church planter Marcelo Robles.)

Want to work for Redeemer City to City? We are seeking a a committed and experienced urban church planting leader to direct its church planting efforts in New York City. This position is a salaried position based out of the City to City offices in Manhattan.

Please click here to download a full job description and details.

Over the last 10 years, CTC has assisted 60 new church starts in NYC through many denominations and networks. CTC seeks a visionary leader to facilitate 100 new congregations during the next decade.

From May 9-11, 58 urban church leaders and planters from leading cities in North America gathered at the Trinity Conference Center in West Cornwall, CT, for a retreat. This network, which is yet to be named officially, consists of leaders who share a vision for Gospel movements in their cities.

As the follow-up to a conference in Miami in 2010, the retreat was meant to build and strengthen relationships among peers, share ideas and insights on the difficult issues particular to ministry in urban situations, and determine the need for a new network - one that would not replace other networks, but would be trans-denominational and help create city-wide movements between the different ministries in a city. This gathering exhibited the experimental nature of the network and provided the opportunity for attendees to encourage each other and brainstorm what this sort of collaboration could look like.

Bryan Loritts from Fellowship Memphis, Jon Tyson from Trinity Grace Church in New York City, Rick McKinley from Imago Dei in Portland and Tim Keller from Redeemer Presbyterian Church all introduced conversations on key topics that included discussions about ethnic and socio-economic diversity, challenges in dealing with the changing norms in sexuality, faith and work, and the spiritual life of a church planter. Participants also discussed ideas on how to work city-wide with other churches to do justice and mercy or prayer.

The beautiful weather and great worship and prayer contributed to a refreshing time of relationship-building, recreation, and conversations late into the night. This group was only representative of the bigger picture, and we look forward to planning more events where all of these like-minded church planters can be together.

Rubicon is to be a place where Christians can think through what it means to create a better world, one that reflects God’s original design and intention. Presenters at Rubicon 2011 included Phyilis Tickle (author of The Great Emergence), Alan Scott (Causeway Vineyard), Gavin Jennings (RTÉ Radio 1), Ethno-Graphic Films (USA Film Company) the Very Revd Dermot Dunne (Christ Church Cathedral) and Fr Peter McVerry (Homeless Trust).

You can see a photo slideshow and news coverage of the conference at http://www.wearerubicon.com/gallery/. You can also follow Rob's blog at http://www.startingtodream.com/ or his Twitter @robdjones.

In a recent post, Rob writes:

"Our world is changing fast, but the great fact is that God’s message of grace does not. The Church as a whole, and indeed our new church, needs to really engage in this changing culture. However a changing culture also constitutes a call from God and the Gospel must be proclaimed afresh within these different times in Ireland, which present a moment of opportunity, a challenge to be confident in the Gospel and a call to imaginative mission."

Is it possible that the reason the Church has lost its credibility and prophetic voice is that its Christians no longer believe the Gospel? The Gospel turned the ancient world of the Apostles on its head. It transformed the most unlikely of people into fervent ambassadors for God, while making enemies of both the secular and religious establishments. In contrast, the Church in many places today has become a part of a dying tradition that neither challenges the culture nor attracts the skeptic. Even in movements founded on Biblical truth, a pervasive legalism and moralism has eclipsed the explosive power of what God did for the world in Christ. The Church is in a moment of crisis. There is only one thing that can restore the revolutionary power of God to the Church: the Gospel.

Advance '11 is for anyone interested in the Church, advancing the Gospel, or understanding Biblical Christianity. The conference is open to people in ministry, lay leadership, or anyone from various denominations and backgrounds concerned with the future of the church in the South. Speakers will include Tim Keller, Alan Hirsch, Eric Mason, Darrin Patrick, Danny Akin, J.D. Greear, and Tyler Jones.

The conference is being sponsored by Advance the Church, a partnership between Vintage21 Church and Summit Church in Raleigh. Register at advance2011.com. For questions please email info@advancethechurch.com.

We are delighted that Nigel Richardson - a church planter in South Africa - just began public worship services with God's help. Nigel is a graduate of the 2010 International Church Planting Intensive and planted in Durban, South Africa. This new church is called Trinity Church Morningside.

The first service took place on Sunday, March 20th and drew about 100 people - a very healthy number for the first service of a new church. Durban is the third largest city in South Africa and is famous for having the biggest port in the country.

Of this new church, Nigel says, "We expect to be a community through which the gospel of Jesus Christ brings change and renewal, in ourselves and in our friends as we introduce them to the hope of the gospel. We also look for change in our neighborhood and city as we work for its good - socially and spiritually."

To learn more about this project, please email us at info@redeemercitytocity.com or, if you are in Durban, you can visit Trinity Morningside which meets at Greyville Presbyterian Church on Windermere Road (New name: Lilian Ngoyi Road), opposite the Windermere Centre at 5:00pm on Sundays.

As of Spring 2011, Dutton will begin a formal partnership with Timothy Keller and Redeemer City to City (Content Labs division) for the establishment of a dedicated Redeemer imprint for books about faith and ministry in global culture.

The first publication, due out on February 22, will be King’s Cross, a look at the life of Jesus through the Gospel of Mark. The Table of Contents and first few pages of King’s Cross are now up for viewing here. Author Tim Keller writes in the introduction: "My purpose here is to try to show, through his words and actions, how beautifully his life makes sense of ours."

Also in the works are books on Preaching, Philosophy of Ministry, Faith and Work, and more. These publishing projects are meant to support the ministry of gospel-centered churches and ministries everywhere.

To be notified of upcoming books and publications, please sign up at our Contact page.

The latest church to be planted in Berlin is Kreuzbergprojekt - a daughter church of Berlinprojekt. Fridtjof Leemhuis, the lead pastor of Kreuzbergprojekt is working in partnership with City to City and is a graduate of the 2008 International Intensive.

Kreuzbergprojekt had its first public worship service in March and the services have grown to around 40 people attending Sunday meetings. That may not seem like very many, but for a new church plant trying to reach people living in a predominantly secular city, this number is very encouraging and will only increase.

Kreuzberg itself is a vibrant and diverse community, known for its population of young urban professionals, artists and students. Fridtjof hopes the church reaches the young professionals and creatives of the community – and recently started two initiatives designed to draw non-believers. One is called “Stammtisch,” a German word that means, literally, to go to a bar and talk with a group. Recently, Kreuzbergprojekt has been meeting at a local pub to discuss what a church in Kreuzberg should look like. Also, church members have committed themselves to inviting people they meet in Kreuzberg to their homes for a meal.

All the plenary speakers were European, and the agenda was planned and driven by European categories and topics of interest, with sessions focusing on the theme of “next steps” for church planting. Some of the topics addressed were identifying idols of the city, moving beyond the initial struggles of planting a church, and the future of City to City Europe. You can download audio and video recordings for many of the presentations on this page.

A unique moment took place at the end of the conference when everyone stood in a large circle preparing to take communion together. The one who was leading said, “Standing in this circle are representatives of nations on this continent that have often gone to war throughout our history, but today we stand as one because our unity in Christ.” It is hard to capture the emotion of that moment. Hungarians, Germans, Russians, French, British, Romanians, Italians, Spanish, Dutch, Irish, Czechs and Slovaks, men (and women) that in other generations would have been compelled to kill one another for the sake of their earthly kings were standing as one, together in service of the one true King who rules over all.

On October 15, Redeemer City to City and Redeemer Presbyterian Church released The Reason for God DVD curriculum. Published by Zondervan and based on Tim Keller’s 2008 New York Times bestselling book, The Reason for God, this film and accompanying discussion guide can help Christians address common questions about Christianity.

The DVD takes a unique approach to apologetics. After The Reason For God came out, Redeemer received many requests for follow-up materials from churches in the United States and Europe. They asked how to adapt TRFG for small groups and classes to learn how to answer sensitive questions about Christianity – questions like, “Why does God allow suffering?” and “How can God send people to hell?”

While brainstorming about how to present this material in a small group study format, the creative team at Redeemer City to City thought of this: gather together a group of individuals who are exploring spirituality, yet skeptical of Christianity, and ask them to participate in an actual group discussion led by Tim Keller. These conversations would be unscripted and filmed.

There existed no real reference point for a project like this except for talk show interviews (which are largely scripted) and reality TV (which is made for entertainment value). So the concept put Redeemer City to City in a bit of uncharted territory.

With recommendations from the Redeemer community and Redeemer’s surrounding church plants in New York City, the project’s production staff selected eight willing individuals to be filmed over a series of sessions with Dr. Keller spanning two months. The result is six 20-minute episodes that combine live group conversations with private, candid interviews with each participant.

The team behind this DVD project hopes to achieve two things: 1) to help Christians respond to objections about their faith in a winsome and intelligent way and 2) to model how to host a group for those who may be exploring.

New York City filmmaker Andrew Hunt directed this project and Sam Shammas served as creative producer. The curriculum is now available on our website and selected stores.

In March, a new church plant in partnership with Redeemer City to City began public worship in Kuala Lumpur, the largest city in Malaysia. The project is named City Discipleship Church and is led by Pastor Kay Hoe.

Pastor Hoe was recruited for this project and is currently being mentored by Reverend Wong Fong Yang, a Malaysian pastor who attended the Fall Intensive in 2008. The 6-week course ended up being pivotal in Pastor Wong's life, both in his personal understanding of the gospel and in his gaining a passion for church planting that he took home to Kuala Lumpur.

Upon returning to KL after the Fall Intensive, Pastor Wong, with God's help, has initiated the planting of two new Malaysian churches including City Discipleship Church. Jay Kyle, CTC's Asia Director believes these two projects "will be outstanding churches that have a reaching impact in Malaysia for years to come."

In 2006, a church plant started in Berlin called the Berlinprojekt. Four years later that church has grown to several services in Berlin and also has launched two daughter churches. This month, its 2^nd daughter church, Kreuzbergprojekt began public worship in Kreuzberg, one of the best-known areas of Berlin. Its first service was attended by about 60 people. It is a very transient area with many artists, and for a long time it was considered the home of the punk-rock movement.

The lead planter of Kreuzbergprojekt, Fridtjof Leemhuis, was part of Berlinprojekt leadership before being commissioned to plant the daughter church. Frid also participated in the 2008 Fall Intensive in New York.

You can find out more about Kreuzbergprojekt here.

Dimas Salaberrios, lead pastor of Infinity - a church planting project in the Bronx - has been in Haiti for the last week with a team of 4 men from his church. The team members include two medical doctors from New York City .

You can follow the progress of Dimas and his team here and you can donate to support them here. Please join us in praying for them.

About 400 leaders convened in New York City on September 9-11 for the Global Cities Initiative Conference. It was hosted by Redeemer Church Planting Center and Transform World Connections.

The plenary speakers were Daniel Ho, Luis Bush, Tim Keller and Vishal Mangawaldi. At the end of the conference - all the leaders in attendance signed a covenant to commit to planting gospel centered churches in their cities.

You can listen to Tim Keller's talks from the Conference by going to the Global Cities Initiative tab under "Programs" on this website. At that link, too, you can find a copy of the GCI Covenant.

Shari Thomas, wife of RCPC's Director of Training John Thomas, recently was interviewed by Steve Childers for his new blog series, My Top Ten Mistakes In Ministry (That I Can Share Publicly).

Read Steve's interview with Shari about her 25 years in ministry here.

By the way, Shari also has an impactful ministry to church planting spouses around the world called Parakaleo.

In an interview which took place at the conference, Dr. Keller also spoke on how evangelism is changing in an increasingly urban, postmodern, multicultural context.
]]>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:57:31 UTCRedeemerCTChttp://redeemercitytocity.com:80/blog/view.jsp?Blog_param=279Category: Blog

Redeemer City to City has just released a new discussion guide and teaching film to accompany Timothy Keller's recent book, The Prodigal God.

The purpose of these new study materials is to enable pastors and small group leaders to teach on the central message of the book in their own communities: that the gospel is neither religion nor irreligion, but something else entirely. You can find the book, discussion guide, DVD, trailer, and free downloads (including sermon outlines) at the new website.

For a limited time, RCPC network churches can obtain a special 50% discount off of all list prices; contact info@rcpc.com for more details.]]>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:41:12 UTCRedeemerCTChttp://redeemercitytocity.com:80/blog/view.jsp?Blog_param=281Category: Blog

Church planter Jon Tyson, of New York City, has started www.citycollective.org, "a community of artists, entrepreneurs and activists committed to the common good and renewal of our city."

RCPC will co-host The Global Cities Initiative Conference this fall with Transform World Connections, the international organization founded by Dr. Luis Bush.

We expect about 400 invited marketplace and ministry leaders to attend this conference from 84 global cities. The focus will be on strategic church planting and how to contextualize the Gospel for city-renewal. The plenary addresses will be given by Tim Keller, Luis Bush, Pastor Dr. Daniel K. C. Ho and Vishal Mangalwadi.

Please join us in prayer as we get ready for this gathering on September 9, 10 and 11. The conference will end with a signing of a covenant commitment to take action in the represented cities.

Perhaps you noticed the "Beta" next to "Redeemer Church Planting Center" in our website header. Why is it there?

Well, in short, Redeemer Church Planting Center - which has existed for the last 10 years - is now part of a new, larger organization called Redeemer City to City - 501(c)3 organization that exists separate from Redeemer Presbyterian Church. It contains not only all of RCPC's current functions but also the publishing of Redeemer content - videos, studies, papers and books. Although the name "Redeemer Church Planting Center" will go away, all that RCPC has done, and will continue to do, will fall under Redeemer City to City.

We're not fully prepared to launch Redeemer City to City's new website, however. We'll be ready by the end of the summer, and then will have a real launch with an entirely new design.

Until then, in this beta site, we want to offer you (our friends) some of our core content here at rcpc.com (where you are right now) and give you a head start developing our web community. Please be a part of it. Come back regularly, create a profile (all profiles will be searchable when we re-launch in the fall), download content, blog with us, and above all - let us know at info@rcpc.com what functions and content you would like to have but don't see yet. All of the content will transfer over with the new site design, so nothing you contribute here will be lost. It will just look a whole lot better.

Thanks for your support & dedication to church planting and the renewal of your city. We join with you in this endeavor,

- Redeemer Church Planting Center

soon-to-be Redeemer City to City