Redeemer Presbyterian Church ( PCA), is a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

located in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, founded in 1989 by

Timothy J. Keller Timothy J. Keller (born September 23, 1950) is an American pastor, theologian, and Christian apologist. He is the chairman and co-founder of Redeemer City to City, which trains pastors for service around the world. He is also the founding pastor ...

, who retired as

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

in July 2017. The family of Redeemer churches includes Redeemer Downtown (Sr. Pastor John Lin), Redeemer West Side (Sr. Pastor David Bisgrove), Redeemer East Side (Sr. Pastor Abraham Cho), Redeemer Lincoln Square (Pastor Michael Keller), and Redeemer East Harlem (Pastor Justin Adour). ''

Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "evange ...

'' called Redeemer "one of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

's most vital congregations."

History

Redeemer draws around 5,000 people to its services each Sunday at venues on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

and

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

. According to the church's 2014 annual report, the current total membership is 1,760. In a 2006 survey of 2,000 American Protestant church leaders, Redeemer was named the #16 most influential church in America. Redeemer has attracted members of the public such as young professionals, doctors, bankers, lawyers, artists, actors, musicians, and designers, many of whom are in their 20s and 30s. In January 1998, a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' article about the church discussed its conservative stance, in that it condemned homosexuality and did not allow women to be ministers. In the article, current and former members of the congregation described the Redeemer church as intolerant, and "being full of fundamentalists and zealous, newly converted Christians pushing hard-line views". In response to the article, Tim and

Kathy Keller Kathy Louise Keller (born 1950) is an author, lecturer, church founder, and Christian theologian from New York City who has appeared on the New York Times best seller list. She is the wife of pastor Tim Keller of New York's Redeemer Presbyterian Ch ...

wrote to ''The New York Times'' and claimed that the church was neither "hardline" nor "fundamentalist."Redeemer Church Rejects The 'Hard-Line' Label
New York Times, Sunday, February 15, 1998. Through its church planting center, Redeemer has helped start over 100 smaller churches in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

. With respect to

planting Sowing is the process of planting seeds. An area or object that has had seeds planted in it will be described as a sowed or sown area. Plants which are usually sown Among the major field crops, oats, wheat, and rye are sown, grasses and leg ...

and starting new churches in urban areas, ''The New York Times'' reported that "

s from around the world are beginning to come in a steady stream to New York City to glean what they can from Dr. Keller and Redeemer." In 2012, the church bought a parking garage at 150 West 83rd Street on the

for conversion to a church building of its own.City Room, NY Times, 2011 Feb 8
by LIZ ROBBINS and COLIN MOYNIHAN The church has an office at 1166

Avenue of the Americas Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...

References

External links

Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Redeemer City to City

Center for Faith and Work

''Gospel in Life'' - Sermons & Resources

''150w83'' - Event Venue/Rental Space

e-newsletter
{{Authority control Churches in Manhattan Presbyterian churches in New York City Presbyterian Church in America churches in New York (state) Christian organizations established in 1989