A Biblical Critique of Tim Keller's "Center Church" (pt. 6)

Can Unbelievers Fulfill the Missio Dei?

I recently read about some of the homeless in Philadelphia.  Two different groups attempted to come alongside a charitable organization to help these people.  On the one hand, churches in the greater Philly area raised some money to buy them some things, one of which was microwave popcorn.  On the other hand, the mafia showed up and handed out brand new bicycles to kids, a turkey to each family, and gave thousands of dollars to the organization.  After considering the fact that these people had no microwaves, let alone electricity, the author wrote, “I thought to myself, I guess God can use the mafia, but I would like God to use the church.”[1]

This raises an important question.  Can unbelievers fulfill the purpose of the church and please the Lord?  Keller seems to answer yes and no.  He would ultimately say no, of course.  But he repeatedly affirms the necessary balance of remaining in the center of the Word mandate and the Deed mandate (see the previous and next section).  Yet unbelievers regularly perform the Deed mandate.  Keller is burdening the church with a mandate that doesn’t require the Holy Spirit.  Not only are these two—Christians and the world—at odds, lacking any harmony or shared passion (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1), but those who don’t have Christ or His Spirit cannot do anything beneficial in the spiritual sense.  Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).  Whatever the unbeliever can do—no matter how beneficial it is because of common grace—can’t be called ‘fruit.’  And Paul said, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom 8:6-8).  Whatever the unbeliever does accomplish, it is never submissive to God’s authority or pleasing to Him.

It appears impossible to avoid one of two implications.  If the church is called to fulfill a task that unbelievers can and do already you are left with two options.  Either a) the church ought to focus on what cannot biblically be called fruit, submission, or anything pleasing to God, or b) unbelievers don’t need the church, the gospel, or Christ’s Spirit to accomplish half of the missio Dei!   The former is too preposterous to consider, and the latter leaves you wandering, “Why should the church focus on this so-called social mandate?”  Let the spiritually dead take care of that work, because not only can they, but they will be able to do a better job of it.  Why wouldn’t we take care of what the church alone can be a part of by God’s special grace—the evangelization of souls?

A Biblical Critique of Keller's "Center Church" (pt. 5)

Keller and Driscoll

Does the Church Have a Social Mandate?

This may sound like a question that should be answered in the third section, dealing with CC’s ecclesiology.  However, it truly belongs here, because Keller’s social mandate seems to be rooted in the doctrine of common grace.  Throughout large portions of the City section (chs. 7-18) of CC, Keller is evaluating positions and approaches to the culture.  He believes that the mission of the church must be balanced between the great commission and the cultural mandate to advance human flourishing.  He says,

We teach Christians to integrate their faith and their work so that they can be culture makers, working for human flourishing—the common good. (47)

…numbers do not always equate to influence.  Even if 80 percent of the population of a country are Christian believers, they will have almost no cultural influence if the Christians do no live in cultural centers and work in culture-forging fields such as academia, publishing, media, entertainment, and the arts.  The assumption that society will improve simply by more Christian believers being present is no longer valid.  If you care about having an influence on society, evangelism is not enough. (185)

But effective churches will be so involved in deeds of mercy and justice that outsiders will say, “We cannot do without churches like this.  This church is channeling so much value into our community that if it were to leave the neighborhood, we would have to raise taxes.” (305)[1]

Things like clean water, dental work, changing business, art, music and publishing for the better may certainly be good for humanity in this life. But is this to be the missio Dei (God’s mission) for the church?  As good as these things may be, I’m convinced that this is a terrible distraction from the true mission of the church.  To clearly understand the mission of the church, let’s look at the early chapters of the book of Acts.