Keller: Balanced Ministry

How should the gospel shape ministry methodology?

The fact that we're saved by grace should keep us from being too culturally narrow. Legalism and insecurity, thinking we have to earn our salvation, leads people to take hold of cultural forms and turn them into principles. We really want to be assured we're right with God so we add rules that aren't in the Bible so we can do something to assure ourselves that our salvation is secure. The gospel frees us from that.

At the same time, just as we are saved by faith alone, we're saved for holiness. There's a new desire to please God. You don't just live any way you want. That balance between legalism and antinomianism has implications for how we do ministry.

It should lead us to be both flexible in the way in which ministry is shaped—not rigid, not too traditional—but at the same time still very afraid of offending God, of grieving and dishonoring the One who saved us.

It leads us to be more careful, to honor the past. It prevents us from being either too institutional or anti-institutional. It keeps us from being too contextualized or under-contextualized.

The gospel brings a wonderful balance.

Leadership