Newport, Rhode Island (USA) has a reputation for being a seaside playground for the rich and famous. That is where Paul Hoffman pastors a church that reaches as many as 500 people among whom are students, military officers and their families, and people who work in the sailing industry and tourism.
The church is positioned on Aquidneck Island, which straddles a kind of economic line. On one side are the vacation homes of people who come to the community only for holidays, and on the other side are people who live on public assistance. In this context, Hoffman found himself studying the works of Tim Keller, a long-time pastor who planted a church in the diverse urban setting of Manhattan. Keller’s writings became the focus of his PhD research when he began his studies in 2012 with us and completed them in 2017.
As he studied Keller’s writings, he found they were “thin” in consideration of the Holy Spirit’s role in mission. “Like many evangelicals from the USA, Keller presents an underdeveloped understanding of the Holy Spirit in mission. As Lesslie Newbigin asserted, the Spirit is the ‘Sovereign Spirit,’ the one who leads congregations and Christians on mission.”
Because Paul believes the Trinity’s role in local American ministry has been neglected, he constructed a Trinitarian missiological lens which he used to critically analyze Keller’s urban missiology. Having laid that groundwork, he addressed Keller’s “thin areas” by presenting his own urban missiology in a three-part, interlocking or overlapping structure that is pneumatological, reconciling, and offers collective engagement.
“I think my research is helping influence my ministry,” Paul said. Keller’s writings and Paul’s own ministry have made him think more deeply about the purpose and value of churches in urban centers, in a world where the United Nations estimates that more than 50 percent of the global population live in urban centers. The UN projects that will increase to 66 percent by 2050.
“This will be my passion going forward – part of what is coming out of my doctoral studies. I’ve had a chance to reflect upon reconciliation and what does that mean, and that Christians, I believe, are called to a ministry and message of reconciliation.”
Hoffman found that in the diversity of urban settings, “reconciliation as a way of life” needed to play a significant part in an urban missiology – which he argues is lacking in Keller’s writings. “This will be my passion going forward – part of what is coming out of my doctoral studies. I’ve had a chance to reflect upon reconciliation and what does that mean, and that Christians, I believe, are called to a ministry and message of reconciliation.”
Paul’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. His recently recently published his new book Preaching to a Divided Nation: A Seven-Step Model for Promoting Reconciliation and Unity that tries to give concrete steps to take to heal divides within churches. You can purchase that book via Amazon or wherever you get your books. The entire book revolves around “the gospel of reconcilation” and how to proclaim that very gospel in the midst of such cultural divisions.
Why would people who do not identify as Christians want to join a divided church?
Preaching to a Divided Nation uses the models of the trinity that Paul worked through at NTC during his PhD. “Deirdre, my supervisor, pointed me towards more relational trinitarian models, especially works by Timothy Tennent, Lesslie Newbigin, and Colin Gunton.” Emphasizing the relational trinity led Paul to focus on those relational aspects as reflections of who we are as the image of God: mutually sacrificing, mutually glorifying, and mutually loving. “We aren’t telling people to do things just simply for the Gospel or Great Commission but to realize that these issues are bound up in the very nature of God. If we are to reflect God’s nature through our lives and ministries, then it must involve relational aspects of mutuality and love.”
Preaching to a Divided Nation is available where books are sold. Read the first chapter here (link) and order your copy today!
