Popular pastor Tim Keller has shared what he thinks God's message to the world is during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The bestselling author said that the pandemic was a reminder of how much people need God.

"God's message to the world during times like this always is, 'You're not really in charge. You may think you are going to get ready for the next one, but you never will. The world isn't under your control; it's under my control. You need to turn to me. You are not sufficient to run your own life. You need my wisdom and you need my help,'" he said. 

"In every disaster, whether it's 9/11 or COVID-19, God is saying to people, 'Eventually, I'm going to put an end to all of this. But for the time being, this world is broken, and every time you think you don't need me and that you can get on top of it, something like this will come along to remind you that, no, you do need me." 

Keller is the retired founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. 

New York state is the epicentre of the US outbreak, with over 235,000 confirmed cases, with New York City accounting for 127,000 of these.  

Keller said his church had been "deeply impacted" by Covid-19, with "lots and lots of members" coming down with the virus.

"I don't know anyone who has died, but keep in mind, Redeemer is a young church," he said.

"There are very few old people, therefore my hope is there won't be many fatalities."

He went on to say that "most everybody knows somebody who has died on their block" in the city. 

"I hope other places don't go through what we're going through; it's truly a terrible thing," Keller said. "We're so densely populated here and so international. We're so much more connected than the rest of the world."

But he believes that with so many communities hurting emotionally and financially, there will be "opportunities to witness that we can't even envision just yet".

At the same time, he said Christians were being called to love their neighbour but not to take unnecessary risks. 

"It's odd because by you trying to avoid getting it, you're also loving your neighbour," he said.

"You can't take a risk and say, 'I'm going to go out and do things because I don't care if I get it or not.' The trouble is, you're risking the health of those who might not be able to get over it so quickly."

He added that the church had learned about getting through hardship and tragedy as a result of 9/11.

"We've been through this before," he said.

"Redeemer did have fatalities in 9/11; people who were in the towers when they fell. With 9/11, it took weeks for us to figure out what we should be doing, because nobody knew what was going to happen.

"You have to hold tight, spend a lot of time trying to keep up and thinking about the future, but you won't be able to know for sure immediately."

He thinks the pandemic will also bring different people much closer together.

"At the national level, I don't have much hope," he said. 

"Politicians are trying to pin the other side with the blame for the virus and it's discouraging. They're trying to score points so that when the pandemic begins to ease, they look good.

"But at the local level, that's probably not going to happen. Everyone is going to say, 'OK, how do we deal with the devastation in our communities?'

"And that's where I think, if Christians are willing to get out there and be Good Samaritans and say, 'How do we work with people of different races and religions and just try to love them and how can we join hands?' we will have less polarization and a real opportunity to witness."