Tim Keller has said he's making progress in his fight against pancreatic cancer

In a social media post on Friday, the prominent US pastor and author said he has received encouraging reports from oncologists and that his tumours have shrunk. He'll be continuing chemotherapy in order to reduce the cancer further.

He added: "Our situation has driven us to seek God's face as we never before. He is giving us more of his sensed presence, more freedom from our besetting sins, more dependence on his Word---things that we had sought for years, but only under these circumstances are we finding them. 

"We humbly beg that you all continue your prayers for the effectiveness of the treatment and minimal side effects to accompany it. Your prayers and concern mean more than we can express.  Thanks so much!"

The New York City-based preacher revealed the diagnosis in an Instagram post in June. 

Keller explained how he saw the hand of God in his diagnosis, not least because he was exhibiting no outward signs of the disease.

Keller, who led New York's Redeemer Presbyterian Church for 28 years before stepping down in 2017, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer back in 2002, writing about the experience in his 2013 book Walking with God through Pain and Suffering.