A BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE CITY

A. Understand that God designed the city.

The city is God's invention and design, not just a sociological phenomenon or invention of humankind. History began in a garden (Genesis 2), but it will end in a city. The wife of the Lamb is a beautiful city, shining with the glory of God (Revelation 21:10-1 1). The future that God is working toward is an urban future. Hebrews 1 1:10 - "For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Though the earthly city is an institution corrupted by sin, we are to seek to redeem, strengthen and rebuild broken human cities. As we are to redeem human families by spreading within them the family of God, so we are to redeem human cities by spreading within them the city of God.

B. Understand why God designed the city.

1. As a place of refuge and shelter for the weak. Originally cities arose as a place where people come who are too weak to live elsewhere. The earliest cities provided refuge from wild animals and marauding tribes and criminals. In, Israel, the first cities in the land built by God's direction were "cities of refuge". Even today, because of its inherent nature, the city is the place where minorities can cluster for support in an alien land, where new immigrants can work together for a foothold in a new world, where refugees can find shelter, and where the homeless and poor can better eke out an existence. The city is always a more merciful place for minorities of all kinds. The dominant majorities often dislike cities, but the weak and powerless need them. They cannot survive in the suburbs and small towns. This is the reason cities are places of diversity, much more so than the rest of any country. Earthly cities thus reflect the Future City where there will be people of "every tongue, tribe, people, and nation".

2. As a cultural and human development center. The city stimulates and focuses the gifts, capacities, and talents of people, the deep potentialities in the human heart. It does so by bringing you into contact with (a) so many more people unlike you - very diverse and providing different perspectives, and with (b) so many more people like you who are just as good or better at what you do. This unique exposure to like and unlike, and this concentration of human talent, both by "competition" and cooperation, produces greater works of art, science, technology, culture. Nothing challenges and presses you to excellence like the city. Nothing drives you to reach down deep and do well like the city.

3. As a place of spiritual searching and temple building. Ancient cities were built around a "ziggurat" — the original skyscrapers — temples where a particular god was thought to "come down". When God creates a new city in the desert, he does so by dwelling among his people in the tabernacle, for the city of God will be his dwelling place. Any city has a spiritual vacuum within it. The .diversity (#1) and challenge to excellence (#2) creates a turmoil and climate which • makes people religious seekers. Cities loosen traditional ties, and thus make people more open to new ideas. This makes evangelism much "easier" (humanly speaking) in cities, but makes discipleship much harder.

These three factors are what make cities magnificent places for Christians to live and minister. Cities show us the richness and manifold glory of what God put into the human heart. Cities are places that teach us and make us live examined lives, instead of thoughtless lives. Cities stimulate us to use our gifts and bring out the best in us. Cities are unsurpassed places for winning people

to Christ and influencing our society. Christians who do well in cities are energized by a) diversity, b) the challenge to excellence, and c) the opportunities for witness.

C. Understand how sin uses the city.

Because of human sin, now the city's power (for refuge, for cultural development, for religion) works in rebellion against and defiance of God's glory. How sin makes the city work -

1. As a refuge from God. The city of Cain is built to get away from God (Genesis 4:17). It was his substitute for Eden - an effort to find happiness apart from God. Sin uses the city's God-designed power to be a place of self-sustaining security without God. As a refuge from God, people with deviant lifestyles can run and hide because of the natural tolerance the city breeds toward those who are weak and different. But through sin the diversity of the city (with all its minorities) only breeds anger, tension, and violence between the different groups.

2. As a culture defying God. The city of Babel is built for human glory instead of God's glory. Sin uses the city's God-designed power to be a place where we can use human resources "to make a name for ourselves" (Genesis 1 1:4), and build a human culture that defies God. This self-promotion is now a deep drive and engine in any human city. It is a spirituality of darkness with enormous force, attracting many to the city to get- glory and become "somebody". But through sin, the city (which drives you to reach down and do your best) becomes exhausting and destructive, leading to an idolatry of achievement. And as a cultural production center it is like a magnifying glass, bringing out whatever is in the human heart. Thus the city brings out the very best yet the very worst of human nature. (It is quite wrong to see the city as evil! It was designed by God,to "draw out" and to "mine" what God made.)

3. As a place of idolatry. The city of Babylon is a place of idolatry. Materialism-idolatry (Revelation 1 8:3b), crime and violence (v. 24), and religious cults (v. 24 — in her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, v. 3 — she has become a home of demons and a haunt for every evil spirit) all flourish there. As in ancient times, the city was built around ziggurats, "landing pads" for the god of the city, so today people are drawn into skyscraper temples worshipping the self and money. Cities are also hotbeds of religious cults and false teaching. (This is partly so because of the refuge-nature of the city, and partly because of the culture-making nature of the city.) Since cities breed spiritual seeking, when Christians abandon the cities the seekers fall into the hands of the idols and heresies.

D. Understand the cruciality of the city.

Jesus told us to be witnesses for his kingdom (Acts 1:6-8) and to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). In short, we are to reach the world (making disciples) and change the world (witnessing for his kingdom). But Christians will never be able to do that unless they reach and change the city. Why must we reach our city in order to reach our society?

Wayne Meeks of Yale, in The First Urban Christians, points out that Paul's missionary work was almost completely urban-centered. He went to the very largest cities, and ignored small towns and the countryside. Christianity spread better and more powerfully in the urban Roman Empire than in the countryside. Why? Because of -

1. Personal openness. The Biblical purposes of the city (see below) lead to a great deal of personal, unsettledness. Change is relentless in the city and personal turmoil is very great. As a result, people in the city are less conservative, more used to and open to change and new ideas. Evangelism is, humanly spec ng, easier in the city.

2. Cultural influence. In small towns, the people only have influence over their town, but in the city are the influence brokers of the whole society. The city is the place where the culture is formed — the seat of power for the media, education, academia, the arts, literature. Thus, as the

city goes, so goes the general culture. In a small town you may win the three artists to Christ, but if you want to have an impact on the artistic professions, you must go to the city. If you want to "win the society", you must win the city.

3. Global connection. Smaller towns tend to be culturally homogeneous. But the city is the place where multiple nationalities and ethnic groups come together, so it directly connects with scores of other countries in a way that small towns and suburbia do not. The spread of the gospel in a single city automatically moves Christianity into multiple national people groups and thus into dozens and scores of countries.

For these reasons and others, Paul and early Christian evangelists concentrated exclusively on cities. When Paul wished to reach a region such as Macedonia, he headed always for the chief city of that area (cf. Acts 1 6:8-9 with v. 1 2).

This strategy paid off handsomely. By the year 300 AD, over half of the urban populations of the Empire were Christian while the countryside was pagan (the word paganus means countryman!). But of course, the society Itself was coming to Christ because the cities were. If the cities are pagan and the country is Christian, the society is going pagan; if the cities are Christian and the country is pagan, the society is going Christian.

It is telling to contrast the early Christians with modern American Christians. They were a very small percentage of the population with few resources, while we are a large percentage of the population with many resources. They grew in influence while we (by all accounts) are rapidly losing influence in our culture. Why? It is largely because the early Christians were urban, while studies today show that, the more urban a community, the fewer evangelical Christians are in residence.

There are three kinds of persons in the modern U. S. who live largely or mainly in cities: 1) the 'elites' who control the culture and who are becoming increasingly secularized, 2) the masses of new immigrants who move out into the mainstream society over the next 30 years, and 3) the poor, whose dilemmas are deepening rapidly and affecting-the whole country. Each of these groups exerts tremendous influence on our society, and we cannot reach them in the suburbs.

A BIBLICAL RELATIONSHIP TOWARD THE CITY

1. Understand the two cities in every city.

We know that the way to redeem human families is to spread the family of God through them. So the way to redeem earthly cities is to spread the city of God through them. From what the Bible says, we see that cities are both magnificent and terrible. Why? In every earthly city, there are two "kingdoms", two "cities", vying for control. What St. Augustine called the City of Man, and the City of God. The Book of Revelation calls them Babylon and Jerusalem, named after the two earthly cities. Of course, the fight between these two kingdoms happens everywhere in the world, but earthly cities are the flash points on the battle lines, the places where the fighting is most intense, and where victories are the most strategic. Why? Because of the power of the city, it is the chief target of the forces of darkness, because that which wins the city sets the course of human life and society and culture. Therefore, in general, the city is the most crucial place to minister. '

Every city is therefore two cities. Both Babylon and Jerusalem struggle for expression in New York City.

2. Avoid false relational "models".

Based on our theology of the city (see Part A), there are several types of relationships one can have with the city.

a) We despise the city. Church as fortress. The church against the city. Forgetting Jerusalem.

In this model, we may know that sin is using the city and expressing Babylon, but we are forgetting God's design for the city as Jerusalem. In this model, the church avoids and denounces the city as a prophet, but does not serve it as a priest.

b) We are the city. Church as mirror. The church of the city. Forgetting Babylon.

In this model, we may know that God loves the city, but we are forgetting how sin is using the city and expressing Babylon. In this model, the church simply celebrates and reflects the city and serves it as a priest, but does not challenge it as a prophet.

c) We use/ignore the city. Church as space capsule. The church above or in the city. . Forgetting the battleground.

In this model, we may have little concept of either the city as Jerusalem or Babylon. In this model the church is disengaged from the city, and its members simply use the city for personal advancement or cultural benefits. This forgets that the city is battleground, the crucial flash point between light and darkness.

d) We love the city. Church as Leaven; as salt and light. The church for the city. Remembering everything!

Jeremiah 29. tells Christians to see the earthly city as something to love and win. They are to win it by seeking its shalom (Jeremiah 29) and seeking to spread the city of God within it, and to battle the city of Satan within it.

Any methods and ministries will fail if not based on a proper theological model or stance toward the city. And any theological model of the city will fail if one or more of the three Biblical themes of the city is neglected, omitted, or over-emphasized. Those themes are: the city as Jerusalem, as Babylon, and as battleground.

3. Get a vision for your city.

Proverbs 1 1:10 — "when the righteous prosper, the city rejoices." Our prosperity is to be for the benefit of the city, for the common good.

Proverbs 11:11 - "Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted."

The city is exalted (literally "lifted") because the upright bless the city. In the Bible "blessedness" is a state of complete fulfillment and well being, and "to bless" someone was to will and work for that in them. (cf. Jeremiah 29:7 and context) We are not just to seek prosperity and peace in the city, but we are to seek prosperity and peace for the city. We are to have a vision for what our city should look like, not just for our church. Christian's prosperity must be for the city's prosperity. That means

a) we envision many thousands finding the Christ ("Ezra" ministry). That also means

b) we envision business and the arts would be conducted differently, ("Esther" ministry). That also means

c) social conditions would improve in needy neighborhoods ("Nehemiah" ministry).