The Christian tradition is filled with imagery involving cities. Much of the Old Testament’s prophetic literature is centered around the city of Jerusalem, where God came to dwell with God’s people, the subsequent pain of exile from the holy city, and the their joy and struggles upon returning. In the Gospels, Jesus and his disciples are always on the go from one city or town to the next, and Paul and the apostles after him take up the same pattern of ministry. In the Book of Revelation, the vision that John sees of a new heaven and a new earth, the final fulfillment of God’s Kingdom, culminates in a city, a new Jerusalem where God and the Lamb dwell forever.
In this issue of Unbound, our authors will explore the city and urban ministry from a variety of perspectives. What is unique about ministry in the context of the city? What does Christian ministry and social witness look like in a place where a variety of cultures, ages, races, religions, and lifestyles intersect? If Jesus calls his Church to be the light of the world – a city on a hill – what are some of the struggles of our present cities communicating to the world? What does it mean to say, as John does in Revelation, that the Kingdom of God looks like a city?
The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) is bringing a resolution to the 221st General Assembly (2014) entitled “The Gospel from Detroit: Renewing the Church’s Urban Vision.” Click here to see the full text of that resolution.
Week 1
Seek the Peace of the City
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” -Jeremiah 29:4-7
In his letter to the Judeans in exile, Jeremiah commends his readers to embrace the city in which they now find themselves, to dig in and become part of the community, for their welfare is tied up with the welfare of this strange new land. Likewise, many of our authors this week found themselves called from small towns or suburbs into the heart of the city. What does it mean to seek the peace and well-being of a city? Does seeking peace look different after you’ve been a member of the community for a long time? What is the role of the government, non-profits, the Church, and individual Christians? Our authors this week will give us a variety of perspectives on cities where they have sought the things that make for peace and wholeness.
Growing up in the mountains of Western Maryland, youth ministry was an integral part of my life. Most of my friends attended church, and I found myself regularly joining their youth groups. I’d say during my middle and high school years, I was going to some sort of church youth
More“Why are you doing this when you could be at the pool or playing video games with your friends?” This is the question that I loved to ask campers every summer for the four years I co-directed “Summer in the City”, a mission based camp for middle school youth in
MoreIn 2010, I decided to embark on a major life transition. I left my comfortable, full-time job, gave up my car, and moved. Why, you might be wondering? What adventure could I have possibly signed up for? Where would I be going? Someplace exotic and exciting, right? Well, sort of.
MoreMy experience with street ministry in San Francisco’s Tenderloin Neighborhood did not save anyone. It did not fix anyone’s problems or end homelessness. But I believe that it made a difference in an important way that continues to ripple out into the world; it has done so in my life. My
MoreMoving to a new city is no easy feat. I’ve done it twice in my life thus far, and I wouldn’t wish the difficulty of moving and getting settled in a new city on anyone! Many people find themselves moving to a new city because of happy, exciting changes in their
MoreWeek 2
The Sin of Your Sister Sodom
“As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it.” -Ezekiel 16:48-50
If you’re looking in the Bible for the quintessential example of a city that “got it wrong,” look no further than the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. The legacy of Sodom certainly continued in the Biblical tradition, for in the above text, the Lord – speaking through the prophet Ezekiel – references the legendary sin of Sodom to describe the even greater sin of Jerusalem in turning away from the Lord. Sodom obviously continues to to captivate the popular imaginations of church and culture to this day – particularly by those who would point to the fate of Sodom as the Bible’s definitive take on homosexuality.
However, while Sodom is used as a negative example over 50 times in the Old and New Testament, only once in the entirety of Scripture are we explicitly told what sin Sodom has committed that is so grave as to warrant God’s judgement. (One must remember that God is bent on destroying Sodom for its sin even before the story of egregious inhospitality and attempted rape recounted in Genesis 19.) That one instance, the passage from Ezekiel quoted above, names Sodom’s sin: the city “had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” These, Ezekiel argues, are the haughty and abominable things that Sodom did that caused the Lord to rain down fire and brimstone upon the city. It seems that it was not homosexuality but rather wealth inequality that brought God’s judgment on the city.
That news doesn’t bode very well for most modern-day Presbyterians — or even for most modern-day North American Christians! Our authors this week will take a step back from last week’s stories and reflect on the theological implications of urban ministry and the issues we encounter in the city, from inequality to homelessness to violence to the need for ecumenical and cross-cultural collaboration and witness. Check back each day to hear what different voices are bringing to the conversation!
In his letter to the Judeans in exile, Jeremiah commends his readers to embrace the city in which they now find themselves, to dig in and become part of the community, for their welfare is tied up with the welfare of this strange new land. Likewise, many of our authors this week found themselves called from small towns or suburbs into the heart of the city. What does it mean to seek the peace and well-being of a city? Does seeking peace look different after you’ve been a member of the community for a long time? What is the role of the government, non-profits, the Church, and individual Christians? Our authors this week will give us a variety of perspectives on cities where they have sought the things that make for peace and wholeness.
I currently live and work at Richmond Hill, an ecumenical retreat center and intentional community in Richmond, VA. Richmond Hill was originally a Catholic convent established in Richmond’s historic Church Hill neighborhood after the Civil War. As the Union army advanced on Richmond, the Confederate army set fire to the
More“I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city… a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” -Luke 2:10b-11, NRSV (emphasis added) The “city” has been an important image in Christian theological and popular imagination since its
MoreThe Unity of the Gospel and our Common Need for God’s Compassion Urban ministry is often typified by a focus on those who live in depressed socioeconomic conditions. This type of ministry is almost always associated with conditions of poverty and Jesus’ preferential option for the poor. In reality, however,
MoreA response to the following news story. It was late, when she turned onto Caldwell, wondering if the kids were in bed yet, if her husband had remembered to take out the recycling. She was ticking through e-mails still unanswered, when she spotted the dark form, lying knees to chest
MoreThe work of urban ministry is a love/hate relationship for me. You have to hate it enough to love it so that your heart breaks for it. I’ve seen urban ministry glamorized a lot recently; it appears to be the “trendy” type of ministry to engage in these days. In light
MoreIn my office, I have a print of a painting by the African American artist Horace Pippin, who is one of my heroes. The picture is titled “Holy Mountain III,” and it is one of three scenes Pippin painted that depict the promises found in Isaiah 65:17-25. In this picture,
MoreWeek 3
God in the Midst of the City
“God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.” -Ps 46:5
This week is Holy Week, a week that begins with Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem to waving palms and cries of ‘Hosanna!’, includes his crucifixion at the hands of the Roman authorities, and ends with his Resurrection, the ultimate triumph of life over death. In Matthew’s Gospel, it is after his triumphant entry into Jerusalem and during Holy Week that Jesus weeps over the city: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37) As we go through this final week of Lent, when Jesus came to the city and we saw some of the worst of what humanity can do, let be reminded that the person of Jesus Christ shows us that God is in the midst of humanity and in the midst of the city. As our authors this week explore different visions and strategies of urban ministry, we remember that any ministry we do is enabled by a God who is already at work in the midst of the city.
On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life’s roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed
MoreWhen I was small, my grandfather used to tell me that the shortest verse in the Bible is “Jesus wept.” It made a strong impression on me, perhaps because it was the only verse I can remember him quoting. It was powerful to think of Jesus, the Son of God,
MoreBuilding Vibrant Congregations and Just Communities “And what does God require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.” -Micah 6:8 “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
MoreFrom Ministry Tourists to Pilgrims Maps have always fascinated me. As a child they allowed me to escape the confines of the urban landscape of Chicago’s southwest side. I loved learning to read maps, gleaning insight into faraway people and places with a kind of romanticism. Conversely, as an adult,
MoreOne Sunday, after parking our car in the vacant lot across from the church where we worship, our family made our way around a make-shift memorial that had been set up the night before. 24 hours earlier, a vigil had been held for a young father of two who had
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