BRING LIFE TO THE CITIES

The word 'city' conjures up different things in people’s minds. For some of us it evokes more negative than positive images but one fact is certain - cities are full of people. And tragically, a significant percentage of those people are excluded from the mainstream of society because of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, disability and a number of associated issues. There are estates that have suffered years of neglect and the effects of inconsistent public policy, people living on them who have had their sense of hope squeezed out of them. Yet there is so much untapped potential in our urban communities.

People who could contribute local insight, practical skills, and the motivation to make a difference have for too long been marginalised. Things have been done to them by the experts that have often left the real issues untouched and have perhaps inadvertently given the message that they are a problem to be solved and little else. And where is the church in all this?

Many smaller churches in our cities have declined or closed as members have moved out to areas where there may be cheaper housing, greater employment opportunities, and better schooling. Some churches have declined through lack of vision and an outward looking perspective. Alongside this, various city centre teaching churches have grown through an influx of middle class attendees commuting to them from long distances with all the consequent effects upon the smaller, less vibrant churches in their own neighbourhoods.

Church planting in British cities over the past few years has seen mixed results. A particular area of growth has been in the number of black majority churches, as well as an increase in Asian Christian Fellowships. New churches too have been formed. Alliances have been formed by churches across Boroughs but there still remains the tremendous challenge of what could be done.

I believe our attitudes need to change. For too many of us the city is a place of problems rather than of potential. Cities are places of possibility and opportunity, and the church urgently needs to gain a vision for this. If we trace the steps of the apostle Paul in the New Testament we can see there the importance that he placed on impacting cities for God, but somehow in Britain the church has failed to fully grasp this. It needs more of us to be prepared to risk asking God for a vision for our cities. It will demand of us the willingness to commit ourselves to churches that may not meet all our needs. Pursuing such a vision may ask us to live and relate in neighbourhoods that aren't naturally our first choice.

What is needed are people with passion and commitment to see the richness of urban community life unlocked. People who burn with vision as they see the strategic importance of cities from God's perspective, and who are prepared to act as catalysts for change at a local level. Our cities are places of power in its many forms and Christians need to be right in there being salt and light, being and sharing the good news of the Gospel in contemporary and accessible ways, and above all demonstrating God's concern for cities and those who live in them.

Fran Beckett is Chief Executive of The Shaftesbury Society

(from the Christian Herald)