The Grace Discipleship Group

I recently read Tim Chester’s blog on the city. I will paste a few clips below …
What do you think of the city? When most groups do a word association on ‘the city’, they throw up a mix of positive and negative images. But what is God’s vision for the city?

The city is ….

3. A place of influence

Paul said: ‘I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.’ (Romans 15:19). He could claim that because he had started new churches in all the major cities. From the city the message of Jesus could go out into the surrounding area. Cities are places of influences:

• because they are places of creativity that set the pace for the culture
• because the headquarters of government, business, arts, media and professions are in the city
• because cities have strong global connections

If Christians want to reach the world and transform the culture, we need to focus on cities.

I grew up with a deep passion for the countryside. All my dreams involved living in the country, writing poetry somewhere as remote as possible. When Helen and I first married we lived for a year in north London which was hard for me. And then the opportunity came to move to Richmond, a small town in the Yorkshire Dales. It was a wonderful place to live. From our window we saw the hills. I could walk out of our door into beautiful countryside. And I did! But a few months in I realised I had made a mistake. I loved it there. I still look back to our time there with great fondness. But I knew I had to serve God in the city. That’s where most people are. That’s where the poor are. Even then it was only when we came to Sheffield that I really learned to love the city.

4. A place of opportunity

The city is a place of opportunity - in employment, arts, sport and so on. But it is also a place of opportunity for the gospel. Most Christians think of the city as a hard place or a dark place. But the opposite is true. In the Bible and in history, the evidence is the opposite. Read Acts 11:19-26. Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire. It was the New York or Sao Paulo of its day. By the third century over half the Roman Empire had converted to Christianity yet the vast majority of these were in cities (‘pagan’ originally meant country-dweller). Always, always the more urban a place is, the more troubled and the more plural - the more people have responded to the message of Jesus. People in towns are spiritually , but that ness is covered over with respectability. Urban people are more likely to recognise their need. Urban people are more open to new ideas.

A new city
And so the Bible’s vision of the future, of God’s future, is a vision of a new city, a renewed city, God’s city. We are ‘confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.’ (Hebrews 11:10) ‘Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared … And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.’ (Rev 21:1-2)

In the meantime the Christian community is:

1. A city within the city
We are an outpost, a glimpse, a foretaste of God’s new city. Jesus said to his followers: ‘You are the light of the world - like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.’ (Mt 5:14) We are the place where God’s future can be seen. A place of refuge from God’s judgment. A place of welcome for outsiders. A place of creativity that is offered to God. A place of worship and prayer.

2. A city for the city
God’s people are told: ‘Work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you.’ (Jer 29:7) The word ‘peace’ (shalom) means blessing, well-being, wholeness, economic, social and spiritual health. ‘Dear friends, I warn you as temporary residents and foreigners to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.’ (1 Pet 2:11-12 NLT & NIV). Christians belong to God’s city so we don’t quite fit in - we’re like temporary residents. Yet at the same time we are to do good to the city in which live.

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