Where you live matters. Your context matters. God’s people have never been called into a ghetto, some kind of vacuum, protected by high walls of fear, suspicion, and judgementalism about everyone else. Your church’s context matters, it is the place where the church shines the light of the future in Christ, your city.
Your church is in your city so that your city can taste and see the city to come.
If you have been around MICN for a while, you will have heard of “Love Hanoi”. It is an exciting story of how Jacob Bloemberg and his church, Hanoi International Fellowship, established a coalition of Christian churches and various other agencies so that they together could love their city. In partnership, through Word and deed, they have set out to serve the city of Hanoi. Their vision? The city of God to come, New Jerusalem, when the Kingdom of God fills the heavens and the earth.
Jacob has told this story in his recently published book, “Love [Your City]: 5 Steps to Citywide Movements.” I want to encourage you to read it well as it has much relevance to all Internationals Churches (ICs). Jacob describes the journey by which the vision of Love Hanoi was birthed: paradigm shifts in the Biblical theologies of Kingdom and city, paradigm shifts in appreciating cities for all that they are, paradigm shifts in understanding how working for change develops. He also tells of how the city officials came on-board with the vision and this is particularly special!
(The easiest way to provide book details is with an Amazon link. I am sure you can shift across to your preferred retailer if needed.)
Jacob promotes two similar books with similar stories, one by Ray Bakke, “A Theology as Big as the City” and the other by Eric Swanson, “To Transform a City: Whole Church, Whole Gospel, Whole City.” Both their stories are in cities in the USA. Jacob mostly engages with Bakke but both are worthy of a serious read. Of course, none will do your thinking for you regarding your own city but they will stimulate your vision and creativity! These books blend the theology of the city and Kingdom with practical application which develop out of the stories of the authors, their churches, and their cities. By seeing what all these stories have in common, you will better figure out how to engage with you own city.
For a more developed theological exploration of the city in the purposes of God, I strongly recommend Desmond Alexander. He is an evangelical British scholar specializing in Biblical Theology. He is one of the two editors of the IVP New Dictionary of Biblical Theology.
This book, “The City of God and the Goal of Creation”, is an excellent laying out the Biblical narrative from Genesis to the New Jerusalem and the place and meaning of the city in the purposes of God. This is just a straight Biblical Theology of the City. Alexander does not weave it into the story of a particular place nor address practicalities. I recommend this book to any IC pastor serving in a city and looking for a theological foundation to a city-wide vision and mission. (He also has a good book on the Temple that likewise follows the same narrative.)
The larger theological and new creation context for the city is in Alexander’s book, “From Eden to the New Jerusalem: An Introduction to Biblical Theology.” It is one of the best for following the narrative in Scripture from creation to new creation, Eden to the new heaven/earth. A good book for elders and those pastors wanting a good introduction to Biblical Theology, the Kingdom, and the grand-narrative in which we are all now situated.
Jacob writes of the paradigm shift that came for him out of Ray Bakke's book. Both these books, and Swanson’s, are a good read though different to Alexander. Bakke, for example, is quite personal, certainly looks at the Theology of the City, but also brings in various other theological realities such as urban ministry, and life-in-the-city realities. Alexander on the other hand more closely follows the Biblical narrative and is a more substantial development of city theology, but without the personal story.
I was particular stimulated by this book by Barry Harvey, and I recommend it, “Another City: An Ecclesiological Primer for a Post-Christian World.” For me this has been the most helpful in the laying out of a concept of the city-church as an expression of the New Jerusalem. This is far more eschatologically driven book developed out of his understanding of the early church as a church shaped by the vision of the city to come. This is a vision for the church itself, the church as a visible witness to the future city of God. The church in its life, relationships, practices, and mission living out the future today. It is an excellent read though a little more challenging, but now hard to get hold of unfortunately.
Both Alexander and Harvey are strongly eschatological. Methodologically, Alexander is definitely Biblical Theology, while Harvey leans more towards Systematic Theology. The great strength of Harvey is that his book is the most visionary of them all.
All these books will serve you well as you explore your church and its place in your city.
I have an acquaintance who has built his career around environmental and community issues and is now a top consultant on city planning and design, cityscapes, and sustainability. This includes questions of energy, transport, and quality of life. He has produced several books, been an advisor to governments around the world, and heads up a faculty in a university. I asked him a few years ago what lies at the heart of his vision for cities. He had no doubt, the vision of Zion and the New Jerusalem. This shapes his values and ethics, his understanding of quality community life, his commitment to cities as places of justice and peace.
Churches are the bodies set up by God, under the headship of Christ and in the equipping of the Holy Spirit, to be the signposts of the future. To look for the city to come (Hebrews 13:14, cf. Hebrews 11:10) in all their values, priorities, and practices.
Your church is in your city so that your city can taste and see the city to come.
Graham Chipps
