“Father, allow me to see my city transformed by the gospel of Christ.”
Missional leaders just don’t go into a city to simply start a church but to reach a city. They realize that their city doesn’t just exist for the church but that the church exists for the city. Over the last twenty years there has been a paradigm shift from a local church perspective to a church in the city mentality.
Jack Dennison in his book Discovering Your City offers the following chart to illustrate this shift.
Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, NY has embraced this new paradigm of the church in the city. He came to New York in 1989 with a clear, compelling purpose: to apply the gospel to the city of New York so as to change it spiritually, socially, culturally, and through it, to change society and the world. His vision was more than to plant a church that would be a seedbed for other churches. He wanted to see the gospel applied in such away that it would transform a city. He saw the gospel transforming people, who in turn, would change their neighborhoods in many ways.
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Change in the overall level of civility – drastically reduce crime, drastically reduce levels of corruption, integrity in dealings and interactions, greatly increase the neighborliness – people demonstrating responsibility for the well-being of one’s neighbors.
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Change the family structure – more families staying and settling in, better relations between the sexes. ‘Ex-gay’ a proven and respected path, yet active homosexuals not bashed. More marriages and more healthy ones, yet single life not scorned or stigmatized.
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Change in race and class relationships – great reduction of racial tensions, and innumerable cooperative efforts between the ‘haves’ and indigenous leadership among the ‘have nots’. Literally hundreds of community development projects that eschew the old fashion ‘Democrat’ or ‘Republican’ fixes which leave the poor out of the loop.
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Change in cultural work being produced – art, scholarship, literature, theater, and movies, foundations for the arts producing work that is inspired by special revelation of Christ or at least by the general revelation of the Creator and the moral law and the dignity of humanity. Source: Redeemer Church Planting Manual, pg 23.
Redeemer Presbyterian Church is a transformational force in the city of New York and beyond. They have been recognized as the #1 Multiplying Church in America '07 – starting over 100 churches in their short history. They have been recognized as #15 on the list of America’s 25 Most Innovative Churches of ’07 and #16 on the list of the 50 Most Influential Churches of ’06. Yet more over, they have been part of the resurgence of New York City. Like many cities in America, New York suffered economically with the loss of industry and manufacturing. It suffered social decay with raising crimes and race riots to the point that by the late 1970’s and early 80’s it had gained the reputation of being a crime-ridden relic of history with a bleak future. In the early 90’s New York began to experience the financial benefits of Wall Street’s growth, along with the calming of racial tensions, a dramatic drop in crime rates and the cleaning up of Time Square. Today New York City is a sought after place to work and live.
It all begins with a transformational vision! That leads to transformational prayers. May God allow us the privilege of seeing our cities, no matter how large or small, transformed by the gospel of Christ.
Next time: Summary of the Nine Prayers of a Missional Leader
Excerpt from Gary's book: NextSteps for Leading a Missional Church
