by Lon on January 25, 2010
Photo by Diez
Just as God has a clear bias towards the poor, the scriptures also reveal that God’s heart leans towards the city.
From Genesis God calls for humanity to be fruitful and multiply. Not simply to reproduce (otherwise Jesus would’ve done a terrible job with this mandate), but to cultivate life in the widest sense – to create culture, to steward over creation, to develop civilizations, and ultimately cities.
Even the ‘garden of eden’ carries with it the idea of a lush park by a palace. A place dense with life near a kingly residence. Seeds of a future city.
God doesn’t allow his people to remain agrarian, and calls for ‘cities of refuge‘ to be made. Cities with leadership, government, jurisdiction, so that people might find safety and progress could continue without ongoing tribal warfare.
In Jeremiah 29 God calls for his people to seek the good of the city. Not to necessarily conform to the city, or to leech off the city, but to be rooted in the city. We are to be city builders.
The Apostle Paul planted churches from city to city because he knew that if he captured the heart of the city, the gospel would flow out from the city centers into the surrounding regions. It’s interesting to note that it seems the smallest unit of the church was referred to as an entire city – ie. the church of Ephesus, Philipi, etc.
God reveals his ultimate vision for humanity in Revelation as ‘a holy city’ descending from heaven. Pieces of Eden like the tree of life and rivers are still there, but it’s wrapped up in a city filled with life. Heaven’s like an urban jungle.
I’ve always loved this quote by Ray Bakke – “If you don’t like the city, you won’t like heaven”
These are just a few snapshot thoughts that could be unpacked a lot more.
Your thoughts?
I don’t know how many times I’ve been in this conversation. I’m in a gathering of largely ‘white’ folk, and the conversation veers over to Jesus being for all nations and multiculturalism…
Someone usually mentions how they believe that every culture has something unique to offer to the body of Christ…
Since I’m avoiding eye contact at this moment, though it’s probably not true, I feel like every eyeball starts honing in on me.
There’s a lot of conversation that needs to happen about multiculturalism and the church and how to go about it all, but before that I’ve had a sense of having to get my own cultural story straight.
I hear lots about the roots of the reformation in Europe, liberation theology out of latin america, the oppression shaped narrative from African American brothers and sisters… but what about them Asians?
What do Asians uniquely bring to the table?
How does being Asian shape your understanding of Christ?
If God is the redemptive creator of all cultures, why’d he make you, what you are? (and yes, I know you’re so much more than your ethnic/cultural heritage)
From people I’ve asked so far… 2 people said “they work hard”, one person said “Good or bad, they have a high regard for authority”… and the Chinese house church movement gets mentioned a lot when people are looking for good news about Christianity…
But there’s got to be more than that…
by Lon on December 12, 2008
I’m thinking of opening up the new year with a talk on hell. Possible titles of “the Hell word” or “we didn’t start the fire” come to mind currently.
Where are you at with hell right now?
Who’s heading there? Who’s in it? How could God? Why would he? What’s it smell like? Is it full? Or is it empty? Have we been too fixated on it? Have we been avoiding it? Is it just? Is it full of friends and family? Does it really matter?
I’ll take any feedback in the moment, theological, anecdotal, struggles, convictions, recommended reading, anything.
If you’ve been following Barack Obamamania, you may have seen Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s latest speech. I think he’s quite the communicator and offers some profound insights, but I can’t say I quite agree with a lot of what he says, or the arrogance he sometimes projects.
What caught my attention was his discourse on Black liberation theology. Wright’s passion, and the narrative behind it is quite powerful. Which of course makes me wonder if there is any type of corresponding Asian theology that we can speak of with such pride???
The Chinese immigrant church has been booming in Toronto that past decade. I’ve had ‘white’ pastors tell me a number of times how enamored they are with the life they find in the growing Chinese church. They also ask when the Chinese church will start reaching back out to the rest of culture.
All the while, I know many 2nd generation Chinese Jesus-followers are a bit embarrassed by the mostly ‘ethnic’ church that they’re a part of. They’d love to reach out to others, but can’t get passed the initial ethnic barriers. Is there a story in the Chinese or Asian context with which we can uniquely proclaim as the Black church does?
I know there must be one, my seminary even offers courses specifically on Chinese theology and spirituality. I can’t say I’ve heard much in my time in Chinese church circles though.
I do know that when great oppression meets the liberating Gospel of Christ, revivals are often stoked. This of course is a huge part of the narrative in the black church. It’s also an integral part of the church in China that is exploding, which everyone seems to be raving about these days.
As for Chinese or Asian Christians in the west, I can’t say I hear a unifying story being shouted from the rooftops.
I’m sure part of it is due to a cultural inferiority complex along with some model minority issues, but someone please educate me on this one before I make something up… is there a uniquely Asian theology we should be cherishing? Or is there really a need for one?
Recently I finished a relatively old urban ministry book – Ray Bakke’s “a theology as big as the city“. This book rocks, and is filled with insights on God’s love for the city and our roles in it.One practical and disputable insight I’ve been mulling over comes from this quote of his “The local city church staff should increasingly match the ethnicity, class, and culture of the church’s members”.
Coming from a predominantly ethnic church background myself I have long desired a church that is multi-ethnic. Even mono-ethnic churches are quite diverse underneath it all, however there is something indescribably beautiful when entering a community that is blatantly ethnically diverse as well.
The key to Bakke’s principle is leadership. If the staff and leaders can be intentionally diverse and move forward together then there is hope for the congregation. This sends the message that not only will we tolerate and accept those who are diverse, we also welcome them, embrace them, and desire that they influence and lead us as a community as well.
My questions going forward
- Bakke goes beyond race and culture, but suggests having class diversity in leadership. Will we really allow the ‘poor’ to lead us?
- Do we now ‘profile’ people to attain a diverse staff?
- Would this work better if leadership was a reflection of the neighborhood as opposed to the ‘members’?
- What do small churches with a single staff member do for diversity?
by Lon on December 5, 2007
(I took this at the Museum of Play – Quote is by GK Chesterton who wrote “Orthodoxy” almost a hundred years ago)
Do you ever hear from seasoned leaders sharing about how they worked their butt off and grinded it out during their earlier years? How they invested, and labored, and pushed boundaries, and poured their hearts and energy into accomplishing things of significance in their lives?
This is then almost always followed by them saying in reflection they wish they rested more and played more.
Yet I have to admit every time I hear that, something in me lunges out and says, well if you weren’t so passionate and didn’t work so hard, there’s just no way you would’ve accomplished what you’ve accomplished in life!
Most great leaders live highly imbalanced lives in accomplishing greatness. We go to them seeking to learn how to achieve equally great things in life. And then they turn to us and tell us to live more balanced lives! How dare they.
But maybe there’s something to this.
Could it be at the end of it all, there might be somethings more important than accomplishing great things, even great things for our great God?
