Toronto is the most ethnically and culturally diverse urban area on planet earth. Half of its citizens are visible minorities.
You can find glimpses of the entire world in one city. Over a 140 languages and dialects are spoken.
Toronto is formed and shaped by the people of the globe – half of the population is foreign born.
Toronto is a model mosaic city. Ethnic enclaves are everywhere. Every city on the planet has a china-town, Toronto has at least six and counting.
Approaching 6 million people in the Greater Toronto Area it is the fifth largest metropolitan area in North America.
Toronto is geographically a hub to America. Within a 100-mile radius of Toronto a quarter of Canada’s population resides here, as well as 125 million Americans or roughly 40% of the U.S. population.
Richard Florida who wrote “Rise of the Creative Class” describes Toronto as being one of the most creative cities and is on set to be “a world leader in innovation and prosperity”
Toronto’s leading sectors include finance, business services, telecommunications, aerospace, transportation, media, arts, film, television production, publishing, software production, medical research, education, sports, sustainability, and tourism industries.
Toronto is undergoing massive renewal and gentrification – creating a city in flux with new needs and opportunities
Toronto is a city of the future. The world is increasingly becoming more diverse and more urban as Toronto already is. If you can make something work in Toronto you have the potential for modeling and leading it for the rest of the world.
Your thoughts? I’d love to hear why your city matters to you.
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?
Project SWAP is happening this Saturday rain or shine. S.W.A.P. – Shopping with a Purpose is a charity garage sale with a twist. Food, fashion shows, music, and friends! With all proceeds going to Youth Without Shelter.
Grasshopper.com did a great job with their recent marketing campaign using social media. They created the above video, while a bit cliche, I thought it was nicely done.
The video works because its message rings true of the human spirit. We’re all summoned to create, risk, lead, and change, at least in some area in our lives. Whether we’re able to hear that calling, or do anything about it, might be a different story altogether.
I pour my heart into a lot of different things that I think are worthwhile, but I question if I’m changing the world. I’m in a city of nearly six million where a simple stroll through the downtown core can make you feel like a speck of dust.
I think when you’ve changed a life (including your own), you’ve already changed the world.
I haven’t really watched television in years, but suddenly started watching a ridiculous amount of Battlestar Galactica, almost through three seasons in three weeks, yet I maintain that way I’m too busy these days.
Whenever someone ends a prayer with “Amen”, I can’t help but smile and whisper “So say we all“.
Before I got married, every time a couple said they had to go home early… the only thought in my head was – crap, they’re leaving us to ‘do it’.
My ipod touch has wasted just as much time as it has saved me.
The poverty line for a family in Toronto is $35k. My earnings last year was about $9k. I’m going to be saying that the rest of my life… unless I start making even less.
I’m in awe and honored to be leading people and initiatives, but most days i’m just clawing my way through the dark.
Two babies are in intensive care, one that will only survive if given a new heart; another with a strong heart, but no chance of survival.
The latter child, Kaylee, was taken off life support, so that her heart could be donated to baby Lillian. Kaylee shocks doctors as she hangs on to life, and according to hospital protocol she can no longer be a candidate for organ donation.
The longer Kaylee stays alive, the less viable her heart becomes for transplant.
Kaylee’s father is quoted as being very upset, not because his child remains alive, but because his daughter’s heart is still good, and their only comfort would be to donate it to baby Lillian who is desperately in need of a new heart.
Besides all the legal and ethical implications of all of this, a few thoughts…
What must it be like, to hope for the death of your own child, so that another might live?
What must it be like to want to give the most precious gift possible (the very heart of your own child), and not be able to do so?
When God and all his angels watched Christ die upon the cross, was there any doubt that life could only come through death?
If this transplant ever does go through, what would it be like for Kaylee’s parents, seeing that other child as they grow up? I imagine some type of deep and special connection, knowing that their dead child’s heart, remains alive beating within another little girl.
Could that be the way God the Father sees us, knowing that a part of his son and his sacrifice, beats within all of us?
Every now and then, from 2am-6am, I help distribute food and connect with homeless folks on the streets of Toronto.
Just about every time there’s a conversation that goes like this:
- Is that someone over there?
- Nope, just a pile of garbage
- No Wait, that’s actually a person.
Or, in the words of the early 90s hip hop group arrested development, “Mr. Wendal, a man, a human in flesh, but not by law”. Which also reminds me of my favorite line in that song
“Uncivilized” we call him, but I just saw him Eat off the food we waste”
(I’d embed the youtube video, but the early 90s fashion throws the whole message off)
It’s hard enough finding the homeless when I’m intentionally looking for them, I wonder how many I miss when I’m just passing by.
And how many times do we purposefully try to avoid eye-contact all together?
When the Scriptures describe Peter’s encounter with a crippled beggar, he asks for the man to look at him. I use to think of this as demanding, but maybe he was summoning the humanity in the both of them.
How is it that the hand that feeds, can also be the one that ignores?
Some friends of mine have an awesome vision of incarnating Christ into the neighbourhoods of Toronto. They’ve been researching hard and have identified 25 of the poorest and most unreached patches in the city, and are asking for people to literally move-in, and be the church in these neighborhoods.
Continuing my last couple posts on “God’s bias for the city” and “why cities matter” some thoughts on why the City of Toronto matters.
