Urbanize to Globalize

This week we had Aaron Coe from Gallery Church Manhattan on campus. I love Aaron and his team for their great heart for the most influential city on the earth. A few thoughts about the cities:
-For the first time in history the world is over 50% urban;
-In the U.S. according to a NAMB study, 58% of Americans live in the largest 50 metros. However, my tradition, the SBC, has only 25% of our churches there.
-In 1870 the U.S. was 80-90% rural; today we are over 80% urban.

A few observations on NYC:
-Over 500 language groups are in NYC. The nations live there.
-Less than 4% of NYC could be described as evangelical Christian.
-The costs there are immense: Aaron and his family live in an apartment of about 600 square feet at a rent monthly of $3500.
-This is not for the faint of heart. But even as Paul traveled to great cities, we today must reach the urban centers if we would be serious about the Great Commission.

Aaron said something that caught my attention in his chapel presentation: “You can mirror the decline of the Evangelical church with the rise in population of the cities.” As the cities have grown in number and influence, we have tended to retreat.

He said something else: if NYC had the same ratio of churches to population we have in the North Carolina Baptist State Convention, NYC would need 20,000 churches. Today.

Aaron is leading a church planting movement (see www.sendnyc.com) across Manhattan with a goal of planting 100 churches.

I have said this many times. Let me say it again:

Go to the nations unless God stops you. If He does, go to a great city.

I am grateful for the work of Presbyterian Tim Keller and others in the cities. I am thankful for the Acts29 network and its focus on urban church planting. I thank God for any group of believers who have a heart for the city. But as a Southern Baptist, I long for the day when we are as serious about the city as we are about other issues we hold so near and dear.

What if pastors started challenging their church members through mission trips and through their influence to go to a city. What if student ministries and churches challenged young people consistently to pray about moving to a great city, regardless of their vocation, to be part of a church planting movement in the city? What if casting a vision for the great cities of the West became a central part of Southern Baptists and others approach for fulfilling the Great Commission?

What if the gospel so burned in our hearts we were unafraid to challenge our love for comfort and ask God to give us a broken heart for the city? We would have to rethink some of our programs and approaches when we step deeply into a culture that does not share our values. But the gospel would call us to no less.

Cities are the cultural mountaintops. Like it or not, what happens in the city will reach you eventually, no matter where you live. What if over the next 50 years believers in the U.S. migrated in large numbers to the largest cities in the U.S., not just to be there, but to be part of a movement of God?

There are more young people in the U.S. than at any time in history. This millennial generation is idealistic, driven by things that are real, and want a challenge. Let us challenge them to go to the nations or to go to the cities.

I sat with my son Josh last week as he talked with pastor Tyler Jones of Vintage21 church in Raleigh, in the heart of the city. Tyler offered a challenge to Josh that has had him thinking: “I hope you will pray about planting in a city.”

I hope you will pray about being part of God’s work in the city. If believers in the West become urbanized, we will find our gospel influence becoming globalized.

Reach cities, reach nations. Urbanize to globalize.