Echo Hub

Not off base, I agree. Also, I “don’t trust the methods/ministry of the other churches in this city to make an impact.” I know you just started something in the minds of the generic whiner and it’s good. I love the thought of building communities rather than “doing church.” Good stuff. Way to go on being offensive. ha ha. Offensive gets stuff done.

Scott,

You should check out our community training sessions and see the heart behind this idea for at least one church—I can’t speak for them all. http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/community-groups

Some good and healthy thoughts. I find the same to be true and wonder just like you have. I think this new “media church” era is turned into a business or competition of being popular and successful socially. I generally question what gospel they give and many times cannot find it.

Honestly, I don’t have a problem with someone saying, “Let’s take the city!” – maybe it sounds big & brash to some but not to all.

Who are you reaching? How are you doing it? Is it deliberate?

What I want to see is a group of churches that say, “together we can reach our city.” Any church that thinks they can do it themselves if just not realistic, either they are ignorant of how the spirit is moving in other churches or they are just prideful.

the austin stone community church in austin, tx has a great approach to this….”to be a church FOR the city”

it’s amazing. everything about this fellowship revolves around loving god and being for the people of austin. i can’t imagine a more practical, selfless approach. they are building a campus that will provide offices for a host of non-profit organizations that provide for the city of austin. they not only are burdened for the spiritual needs of this place but the physical and emotional needs as well. check out their website for more information. it’s, definitely changing the way church looks and works. awesome!

I think we when we saying things like this we aren’t being so brash as to think no one else in our city I’d capable but maybe hyping it up to much to gain buy in. I wish like you and lot of the guys living comments here for more unity of community churches working together and maybe a post like this will help us to use mottos and statements that are more community minded.

Perhaps rather than “Our goal is to reach this city…” it should be “Our goal is to see this city reached…”

Yes, it is semantics, but the difference is what we do vs. what we get to be a part of as God and His Church accomplish something. Even if we are as good as we think we are, how can we possibly think that one “church” can reach everyone. Especially when so many churches are so singular in style and approach that they only appeal to a very narrow demographic.

I too am generalizing a bit, but don’t worry, I’m talking about the other ego driven ambitious church in town, not your church.

I love my friend Adam’s mission statement for his church. “To give every man woman and child repeat opportunities to accept or deny the gospel of Christ.” He is always quick to add that there is no way that his church can do it by themselves. All the churches in his community are going to have to work together.

Great Stuff! I want some of the Kool Aid you’re drinking.

I like Chris Marsden’s semantic switcheroo.

If cities are the centers of influence in our world then the city is where the church should be. Yes it is bold and missional and yes it can be arrogant and self promoting. However, the Church must figure out how to return to the city.

That said, churches who are “reaching the city” need to be found IN that city.

I added some more in a BWC article if you would like to give it a quick read.

http://www.burnsidewriterscollective.com/general/2007/10/return_to_the_city.php

Good topic Scott!

I think you are right, how many times do we pray for the big things and mean to pray for just the little things that we can accomplish. God will honor the small things and we will feel better if we can accomplish them.

We were just talking about how cool it was that a speaker our women’s ministry decided to bring in for an upcoming event had met several of our members around the country. We rejoiced that our small little neighborhood church was developing such a missional/sending ministry. How cool that focusing on transformation and discipleship of individuals has resulted in far reaching ministry that’s personal more than promoting our congregation. Authentic community that spreads beats huge worship events and multi-campus organizations any day.

Our church is in the city that you picture … Chicago. We are quite often fond of saying we just want to reach 1% of it. That’s a lot considering there are 2.9 million people. We know we aren’t the answer and that it’s not up to us… we are just a part of God’s solution, we are a part of God’s plan for the city. If we can just make an impact in our immediate community and reach 1% of the city, then we know we will have served God faithfully. There’s a lot of work to be done in every city and it’s not up to one church, but up to the church to be a local expression of the body of Christ in the different communities and neighborhoods it finds itself in… even in major urban area like Chicago.

When I read your recommendations I hear the exact same fault in them that you are correct to point out of those who set their scope slightly larger. If your purpose is to know the “hopes, dreams, fears, and burdens of the people” you should focus on reaching any person, not just who you can prosthelitize to. So what are you trying to promote here? I hear about sincere social work but it’s peppered with the unnecessary “minister to”. It’s like Wal-Mart giving a bunch of Wal-Mart logo T-shirts to a family who lost all their possessions in a house fire. The family gets clothing and Wal-Mart gets free ad-space. At what point do you decide that your social help has concluded and that your marketing ploy must begin? Can anyone who forces themself to make this choice really be trusted?

PS: Before replying to the obvious glibness of my Wal-Mart example, please take it for what it is worth and note the underlying point. I’m aware of the good secular social work churches do. My question concerns the accompanying filler.

“I love my friend Adam’s mission statement for his church. ‘To give every man woman and child repeat opportunities to accept or deny the gospel of Christ.’”

Poor guy must be a real drag at parties. This is what happens to people who are punished with the false concept of Hell by wicked old virgins. They run around spending every waking moment fearing for themselves and all of humanity, unable to relax and understand the troubles of those who may have been more fortunate when it came to bedtime stories and less fortunate when it came to finances/employment/relationships/etc.

Our church puts it this way:
“Our church exists to create a movement of churches and ministries that embody and articulate the gospel of Jesus in a way that brings about personal transformation, community formation, and cultural renewal to the Greater Charleston Area.” (http://www.charlestonsanctuary.com/vision.html)

The Phrase “We are FOR the city” is often thrown around.

I had never heard this much until I moved to New York, where that phrase or something like can be found on nearly every church website. Here, I think it might mean something more specific, considering: 1) life in New York is different than it is anywhere else, and 2) “reaching the city” has a different meaning here, as it includes many “new” areas (art, music, media, fashion, finance) for Christians to focus on.

But I totally get what you’re saying. As usual, there’s probably a more nuanced, accurate way to express this desire that doesn’t sound so much like a competitive business.

Living in the mission field of Western Europe for a couple of years now has made me realize that the American Evangelical approach described in this post is incredibly contrary to the culture here. While relationship building and efforts on a small scale will take longer to develop and (hopefully) flourish into new Christ-followers, the marketing/corporate/large efforts here are met with huge suspicion, dismissal as an “American thing” and no impact or change in people. If we came out with a big “Taking this country for Christ” slogan, it would freak out the locals and repel them immediately.

It’s once again “both and.” Jesus cared for single individuals, small villages, and wept over the whole city. When its done with humility and a vision for the kingdom in the city, we align our hearts with both the big and the small of God’s heart for the city.

I agree with every syllable Scott. Though there might be good, even great, intentions within the leadership, at the end of the day for most congregational communities, the end goal is for the people within the city to hear about “Main Street Church of Anytown”- This is empire talk. Money, attendance, expansion, notoriety, marketing is what lies underneath most of it. Jesus spoke kingdom talk. Faith, hope, love, healing, small, subversive, transformative…Not too cynical or picky over semantics bro, you’re on point, no question. My preferred “goal” of choice- embrace and reveal the kingdom of God by loving Him and loving others, both in your community and throughout the world.
I’m asking these same questions with you brother…

I’m think you’re right on target. The part that really gets me excited is where it’s all the locals churches coming together in unity as the Church to reach the whole city. There’s a focus on unity in the body of Christ, something that seems to be lacking. And unity is always prefaced with humility so that’s a great thing!

Keep up your rants if they’re all like this.

Perhaps you’re obsessed with semantics, but it actually seems to me like you’re just looking for another blog post – another reason to spout disagreement with a church (or churches) that has attempted to adapt a missional vision. Let them try to do whatever they feel led to do to impact lives all over their city. Chill with the spite!

We use “Bring the Love… to my neighbor, to my city, to the poor, to the world.” It seemed to get the church out there helping the community.

I agree with your thoughts, in my experience though I don’t think I’ve ever interpreted “Our goal is to reach this city” in that way. Maybe I just didn’t think about it that much.

By the way I really enjoy this blog. I visit often. Keep it up.