Back on My Feet

Finally, sickness is over. It is like a shower after a particularly nasty outdoors job, to know I'm working inside like I'm supposed to. The human body is an incredibly adaptive, resilient little bugger. We suffer a slight setback, a flash of sickness, a little trace of the flu. Then we come back, stronger than before. And to the Christian, if we don't come back, then we have gone to something better.

And so it is with the cities of mankind. The Roman legions leave and the cities depopulate, but in time the Middle Ages arises from the cluster of parish houses and the cathedral. In time, we enter the Industrial City, all smoggy and horrid. We rebound from that by cleaning up the smog, by enforcing labor legislation, by creating police forces. The millions of immigrants build themselves gorgeous churches, in order to remind themselves of the glory of home. The natives built still grander churches to show the power and prestige of their city.

Then industry moves out and the city slows. Is this the end of Cities? Has civilization failed? Are doomed to a life of suburbs and privacy? Will China eat our babies in the middle of the night? No, humanity has a habit of rebounding. Apocalypse will happen, but necessarily now. And it is to this moment of transition, of cultural vulnerability, of dynamism, that the church must speak to if it is not to be marginalized.

But how does the church do this? The truth is, I don't really know. I can tell you what churches are successful, but can't really figure out how to measure success. Membership counts? Political power? Transformed lives? How do you measure the amount a life has been transformed? Especially if you don't want to fall into legalism, or vapid amorality?

Some things seem obvious. The church must find a citywide way to take care of the poor, crazy and homeless. It must find a way to provide better housing and food than the shoddy welfare alternatives. But this is not everything. The Church has always helped the poor. It is part of our Christian lifestyle,

But in order to change things, we have to affect the movers and shakers of culture. In order to change the city, you must get the attention of those who already change the city. We must reach into the downtown, into the symphony halls and rotary clubs and university lecture rooms. And we must do it with humility and respect. The intelligentsia or elite is a culture increasingly distant from the mainstream Evangelial church. But how are we to break in there? Again, I am uncertain,