Church Planting: January 2006 Archives

Matt Hand writes: When I used the term "kingdom" in my original posting, I meant for it to be understood in two simple ways. The first is to think of the kingdom in terms of the in-breaking of Christ's reign, bringing true righteousness, justice, holiness, and peace. Dan explained this aspect of the kingdom well in his posting (Part 2, comment #4), so I won't belabor that.

The second is to think of other believers in terms of "fellow citizens" of God's kingdom. A key passage in my thinking that stresses this kind of unity is Ephesians 2:11-22. Paul is exhorting believers to live in the reality that Christ came in the flesh and, through his bloody death, killed the social/ethnic/racial/political hostility that too often exists between fellow believers (in context, Jews and Gentiles). He tells them all to live with the new perspective that they are fellow citizens of God's kingdom, fellow members of God's household, and fellow stones of God's temple.

It's not my purpose here to write an exhaustive theology of the kingdom. I simply want to think in terms of these two aspects of the kingdom (the in-breaking of shalom, etc., through the incarnation of Christ, and our resulting fellow citizenship). Kingdom work, as this passage continues into chapter 3, involves making known the mystery of reconciliation in Christ so that the glorious wisdom of God is put on display.

Suburban churches can display these two aspects of kingdom living by partnering with like-minded urban churches for the sake of the gospel. Urban churches (like ours) have on-the-ground know-how, but few resources. Suburban churches often have those resources, but may (repeat: may) be guilty of using those resources fairly selfishly for maintaining happy church people, rather than reaching out to the unchurched/lost in their own urban centers. When I use the term "maintenance" I'm not talking about a discipleship program or Bible study curriculum or anything like that which is designed to grow believers in Christ. I AM talking about the tendency for suburban churches to "tear down barns and build bigger barns" just because they can. I'm talking about professing Christians who have an insatiable appetite to have more, bigger, better, newer, glitzier stuff -- all in the name of doing church. I'm talking about Christians who limit their conception of (and interest in) the work of Christ to what He's doing in their own heart or just their church. Is it really that selfless to give away a dollar when you know 99 cents of it is going to be used on you?

One way suburban Christians can advance the gospel of the kingdom is by looking at urban Christians and genuinely thinking of them as fellow citizens in Christ -- as brothers and sisters and members of the same Body. If the watching world began to observe that degree of community among believers, it would destroy their ability to stereotype the Church as being urban or suburban, white or black, rich or poor, young or old. If suburban Christians had a kingdom-like concern to eradicate the disparity of wealth, healthcare, crime, abortion, etc., THROUGH THE COMPREHENSIVE TEACHING OF THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM in their own urban centers, what would be the result? The world doesn't have categories for explaining away that kind of radical commitment to Christian reconciliation and shalom. As a result, the Church (not a church) would be a city set on a hill, an alternate kingdom of God in the cities of men.

Chris Giammona, who formely served with Tim Keller at Redeemer, adds his thoughts to the discussion on The Gospel and Suburban Churches at A Mind Awake.

I recently learned that Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer NYC, has a blog that was launched in conjunction with Redeemer’s Vision Campaign. Tim explains that “Redeemer's vision is to build a great city for all people through a gospel movement that brings about personal conversion, community formation, social justice, and cultural renewal in New York and throughout the world.” His church’s strategy flows out of the Apostle Paul’s practice of planting urban churches. He writes, “The greatest missionary in history, St. Paul, had a rather simple, two-fold strategy. First, he went into the largest city of the region (cf. Acts 16:9, 12), and second, he planted churches in each city (cf. Titus 1:5—appoint elders in every town). Once Paul had done that, he could say that he had preached the gospel in a region and that he had no more work to do there (cf. Romans 15:19, 23).” Tim then argues that “the way to most permanently influence a country was through its chief cities,” and “the way to most permanently influence a city was to plant churches in it.”

Tim Keller’s blog provides him the opportunity to answer commonly asked questions regarding Redeemer’s vision for the city, NYC in particular, as Redeemer moves forward with its Vision Campaign. So I thought I would submit a question that addresses a tension I have felt with this emphasis upon the city. I did and he graciously replied. Hopefully my question and his answer will encourage suburban pastors and churches to give this issue serious thought.

My question:

Tim,

I have visited Redeemer several times over the past few years and my appreciation for Redeemer's gospel-centered, missional vision continues to grow. I also recognize the importance of planting like-philosophy churches in major cities. But what about churches like mine that have been located in "suburbia" for years. Should there be any differences in the mindset and approach of a gospel-centered suburban church than of a gospel-centered inner-city church like Redeemer?

Dan

Tim’s response:

There will be have to be some necessary differences in mindset between urban and suburban churches because context always affects us deeply. Our own daughter churches in the NYC suburbs have the same theological vision and love of the city, but they simply aren't a) as multi-ethnic and b) as close to the poor--because the zoning laws of the suburbs tend to homogenize things economically and therefore, to some degree, racially. So it is just harder to show how the gospel brings down racial and class barriers in the suburbs. (According to Ephesians 2, that is a major sign of the truth of the gospel.) It doesn't mean that suburban churches are 'inferior' or that it is easier to be a pastor in the suburbs--I actually think it will take more ingenuity and creativity to demonstrate the power of the gospel in the suburbs than it will in the city.

Do any of you blog readers have any ideas about how the suburban church can be creative?