The contents of this issue of New World Outlook and of the April issue of Response constitute the primary resource material for the 2000-2001 mission study: "God's People in an Urban Culture." A study guide links and focuses study themes, and a video presents these themes in action.
The idea of the church as God's people comes from the New Testament. It is a Christian adaptation of the Old Testament concept of God's chosen people, Israel. Picking up on this Old Testament heritage, I Peter 2: 9-10 tells the early Christians: "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people...." This image permeates Christian literature, liturgy, and language.
But the term "people of God" is not always restricted to the church. It is also used in an expanded sense as a synonym for all humankind. For example, I Peter 1:17 speaks of the God of the church as the impartial judge of "all people." In John 10:16, Jesus says: "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold." John 3:16 tells us that "God so loved the world..."—not that God so loved the church—"that he gave his only Son." So while "God's people" refers to the church, the term can also mean the human race, and both uses are scriptural.
Urban culture is culture characteristic of the city or of city life. Culture itself is a complex term with multiple meanings. As defined in this study, urban culture consists of the beliefs, values, arts, institutions, and ways of living associated with city life.
The whole society today in the United States and in most other countries is influenced by ideas, trends, and assumptions that come from an urban context. This context is not restricted to "the city" proper but includes entire metropolitan areas: large cities and their surrounding suburbs and towns. In the United States, economic and social power in the year 2000 is concentrated in suburbs more than in older central cities. Thus the subject of this study is not the city in general, the inner city in particular, or even urban ministry itself. Instead, this mission study strives to explore the ways in which God's people live and act and have their being in a culture where urban/suburban ways of thinking and acting prevail.
A century ago, rural images were far more common in the United States and in Methodism. Where today the greater part of the US population lives in or around cities, then the population was more spread out and agriculture played a larger role in the economy. In 1900, almost 50 percent of the population lived on farms, whereas today, only one in every 100 people is a farmer.1
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the strength of the Methodist Church in the United States was in rural areas and small towns. Many rural Protestants of that era tended to view large cities with suspicion, seeing them as alien places whose populations included many new immigrants with strange-sounding names and different religious beliefs. Today, city life still brings together many racial, religious, and social groups with varieties of beliefs and behaviors, attitudes and values. But in contrast to the negative image of cities that The United Methodist Church inherited is the new conviction that the rich human diversity and creative dynamic of city life is something to celebrate. Looking at assets and potentials is also more positive and productive than focusing only on problems and needs. So this study stresses the creative interaction in church and society of diverse ethnic identities, languages, and artistic expressions. It looks at how various racial and ethnic groups are engaged in ministry in urban contexts and how people are affected by urban reality. It also explores positive ways in which urban and rural cultures can relate.
From the Christian perspective, all cultures deserve transformation. Transformation, not condemnation, is the Christlike attitude toward anything that can be improved. Urban culture—like all cultures—is in need of transformation.
The Bible contains two interacting views of the city. One view sees the city as a place of corruption, injustice, and rebellion against God's will. The first urban story in Genesis, the account of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), pits human willfulness against the purposes of God. Narrative and prophetic literature in the Old Testament reinforces this perception. Amos, Hosea, Jeremiah, and most of the other prophets had harsh words for Jerusalem—which in the Bible is the quintessential city. In the New Testament, Jesus also laments over Jerusalem as a place of violence and sin (Matthew 23:37).
Yet throughout the Bible is the hope—the expectation—of the city redeemed and restored. The hope is for a New Jerusalem. This is a dominant theme in the Revelation of St. John and is also beautifully expressed in Isaiah 65, which projects a city of prosperity, justice, and peace. The prophet wrote:
They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
(Isaiah 65: 21-25)
The church itself is and has a culture: the culture of faith, hope, and love. The culture of people who define themselves in relation to God is one of joy, hard work, justice, mercy, and the expectation of holy transformation. This transformation comes about through the power and grace of God. In Revelation 21, it is God who brings about a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem. The pledge of God to be with God's people provides both the incentive and the ability of the church to work for the improvement and transformation of cities and urban culture.
1. Dirk Johnson, "Leaving the Farm for the Other Real World," New York Times, 11/7/99, Section 4, p. 3.
Elliott Wright is an author and educator who focuses on the church in urban, rural, and community settings.
Text and photographs copyright 2000 by New World Outlook: The Mission Magazine of The United Methodist Church. Used by Permission. Visit New World Outlook Online at http://gbgm-umc.org/nwo/.
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