The Challenge for the Urban Church

As we move closer to the year 2025, predictions are that half of the world population will live in urban centers throughout the world. Faced with that information, the church must have an aggressive plan to meet the growing challenge of developing vibrant and sustainable urban churches.

Long the tradition in the Nazarene church, we have followed in the path blazed by John Wesley to, in the words of Phineas Bresee, “take the Gospel to the neglected quarters of the city.” Following our centennial celebration, it is the call to once again figure out what Bresee's words mean for today and move aggressively to accomplish that goal.

It is a goal set out in the New Testament, when James, the half-brother of Christ, states, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27 NIV). As James wrote to the scattered Hebrews, he writes to us today. It is critical for the church to answer the call to the city. This call is not just to North America, but to the church worldwide as we struggle to “do church” well in the city.

Historically, we saw the flight from the urban centers to the suburbs following World War II. A remnant was left in struggling churches that watched as congregations died off and facilities decayed. Congregations struggled to survive, properties were sold off, and neighborhoods were abandoned.

Yet some stayed, and many others began to blaze a new trail that leads us back to where we as Nazarenes began — in the heart of the city. Our roots run deep into the Old Glory Barn in downtown Los Angeles and the commitment to missions local, as well as overseas. It was a complete view for those early Nazarenes. And it is once again in many places.

So that is our challenge: How do we not give up the territorial gains that have been won in the past years as we have reclaimed our urban centers for Christ? How do we not forget? How do we not lose the passion that has guided so many to take the Holiness doctrine to our neighborhoods filled with drugs, violence, hopelessness, and crime?

What the city needs is not structures, programs or money — oh yes, those will be helpful items. But they must come secondarily to the greatest need of our cities: leaders who are committed to the urban setting and will lead both ministries and churches that will enable the hope to be presented on every street corner and alley, “to take the Gospel to the neglected quarters of the city.”

We need men and women who are willing to take up the cross and carry it daily in our inner cities. No, it is not about heroism; we don’t need to create this as some type of heroic act to lead in the city. It really comes down to training — equipping social entrepreneurs who are willing to shake loose from the career notions and follow the call of Christ to the very streets we would find him in if he were here today. I believe the call is there, but we have not committed to training the leaders we need.

In my work on my master’s degree I read numerous books on leadership. I must have read more than 30 in preparation for my thesis. Some were helpful, and some proved to be a perversion of God’s truth, focused on being successful…by the world’s standards. Yes, I have read about the key to getting the right people on the vehicle and getting the wrong people off. I read how we find the best talent and ditch the rest. Thankfully, that is not how Christ changed the world, and not how we will change the urban church. As I read many books, I was drawn to the leadership lessons we see lived out in the Gospels.

Quite frankly, Christ chose 12 deadbeats; it seemed at times unlikely candidates, who made a career out of falling on their faces. James and John were two, the two wimps who sent their mother to Jesus to ask for a special place in the new government. Not quite the right people on the “church bus,” do you think? He spent three years developing the 11 disciples to become the world changers. Leaders who made a difference. But based on current standards, would they have been hired? Would they have even been interviewed? Probably not, so what lesson can we draw from Jesus to help us impact our urban centers for years to come?

Jesus clearly prized the seed more than the developed flower, a concept I read somewhere along the way. So are we as churchmen committed to that same goal of developing leaders?

Here is our challenge: develop the leaders who can change our cities. But where does this start? Does it start in colleges, seminaries, internships, entry-level jobs, and volunteer opportunities? The answer is yes to all of the above. But nothing will replace the commitment we must demonstrate in the investment of time and spiritual formation.

My master’s thesis was, “Developing Urban Leaders through Spiritual Disciplines.” Being the leaders we need for the city is more about the right heart than the right skill set or knowledge. Skills and knowledge can be acquired. Yet, we must identify those who are teachable and begin to invest ourselves in the spiritual formation that will enable them to do what changed the disciples — following the leading of the Holy Spirit.

I have more than 15 years of experience serving some of our country’s inner cities. Having been a founder, staff member, staff pastor, director, and senior pastor, I have seen quite a bit. I have made the mistakes. I have sought after the wrong answers. My resumé could be filled with a long list of failures; yet, it is when I focus on my attachment to the power of the one who created me that leadership begins to flow.

Thankfully, God has blessed me with many mentors who have invested themselves in me, to prod, guide, direct, and bring me back to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

I, too, like Paul, could write a list of those who have invested in me. There in Colossians 4:7-15, Paul lists them out by name and thanks them. I, too, could make a list. But as I think of the need of the city I am challenged to think: With whom have I invested myself? Who would list me on their letter as having ministered to them? How am I building the spiritual disciplines in others to enable them to lead for the Kingdom in the urban centers?

No, this type of spiritual formation is not going to simply happen by preaching on Sunday morning. It is going to be messy, take time, and be full of frustrations and heartache. Yet, it is the prescription that our cities need.

We have to be equipping our cities with spiritually mature leaders who can change their city for Christ.

In the book Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Ahleberg Calhoun, she writes, “Spiritual practices don’t give us ‘spiritual brownie points’ or help work the system for a passing grade for God. They simply put us in a place where we can begin to notice God and respond to his word to us. Spiritual disciplines give the Holy Spirit space to brood over our souls. Just as the Spirit hovered over the face of the deep at the dawn of creation, so he hovers over us today, birthing the ever-fresh Christ-life within.”

Here is where leaders are developed, through spiritual disciplines that connect me to a solid flow of power to change my world. That is what world changers are made of, a life in full submission, empowered by the Holy Spirit and led by the one who breathed life into us. Then he challenges us to go forth and make disciples. Will you take that challenge, that command? Let’s take back our “neglected quarters” and mentor others to lead beyond us.