I’m blogging from the annual Ministry Forum at Fresno Pacific University today. Our keynote speaker is Ray Bakke, a pastor, teacher, and professor of urban theology. Ray is the chancellor of the Bakke Graduate University. Our theme for the forum is “One Church, One City.” Ray is a brilliant theologian with provocative and relevant thoughts for the urban church. Rather than editorialize, I thought I’d just share a cluster of ideas he’s been sharing today. These are loose paraphrases of his comments.
In 1800 2%, 1900 8%, 2000 50% of the planet lives in cities
Cities are growing by 100,000 per day; ½ by birth, ½ by relocationRay’s most shocking experience was to watch churches flee the cities in the 60s. Those who sang “red and yellow, black and white” bought into “white flight.”
Christians fled L.A. and Chicago and met in Colorado Springs
Evangelicals think they can’t survive in the cities because there’s a belief that gardens are good and cities are evil; there is an exodus theology in play
In the bible: 1250 texts regarding the city, 141 individual cities mentioned. Ez 16: cities are families (this is the part of focusing on the family that Dobson has left out). Biblical idea of family - hooked to geography and history.
Paul’s use of contextualization in the city:
Philippi - Lydia and women in an upper class city lead the church
Athens - quoted Greeks at Mars Hill
Corinth - he made tents, the crossroads the marketplace/commerce (urban and rural)
Ephesus - went to synagogue to dialogue (Socratic method)
Paul adjusts his message, methods and meaning places to meet people where they where
A theology as big as the city includes all of theseLuther and Calvin had a marketplace theology
Common Grace: taking care of schools, hospitals, public sector
Saving Grace: in the churches paid for by tithes
Tax money or tithe money - it’s all God’s
Why have Christians removed themselves from Common Grace theology? (This comes largely through American revivalism and personal piety movements)God is bringing the nations to the city neighborhoods
The Lord of history is bringing the nations to California - why is he doing this? what does this mean?
This is not the time to flee the city in favor of gated communities. We need common grace.Four worlds people live in: biological, geographical, relational, recreational worlds
The task of the pastor is not to get 10% growth this year but to get congregants into their four worlds as missionaries
“Evangelism is scratching people where they itch in the name of Jesus”
“Church growth” is about getting a hundred people into four hundred worlds touching thousands of people
Church Growth strategies have typically encouraged a pastor to build a church in his/her own image and then attract others to it creating homogeneous cultures
“I had to decide if I wanted to be a come-structured pastor or a go-structured pastor”Form the second century in Epistle to Diognetus: what the soul is to the body, the Christian is to the city
Jesus died in the city and the church was born in the city at Pentecost
Does any of this get you thinking about Christianity, ministry and the urban context? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Oh my was this a good forum. I absolutely loved it, but man did it get my brain working. There was so much great information given I don't know which part to comment about. I guess for me I really liked the way Bakke helps us see the city with a whole mew set of eyes. I never seen the stories in the bible with such insight to the urban city. When he gave that example of Jesus, Philimon, or Moeses mom it made so much sense. I guess things finally webbed together in my brain lol... I loved the phrase that he said at the end of the Anatomy of a City, "Take the stain glass windows off the scriptures". Genius.
Posted by: Raquel Ayala | February 26, 2009 at 09:29 PM
Raquel, great comments. I like the way you latched on to the phrase "Take the stained glass windows off the scriptures." What Ray is saying is that we bring so much clutter to our reading of the bible. While no one can read the Word in an unbiased "pure" environment, we will understand it better when we can see our own biases; when we can see how our particular history has impacted our interpretation of scripture. Thanks again. -Tim
Posted by: Tim | February 27, 2009 at 12:07 PM
I think this ties a lot into what SCORR was about this year. Cities are not a bad thing, and that we have to re-engage the city and reconcile races in the city. Its crazy to think that we are losing focus on the cities, and trying to get them to come to us. Much of what I have learned over the last few years, is that I need to go where they are, and not expect them to come to me.
Posted by: Bailey | February 28, 2009 at 06:59 PM
You and I took similar notes.
I've heard Bakke speak before, and I was slightly disappointed that almost half was what I've heard before. But the other half...fantastic! The frustration I find after leaving a conference such as this one, is there are so many good thoughts that I walk away unchanged because I don't know how to let them all sink in. Thus, I'll let a few ones out.
"How do you educate the products of the globe when they're all in one place?" This is a very beautiful concept when grasped in the church since it's a picture of the unity we're to have with each other, but not a very beautiful one when you're thinking realistically on a basic human level. my grandmother and I recently had a heated discussion about whether or not you should make everyone learn to speak English once they've moved to America. Bakke's idea that "Jesus isn't a tribal God...that he brings tribes together" could sound a bit like communism if you stretch it til it breaks. however, I do believe we need to learn to live with one another and communicate, but not necessarily forcing everyone to learn a common language. culture is lost when language is lost, and the irony that we're all the same, yet distinctly and vastly different shines through here.
this leads to another thought:
"All the barriers are not in Fresno, the barriers are in the church!" resonated with me... I feel that there are so many ...not necessarily contradictions that we preach, but the simple fact that we don't act the way we preach is the basic problem. I think the Jesus of the Bible is vastly different than the one that is preached in most churches, and we let ourselves be the stained glass with which Jesus is portrayed. Luke 9.23-25 (look up) has been racking my brain lately. If we're truly the barriers, how then, to do we deny ourselves? What does that look like in today's church? (not just world, but CHURCH?)Far too often churches like to separate themselves from human reality in the framework of the city and the church walks around like a chicken with it's head cut off and flippantly make human choices for humanity that aren't necessarily Christ-like.
I also thought it was pretty cool that Bakke goes and thanks all the different churches for their services to different communities. he asked everyone to think about what their specific denomination can give to the city. we need to keep this is mind!
whew.
I feel I'll blog about this soon...
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