This post originally appeared in the Summer 2009 issue of YOU!, published by LifeWay Christian Resources
The city where you live is a place of contrasts. There is at the same time opportunity and brokenness, creativity and decay, wealth and poverty, plenty and suffering. How does a believer or a church begin to influence a city like that? Where do you start? What does it look like to engage your community?
I started writing this article on a quick trip to New York City to meet with a group of men and women planting churches in urban areas. As we descended into LaGuardia Airport, I could see Manhattan, a long strip of land packed with busy streets and skyscrapers. The Island is literally bristling with bridges and tunnels that connect it to the rest of New York. Thousands of trains, cars, trucks, and people cross every day. That’s a great picture of engaging a city: it’s about building bridges into the community.
The bridges that you and your church build into your city are the way that the gospel goes out and lives are changed. They can be anything from deep neighbor-to-neighbor relationships to events like VBS, block parties, or Bible studies. They may last a moment, like a conversation at the playground, or a lifetime. Your creativity is really the only limit.
To start engaging your city by building bridges, try these first steps
· Open your eyes – Prayer is the vital first step in any attempt to build bridges into your community. Ask God for wisdom (James 1:5). Pray for vision, guidance, and ministry opportunities. And pray with your eyes open. Walk around your neighborhood, praying for the people you see and into the situations you notice. Do you see a school? Pray for the teachers, children, and parents. Is there an apartment building? Ask God to give you ideas on how to reach out to all the people who live there.
Get to know your city. When you open your eyes to building bridges and praying for wisdom, you will see the people and places of your community in a new way. What nationalities and religions are represented in your neighborhood? Are there more families with children or senior adults? Where do people tend to gather together? When? All of these factors and more will help guide you as you think about how to engage your city.
· Open your heart – Once you’ve prayed for your city and seen your neighborhood, learn to love your city – all of it. Love what the people around you love, and you will find that relationships come naturally. Loving the city is not always easy, especially when it is noisy, dirty, or unfriendly. God has great compassion, and so must we. Whether you are learning to love the homeless, those with HIV/AIDS, or busy professionals, you will be reflecting Christ’s love when you build bridges to people who are different from you.
Opening your heart and loving your city doesn’t mean accepting everything. It may be that the best way you can impact your city is by living a holy life in front of your neighbors. Read Philippians 2:12-18 where Paul encourages us to live like “stars in the world” who are “faultless in a crooked and perverse generation.” You might have the most influence by being different.
· Open your door – Loving the city and its people will lead to giving to the city. There is no shortage of need in urban centers. 1 John 3:17 says, “If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but shuts off his compassion from him—how can God’s love reside in him?” That makes it pretty clear. We don’t have much of an option when James says that “Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27).
If you’re not doing it already, you will be amazed at the number of bridges you can build by giving of yourself to the community. If while you are praying through your city and see a particular need, act on it. It might be as simple as joining in a soccer match at the park or as complicated as starting a clinic for pregnant teenagers. For example, I had some wonderful conversations with elderly neighbors in our apartment building after my son carried their groceries up the stairs or gave them a seat on the bus. On a larger scale, Gallery Church in New York builds bridges into its community by partnering with a local organization to offer free HIV testing.
· Open your mouth – This may seem obvious, but it’s often overlooked: share the good news. In the community where I worked for several years, relationships were vital to witnessing. Too often, however, believers tried so hard to be good friends with their neighbors that they never shared the gospel. When Peter wrote, “always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason Or who demands of you an accountingfor the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15), he was talking about taking risks in order to do good. Your neighbors will ask you why you are helping them. Tell them it’s because your life has been changed for the better because of Jesus Christ. If they don’t ask, tell them anyway. Seed that is never sown will never bear fruit. If your community never hears that the church is doing ministry in the community because of the gospel, they will think you are just nice people. That would be a tragedy.
If you are not sure what to say, start with your own story. Tell about the way that you first heard about Jesus, how He has changed your own life, and what it means for you to be His disciple. Study the Bible to find out what is important for you to share. The “How to Become a Christian” page in this book is a great start.
If you are teaching a Bible study in your church, you are already impacting your city. You have been teaching about influence and impact. Lead your class or small group to engage the community around your church and their own neighborhoods. Pray with one another and work together to make a difference. Be creative and build bridges. Your city will never be the same.
