Lausanne World Pulse – Urban Articles – The Importance and Strategic Role of the City in Missio Dei

By Duky Charles
May 2009

It would be unthinkable to discuss the project of God and his work in the world without recognizing the role the city plays in every aspect. It is undeniable that, as Jean-Bernard Racine says, “Today the city has won the world.”1 Nearly every one of the earth’s inhabitants, in one way or another and whether they realize it or not, is connected to a city. The God who loves the world (John 3:16), who seeks by every means to reach each one of us with his love, is deeply interested in the complex and attractive space that is the urban milieu.

The City and Its Influence
 The definition of a city cannot be limited to its geographical area. We must take into account its lifestyle and the influence it holds over all society. Perhaps this is why Racine added to his former comment,

The city is more generally an urban reality that generated from the heart to the society as a whole. The lifestyles, attitudes, mentalities, and values lived out in the city are adopted by the general population to the further corners of its geographical regions.

Is the city synonymous with evil? Does it represent a
constant threat to the spiritual health of God’s people?

Dr. Ray Bakke confirms this as well. He has dedicated two of his books to call the Church to take up its responsibilities in light of the rampant growth of urban centres. In his book, A Theology as Big as the City, he wrote,

The spectacular growth of large cities on this planet represents an awesome challenge to the Church of Jesus Christ on all six continents. In 1900, eight percent of the world’s population lived in cities. By the year 2000, that number will be nearly fifty percent.2

Bakke’s thinking parallels that of Racine when he anticipated with amazing clarity the increasing importance of the city:

You see, there is no place to hide. The city is a media stage prop in this cybernetic era, and its presence will impact everyone eventually. So, even in places far from large cities, banks, businesses, and families are linked up to urban centres. We must acknowledge, then, that not only do nearly three billion of the earth’s nearly six billion persons live in cities, but the other three billion are being urbanized as well. Sorry, you have an urban future, whether you like it or not.

The overarching reach of a city is immediately recognizable when classed by function instead of size, density of population, location, or shape on a map.3

But is the city synonymous with evil? Does it represent a constant threat to the spiritual health of God’s people, as so many affirm by their attitudes and demonstrate by their negative opinions of cities? The following section will examine this question.

Duky Charles is the vice-rector of student affairs at the Université chrétienne du nord d’Haïti in Limbé. He received his masters from this school in theology and his doctorate in ministry from Bakke Graduate University in Seattle, Washington (USA).