Cities Are Sacred

I met Ray Bakke the other day at a meeting of ministers in Dallas, Texas. He came to Dallas to challenge us to think about the importance of Dallas as “a city.” Bakke first came to my attention in the 1970’s in his writings about urban Christianity. His fresh, Biblical approach challenged my mind to look again at the movement of God ­ both in the Bible and in the modern world.

Bakke reminds us that the theme of a “sacred place” runs throughout the Bible. In John 1:51, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” Jesus is thinking of the place where Jacob had a dream and saw the angels of God. He names it Bethel (house of God) because it is a sacred place. God is present, and so it is holy.

God sees cities like Moscow, Warsaw, London, Paris, and Berlin as sacred places. To Him, these cities are the focal point for His presence. “God sees that cities have personalities and assets,” writes Bakke. So there is no throwaway place in God’s mind. No wonder He calls Jonah to preach repentance to Nineveh! No wonder He calls Paul to share Christ in Ephesus!

Migration is Sacred

What will London, Frankfurt, Paris, Rome, and Moscow look like in the next 50 years? God is clearly re-wiring the world. There are 410 cities in the world with at least a million inhabitants. The cities of Europe are becoming gigantic magnets for people movements. The British Empire once covered 52 nations. Now each of those nations is represented in London. Fourteen percent of the people who live in Paris are Algerian. One hundred thousand Turks live in Berlin. Eighty nations, including those from Europe, were represented in the World Trade Center disaster of September 11.

What is God up to? He seems to be putting together a world of city-states. Quick travel, common currency, instant communication, and the elimination of language barriers are building bridges between European nations. God seems to be linking city-to-city and moving huge numbers of people into urban centers.

It reminds me of the first century when God moved people quickly around the Roman Empire. Reading Romans 16 acquaints us with those who were joining in the movement of God in Rome: Urbanus, Apelleas, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis, Philologus, Julia, and many others. Urban Christians!

Mission is Sacred

Rather than asking God to bless our plans, what if we look for God’s movement and join His plans? What if we had 24-hour ministries? What if we had multi-language ministries penetrating European cities? What if American churches empowered European missionaries to think “outside the box?” Instead of raising finances, what if our European missionaries and nationals spent their time strategizing, fasting and praying, and looking for the Holy Spirit’s movement? What if coordination replaced redundancy? What if communication replaced isolationism?

Look again at a map of Europe. Its cities are sacred places. What will we do about it?