I’m not a fan of theologising about cities (I’m not sure it’s necessary) but I do think churches need to understand cities and be responsive to what life and church life in a city should look like.

One of the first problems we have is defining a city in the first place. So for example does London have a population of 8.3 million, 10.1 million or 13.6 million? Or Stockholm is it 800,000, 1.2 million or 2 million. Your answer depends on what you call a city.

This matters to a church on the fundamental issue of honestly describing your city but also understanding how the thing works because cities grow and shrink, go boom or go bust and if you have a concern for the common good of the city then you have to have some appreciation of what your city is.

Especially if your city was, say Tokyo.

How the world’s largest city measures up to Greater London & the UK. Via @Amazing_Mapspic.twitter.com/HHDuAJN0e6

— Matt Bowker (@CodaURBAN) February 23, 2015

The urban environment shapes lives, shapes mood, shapes behaviour and helping Christians know how to live as Christians is very important. In a village if I walk to the nearest shops I may pass a handful of people, all of whom I may know by name and whom I would greet and possibly stop and talk to. In a city as I walk to the nearest shop I may pass hundreds of people none of whom I know and none of whom I would greet or talk to. That sort of behaviour shapes a day which makes a way of living.

One of the challenges for Christians in an urban environment as they survey the cultural as well as the urban landscape is to assess what to preserve and what to challenge. ISIS is destroying the heritage of some of the world’s first cities because of what they see as sacrilegious. London on the other hand has preserved so much that in some places renewal is almost impossible. As Christians engage in the life of the city they can often make the mistake of challenging everything or preserving everything trying to just bring something Christian to it.  as well as its urban life.

The spiritual life of cities is changing as fast as its urban and cultural sides. As Tim Keller points out cities are becoming both more secular and more religious.

The reality is neither that belief in God is inevitably disappearing, nor that in some simplistic way “God is back.” Davie says that the religious landscape is now “paradoxical.” What is going away is inherited, institutionalized Christianity — what many would call “nominal Christianity.” Yet new patterns of orthodox Christian faith (and of other religions) are growing too. Contrary to the confident predictions of its death, religious faith “is an increasing presence in the modern world order.”

So there is a challenge for church leaders (especially if you’re bi-vocational) to take the time to understand the city, to understand the urban, the cultural and spiritual life of the city and then consider how you best  build community, best do evangelism and best preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the light of all that I found (as I often do) Jon Tyson’s talk very helpful.