If roughly 70% of church planting today in various cities are in suburban contexts what does that tell us or teach us? Of the various church planting groups, networks and denominations that I looked at all of them had by far the majority of their church plants taking place in the suburbs. What do we do with this obvious trend? Is it a good thing? Bad thing? Should we keep going with it or curb it?
According to Dr. Ron Boyce who teaches at Bakke Graduate University and formerly at the University of Washington the suburbs are the New Urban Frontier. I took a doctoral level course from him studying the nature of cities and I think in a good way he encouraged me not to look at an urban/suburban dichotomy and I agree. We need to look at cities as a whole and not create artificial lines because although on a map there are clear lines demarcating what is city and what isn’t for most people it is all seamless. The point that I’m trying to bring up is that if we believe in transforming the culture from the inside out why do we still have an outside-in mentality? Our city cores most often hold the key to influencing not just the rest of the city, but the region, and even world. If that is the case then why are most of us planting churches on the far fringes?
Obviously there are huge needs on the fringe since those are the rapidly growing parts of the metro area, therefore, it is a very strategic place to plant churches there. With that said I think the biggest difference is the whole mentality, philosophy, and approach to church planting that takes place in the city versus the suburbs. We can’t expect to do things the same in both locales and the city environments with their complexities and compactness bring to the forefront a whole new slew of challenges that many planters are not equipped to deal with. In urban environments you can’t help but notice more the social implications of the Gospel. The Gospel not only has the power to transform lives but also social structures, schools, neighborhoods, homelessness, and so much more.
Our cities are desperate for the power of the Gospel to transform lives within which will have an impact on social structures. In a message I heard from Mark Driscoll given at the new Mars Hill campus in Albuquerque he talked about if more men in the city would meet Jesus and be changed they’d stop beating their wives. Well said. The reality is that we need that take place both in the urbs as well as the burbs.
October 16, 2009 at 7:14 am |
okay, Sean, how do you reinvigorate an existing church in the city center and is having a hard time transitioning as the neighborhood is transitioning? We’ve ended up with people who drive 20 miles from the suburbs to the church in a neighborhood/neighborhoods which are dramatically different than they were even 10 years ago.
October 16, 2009 at 7:51 am |
That’s a great question and I’m no specialist. But you’re right in your observation. City center churches have several options:
1. To become a commuter church (like you mentioned) where people simply drive in from the outside and then leave which leads to a minimal impact on the surrounding neighborhood since there’s little investment other than the church property.
2. To transition to reflect the surrounding neighborhood. If people from the surrounding neighborhoods aren’t coming to your church maybe you need to ask “why?” Probably a conflict of culture meaning you might have a suburban mindset / culture church that just happens in to be in the central part of the city. If you want to have long term impact I’d venture to say you’re going to have to be more reflective of the surrounding culture culturally and ethnically.
3. Go multi-site. That way you can still be one church but meet in different settings each with their own cultural expression. Maybe, just maybe you got “multi-site” but you still are at the same location. You become a church of different churches/expressions that start to match the different cultures surrounding you. Or you keep the main campus and start a new multi-site in the area where most are commuting in from.
I think the key is to think creatively and contextually not letting tradition pin you down. The church is the missionary to culture therefore it ought to always be adapting to reach more people for Christ.