E. V. Hill tells of what happened in Los Angeles on one occasion. One man had been so put off by the captain of the block in which he lived—she was always inviting him to church and other religious meetings—that he decided to move. He decided to move the whole way across Los Angeles. The truck came. He loaded up his possessions. His block captain came out to say goodbye. The truck started off. But as soon as he was gone, his block captain went back into the house, got out the directory of Mount Zion block captains in Los Angeles, found the person in charge of the block to which her offended neighbor was moving. And when he got to his new area there was his new block captain standing on the street in front of his new home to welcome him and invite him to church.
His comment was a classic. He said, “My God, they’re everywhere.” That should be our goal—to be a visible presence everywhere in the cities.
2. We must be a community in the cities. It is not enough just to be in the cities, of course. We must also be together in the cities, which is to say, we must be a Christian community. It is only as a community that we can model what we are recommending. I think of the lines of the great twentieth century English poet T. S. Eliot from his poem, “Choruses from ‘The Rock’”:
When the Stranger says, “What is the meaning of this city?
Do you huddle close together because you love each other?”
What will you answer? “We all dwell together
To make money from each other?” or “This is a community”?
Anthony T. Evans is a successful black pastor in Dallas, Texas. He is an excellent Bible expositor, and his ministry goal is to have the population centers of America experience spiritual renewal. Evans publishes a monthly newsletter called “The Urban Alternative” in which, not long ago, there appeared an article entitled “10 Steps to Urban Renewal.” It mentioned sound Bible teaching, rejection of government dependence, use of spiritual gifts, the discipling of converts and other things. But one important requirement, according to Evans, is becoming a community. He wrote, “The church is first and foremost a spiritual family, a community. That’s why the Bible refers to the church as a ‘household of faith,’ ‘family of God’ and ‘brothers and sisters.’ It’s meant to function as a family, model family life, and care for the families it encompasses.”1
The church can do that as no other organization can—not businesses, not schools, not the centers of entertainment or social life, not government or city agencies. Only the church! Moreover, the church has an extraordinary opportunity to model community at a time when other forms of true community are breaking down. There is no better place than the fellowship of Christians for embracing those suffering from ruptured marriages, fractured homes and other forms of broken relationships.
If we can model attractive Christian community in a Christian or church setting, we can model it in other environments, as Christians in business show what it is to have a Christ-centered business, Christians in education show what it is educate in a Christian way, politicians act as Christian politicians, and so on in the other professions.
1Anthony T. Evans, “10 Steps to Urban Renewal,” The Urban Alternative, vol. 4, no. 2. September 1988.
