He's The God of this City

I do not know Vance Pittman. I follow him on twitter. He just posted the following statement: “God’s call on the life of a pastor is not to a church, but to a city. The church is simply a platform for engaging the city to accomplish the mission.” Such is the mindset of a new generation of pastor-teachers. Although I agree with him, I am not sure that that philosophy of ministry would go over too well in the established rural churches of Southwest Georgia.

This is why church planting among Southern Baptists is a must. No there are not too many churches. There never will be too many churches. There may be too many churches not fulfilling the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. We have been called to take the WHOLE Gospel to the WHOLE World. We have not been given the right to decides who hears, but to herald abroad the glorious gospel of our Lord.

Our oldest children are moving to San Francisco to plant a church in the city.  They are a part of this new generation of church leaders who are not just "working outside the box" they have knocked the walls down.  Their vision statement is: "To live life as Jesus intended for the good of the city and the hope of the world."  The word church is not found in that statement although they are deeply committed to the Lord and His church. 

They verbalize a large part of their focus in this statement regarding "community."  "We believe that spiritual life is best when it is being lived out in close proximity to others. It is impossible to live life at its best when we are disconnected from other followers of Jesus. We believe this can take place through structured environments (weekly small groups), as well as spontaneously in our daily living." (1 Thessalonians 2:8, Acts 2:42)


This new generation of leaders believe that missions is not something we do, but something we are. They believe that God has placed them here at this time for a specific purpose. This means that God has a purpose behind where they live (and who their neighbors are), where they work (and who they work with), and where they play (who they have social interaction with). They live as though they have been sent by Jesus to spread His kingdom in each of these arenas of life. (2 Corinthians 5:20, John 20:21)
 
It excites me to see them at work.  I challenges me when I see their passion for God.  I am moved when they preach and teach the word from such a fresh perspective. 

Chris Tomlin wrote a song some time back entitled, God of this City.  Read the words.



You're the God of this City/You're the King of these people/You're the Lord of this nation/You are.

You're the Light in this darkness/You're the Hope to the hopeless/You're the Peace to the restless/You are.

There is no one like our God/There is no one like our God/For greater things have yet to come/And greater things are still to be done in this City.
Greater thing have yet to come/And greater things are still to be done in this City


That's the vision we need.  That's where our focus must be.

(Some wording taken from Mission Statement of EPIC Church, San Francisco)