Darryl's Blog
The strategic importance of Toronto?
Tim Keller has written convincingly about the importance of urban ministry:
More Christians should live long-term in cities. Historians point out that by A.D. 300, the urban populations of the Roman Empire were largely Christian, while the countryside was pagan. (Indeed, the word pagan originally meant someone from the countryside—its use as a synonym for a non-Christian dates from this era.) The same was true during the first millennium A.D. in Europe—the cities were Christian, but the broad population across the countryside was pagan. The lesson from both eras is that when cities are Christian, even if the majority of the population is pagan, society is headed on a Christian trajectory. Why? As the city goes, so goes the culture. Cultural trends tend to be generated in the city and flow outward to the rest of society.
People who live in large urban cultural centers, occupying jobs in the arts, business, academia, publishing, the helping professions, and the media, tend to have a disproportionate impact on how things are done in our culture...
I have taken up the call of the late James Montgomery Boice, an urban pastor (at Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church) who knew that evangelical Christians have been particularly unwilling to live in cities. In his book Two Cities: Two Loves, he argued that evangelicals should live in cities in at least the same percentage as the general population. If we do not, we should not expect much influence in society.
It's easy to apply this to top-tier cities like New York and London. I live in Toronto, the city that Canada loves to hate. We have lots going for us but we're not really world-class - yet.
But check out this article:
Urban thinker Richard Florida says Toronto has a fresh energy that places it among the world's most powerful urban centres, and that's one of the reasons he's moving here.
Once a "third-tier" city at the level of Minneapolis, Toronto is now "one of North America's top five or 10 cities," among the ranks of such "second-tier" cities as Los Angeles and Chicago, Prof. Florida said...
...Florida firmly establishes himself as a booster of his new home, calling it "the most international city in the world," and saying it could one day compete with top-tier cities like New York and London.
Overstated? Maybe. But I'm becoming more convinced that Toronto is a strategic place, and I love being here. I think more of us need to unpack what people like Keller are saying in the context of Toronto.
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I believe urban ministry is vital for the spread of the gospel... urban centres of all sizes... however, large urban centres are especially vital [I'm sounding like Animal Farm.]
Yes, as Canadians we love to hate Toronto, but despite that, it is important that the gospel be lived in that multi-cultural, multi-lingua, multi-religious, multi-whatever context... lived in such a way that is both attractional and missional.
I think Florida is right when he suggests that Toronto is an increasingly important world-class city. The church needs to take seriously Jesus' commission to go into all the world... & all the world has come to Toronto.
"But I'm becoming more convinced that Toronto is a strategic place, and I love being here. I think more of us need to unpack what people like Keller are saying in the context of Toronto."
Darryl, I think Toronto is an amazing city. Its changing though, its coming apart at the seams. If it continues on the course it is on, I think it will be a much different place 10 years from now. More violent, more urban decay, more social problems, etc, etc.
What I have become more convinced of in the past 5 years or so is how the secular world can't really address the deep rooted problems because it does not know how to deal with the human heart that is desperately wicked.
It really is time for the church to be the church and to proclaim the Gospel. That's the context I want to come at all these problems in. It really is the church that can make the difference. I believe with all my heart its going to happen. I believe God is going to do a new thing in Toronto and in particular downtown Toronto. The need is so incredibly great. There is no strong evangelical witness in downtown Toronto and it is so desperately needed.I'm looking forward to all that God will do and being a part of that and it keeps me fired up for Toronto.
God's people gotta start praying for it. Go Lord!!
Darryl,
When I visited Toronto last year, I was really FEELING the international-ness of it, and it blew me away! I am a new believer in Toronto, and I'm looking forward to coming back sometime. Thankfully SIM (sim.org) has a sending office in Toronto (which I can visit again ;-), and our mission's "champion" for urban centres is a Canadian (based in Toronto), Brian Seim. I see that Brian has preached at your church a few times, so hopefully you already know him and know about the books he's written on urban ministry. Definitely worth looking up!
Shalom,
Steve K.
I doubt if Etobicoke is in view when comments are made about Toronto.
Dave:
You may not know Etobicoke then. Parts of it are suburban, but large parts are as urban Toronto as you get. I think of Mimico and Rexdale.
Still - there's nothing like downtown.
Going back to Keller, if the church is going to influence those who are cultural influencers, then there's a role for churches all across the GTA, not just the downtown core.
"the cities were Christian, but the broad population across the countryside was pagan." -
Now I know why there are so few churches with any kind of life in them around this kneck of the woods.
But there is no way on God's Green earth I'll ever move back to Toronto, - or any city, for that matter.
That's ok Arthur, you could just come to the city to go to church. You can come to be part of the revival and then with God's help bring it back to your neck of the woods. Are you in?