Keller and Cities

I am a city boy. I love the variety of activities that cities have. I love that cities have many people who you can interact with. Thing that I don't miss from the city is traffic especially at rush hour.

The city can be a great place to live, but it can also be a dangerous place. I am not just talking about violent crime, I am also addressing the other drivers who have no courtesy whatsoever. 

The city can also be a frustrating place due to cost of living and some of the politics that happens in City Hall. Not to mention what happens in school board meetings.

The city can also be a great place to plant a church, but the city is not the only place to plant a church.

In a recent tweet, Tim Keller wrote:

If you care about people you will care about cities because cities are filled with people.

Yes, cities are filled with people. Lots of people, but they are not the only ones where people are living. People live in rural areas, farming communities, and even small towns. Those places are filled with people that need the gospel. Yes, in some areas there will be churches in every corner, but not all will be teaching sound doctrine.

There is nothing wrong with living in the city or going to the city to plant a church or spend time evangelizing, but God has place us where we are for His glory. Mark 16:15 says, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." We have been given the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20), which includes cities and small towns. 

Keller's emphasis on cities seems to communicate that other areas of the country are less significant because they do not have enough people to actually care about. The city I live in is not the most glamorous city in Texas, but it does have its perks. The cost of living is one of the lowest in the state. 

Yes, they even have a church in almost every corner, but a huge percentage of them do not preach the Bible expositionally and rely on pragmatic means to draw people to their church such as using a helicopter to drop Easter eggs for children to collect. 

Since my city is not the size of Houston, Dallas, or New York City, Keller assumes that I do not care about people. I care a great deal about the people of this city that I hope and pray they will repent of their sins and turn to faith in Christ. I also pray that the churches in our city will be convicted of using worldly measures to get people to their congregations and rely on the Gospel which is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). 

While we will be part of a great city that is mentioned in Revelation, we are part of where we live right now by the providential hand of Almighty God, who has called us to live a holy life and proclaim the gospel to ends of the earth.