City ChangersSample

City Changers  

I have found as I’ve delivered this message around the world that as soon as I have people envision a city suffused with God’s goodness, they immediately have this defeating thought: But the task is so large—what can I possibly do to make a difference?

We need to become city changers. Not alone, but together. God has called us to go beyond personal growth and even church growth in our Christian lives and settle for nothing short of affecting our communities with the shalom of God.

His plan to affect culture is through the church, the body of Christ around the world. But we’ve had the wrong understanding of so many things for so many years that we’re not doing what we should, and as a result, we are losing our cities and watching them become centers of deprivation and environments of lostness, pain, brokenness, and empty pursuits. I’m convinced that God sees cities as a context where life can flourish, and His instrument to bring this to pass is the church.

Our cities are at great risk, and the church can and must step up to meet the challenge. Aligning ourselves with what we believe to be the mission of God, we must begin to close the gap between the current reality and God’s vision for our cities. A vision of wholeness in every sphere of society. Because of the urgency of the moment and the opportunity before us, the church must rise to the challenge to do what it does in a fresh and new way.

We have to change our philosophy of ministry. We have to start thinking differently about church, and we will have to start thinking differently about the people who make up the church. We must realize that God wants to do something through the people. People are not just coming to church to be blessed; they are coming to church to be equipped. They are coming to be equipped as city changers. Full-fledged disciples, who will execute God’s agenda on the planet. They are not just attending a program—they are the program!

God is challenging us with a vision of what our communities—and, indeed, our world—will be like when city changers through whom God does His work roam the land. 

This is the vision I have for communities and cities:

• I see thousands of people gathering in celebrations across the cities with their hands raised, worshipping Jesus as Lord, and then engaging their world with the knowledge of being called to be the presence of Christ in their communities
• I see artists who can give expression through creativity redeeming the arts to inspire us, elevate our appreciation, and bring praise to God.
• I see businesspeople who excel in building the economy and creating jobs and who are excited to give of their time, gifts, and resources in service of others and the kingdom of God.
• I see people reaching out across cultural and racial boundaries to touch lives and share life with one another, to create a society free from prejudice and self-centeredness.
• I see cities filled with the presence of Jesus Christ!

This, my friend, is the culture we could live in. I have seen elements of it already. It is what will happen as you, I, and others become city changers.