Stephen E. Burris

Introduction
Kingdom Missiology, or what Glasser, Van Engen, Ladd, Bromiley, and others have called Kingdom-of-God theology for missiology, was further developed by Charles Van Engen and called a missiology of transformation. This seminar will focus on a missiology of transformation as an appropriate mission theology in the city. Any mission theology must take seriously the word, the context, and the faith community if it is to be effective and biblical. It must also be dynamic and relational. This tripartite approach to urban mission is central to any kingdom missiology that seeks to transform lives and communities.
The nations have migrated to the cities of the world. The unreached peoples paradigm has given way to the urban paradigm of the twenty-first century. Timothy Keller has said it this way, “We believe ministry in the center of the global cities is the highest priority for the church in the twenty-first century.” Each paradigm builds on the previous experiences and the urban focus is no different. So a mission theology in the city must include lessons we have learned from the past that are applicable for the present and future and have been developed in specific contexts. Stephen Bevans says it precisely, “theology is only theology when it begins to make sense to particular people at particular times and in particular places.”
One factor that has become increasingly clearer is the place of the city in God’s plan of redemption. As has been well documented by others, the city has played a major role throughout history. Time does not permit a comprehensive look at all the major biblical passages that deal with the city and urban ministry. I have selected four snapshots that represent God’s concern for the city, its people, and its future. This will provide a foundation upon which to draw some conclusions regarding a mission theology in the city. Van Engen has provided the thesis statement for this seminar. “Like a sponge is permeated with water, so our mission is to offer new life to the women and men of our world of the Twenty-First Century in which all of their life, every aspect of life, all arenas of life are permeated with the presence of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And the rich and powerful of this world need to be transformed, they need to be converted, just as much as the poor and the weak.” (2 Cor. 10:5).

1. Babylonian Captivity
Jeremiah 29:4—11 gives amazing instructions to those in exile and captivity. They are to see the time in Babylon as an opportunity to have families, build houses, plant gardens, give sons and daughters in marriage, and other regular and normal functions of life in the city. The key is found in verse 7, “But seek the welfare (shalom) of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” This is a perspective changer. This isn’t just about captivity and exile any longer, enduring whatever the captives decide to do with these who have been hauled off to Babylon against their will. Rather, God’s people are to look at the city differently. God has sent them to this specific place for a purpose. They are to seek the welfare of the city, as the city prospers, so will the exiles; indeed God has plans for their welfare that includes a future and a hope. Jeremiah instructs the exiles to see this time as an opportunity to seek goodness (shalom) in the city of their captors. There may very likely be shalom already present in some form. Our first task may be to find where God is already at work—despite conditions that seem to suggest otherwise, as though he has forsaken the city. Often our job is to connect with him where he is already at work bringing shalom; this window into the theology for the city is as important today as it was then. Many of our cities appear to be forsaken and hopeless. It is at this point that we need to hear Robert Linthicum clearly as he suggests that God is present even though it looks like the city belongs to Satan.
In the West, and especially in North America, we experienced “white flight” as people moved to the suburbs to escape the city as diversity became more the rule than the exception. As people, mostly the ones who had choices, moved to the suburbs, so did the church. In time they no longer needed the city, and failed to even recognize there was shalom there—they often vilified the city. All the necessary goods and services were close by in the shopping malls and strip malls that sprang up close by. That has expanded today to include online shopping with delivery to the front door. As a result, the church in the city was abandoned and so were the people. Christians did not see the city as a place where God was present or where God had placed them and therefore saw little need to seek the welfare of the city. Jeremiah’s call to the people of God was forgotten almost entirely. The suburbs seemed safer, the schools better, and they could live with their own kind of people. In far too many cases the churches that were left behind were weak or they closed. Often the weak and struggling churches that were left behind were unable to meet the growing needs of those who lived in the city. Hope was lost. “What hope is there for communities that have lost their way, their way of life, their coherence, their hope?
This view of the city is dramatically different than the picture Jeremiah paints. Jeremiah makes two clear points. First, seek the welfare of the city. Make it your home, live there, have families, and plant gardens. Second, the captives (God’s covenant people) are where God put them and where he wants them for the next seventy years. These two points are missing in much of the strategizing that goes on in churches today. The focus is mostly inward and how it benefits those who are already attending “our” church. A paradigm shift is needed for the churches in the suburbs to see the need and take appropriate action in the city of which they are now a distant part. Bosch said it this way, “the church’s first missionary responsibility is not to change the world but to change herself.” This analysis is of first importance as we look to the future that is increasingly urban.

2. “The Nazareth Manifesto”
Jesus’ words in Luke 4:16—21 reflect Luke’s understanding of what the church is called to do. Jesus’ first public statement focuses on the poor, captives, blind, oppressed, and prisoner, and alludes to the year of jubilee. When John the Baptist wanted confirmation that Jesus was the Messiah in Matthew 11:3 he asks, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answers in verses 4 and 5, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” This is especially significant today with over a billion people in our world living in the most desperate conditions possible, where sex trafficking is a multi-billion dollar business, where it is estimated that there are over 30 million slaves—60,000 in the United States, where medical care, clean water, adequate housing, and other basic human rights are not present or inadequate. Jesus shows that his ministry, in addition to the call to “seek and to save the lost,” includes the oppressed, exploited, and otherwise marginalized people. (The least, the last, and the lost) This must be a central part of a mission theology in the city.
The absurd dichotomy between “social action” and “evangelism” has never been based on solid theological reflection or proper exegesis of what Jesus taught, the apostles modeled, and the first century church practiced. It was not then and it cannot be now. Luke shows how Jesus’ ministry was filled with healing, exorcizing evil spirits, raising the dead, and feeding the hungry. The “kingdom” parables show a clear theme as Jesus goes about showing what the kingdom of God is like, in the “not-yet” form now, and in the final and complete form at the parousia.
Since this was so important to Jesus that he began his public ministry with this quotation from Isaiah 61:1—3, we need to re-examine our priorities, programs, giving, staffing, and the use of our ministry opportunities to get in step with him.

 

3. To The Least of These
Jesus talks about the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31—46. He directly ties doing good to “the least of these” as doing it unto him. The hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the sick, the naked, the prisoner—(the least, the last, and the lost) the least of these. Perhaps it is time to revisit and rethink the significant passage from Ezekiel 16:48—9, “48 As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49 This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” These sobering words should speak loudly to a Western church that continues to consume at inordinate and unsustainable levels while sisters and brothers in the majority world and in cities all over the world lack the basic sustenance of life.

4. Sowing Seeds of Shalom
The parable of the sower, Matthew 13:1—23, has been used in some curious and creative ways. In the context of this seminar, it is important to observe that it has been used by some in the missions community to justify targeting the more “receptive” mission fields, usually listed as receptive homogeneous units, which later became known as unreached peoples, and to keep a lighter missionary presence in the more “resistant” fields. Van Engen noticed this when he wrote,
The parable speaks of the fact that Jesus presented his message to everyone alike, but that some were willing to hear and others were not. The difference in soils may have something to tell us about receptivity. But if this is so, it will not tell us to concentrate on the good soil. That may be good farming but it is totally extraneous to the text of the parable. . . In other words, if something is crystal clear about this parable, it is the indiscriminate sowing of the seed, not the selective proclamation of the Gospel. But there are four other very important lessons that I believe Jesus wanted the disciples to learn. First, the farmer sows indiscriminately, in spite of knowing that the responses will vary. The farmer understands his field, and he knows (in fact expects) differences in response. Secondly, the response of the seed is not to the sower, but rather consists in growing, developing, and giving fruit—it is response to the Word, to the Kingdom, and to God. Thirdly, notice in Jesus’ explanation of the parable (Matt 13:19—23), there are a variety of agents that create heightened resistance in addition to the conditions of the field. . . Fourth, there is a background to this parable that deals with God’s providence.

In the parable of the sower, an individual went out to sow a field. That’s what farmers do—plant their fields expecting a harvest. Jesus used this basic agricultural illustration to show that sowing seeds is essential kingdom business, regardless of the outcome of the sowing or even the field being planted. Paul taught us that God gives the increase—our job is to sow seeds. While the world is now more urban than rural—and the rate of increase in urban population is accelerating—Jesus was using an agricultural example to show that the priority of sowing seeds remains. As our fields have changed from agrarian to becoming more urban, so our methods of sowing must also adjust. Methods that worked well in rural areas may need to be modified or discarded as we encounter the intricacies of the city. This will involve finding innovative sowing methods as seeds of shalom are scattered all over the city including its slums, favellas, shanty towns, squalor communities, and squatter neighborhoods. The seed of shalom is planted, grows, and has an impact even as light dispels darkness, salt preserves meat, and yeast leavens bread. So Christians sow seeds and encourage transformation in the city. This incarnational expression may take on many forms and activities. We start where people are hurting and we foster reconciliation and hope. But one principle is discernible—we sow seeds of shalom and seek the welfare of the city wherever God has called us to serve.
Our mission theology in the city must incorporate sowing seeds of shalom. This most primary of human interactions, at the foundation of Jewish society in the Old Testament and Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom of God in the New Testament, is so imperative in our world today. Shalom brings wholeness, justice, restoration, reconciliation, and peace into relationships and structures corrupted by sin, and affects the lives of people. Shalom is required now more than ever. This is why Jeremiah instructs captives in Babylon to “seek the welfare of the city.” In spite of the reality that their own city had been devastated, plundered, ransacked, burned, and left in ruins—as they watched, God instructs the new slaves to seek the good of the city, home of their captors, and their home for the next seventy years. Can we do less? This is the golden rule in action and our rapidly changing world urgently needs what we have to offer in the name of Jesus.

Conclusion
A mission theology in the city should encompass these four “snapshots” as we contemplate ministry in the urban centers of the world. First, as aliens and foreigners we are to seek the shalom of those we have the opportunity to serve. Our ultimate goal is transformation and reconciliation. The local context will arbitrate the urgent needs that must be provided for first. Second, by helping the poor, captives, blind, and oppressed we reflect the ministry of Jesus as he defined it in Luke 4. A careful study of Luke’s gospel will show the types of activities Jesus involved himself in as he went about establishing the kingdom of God on earth. We should pay close attention to those very same activities as we exegete the city where God has called us to serve. Third, “to the least of these” includes those specifically mentioned in Luke 4, but also appears to include everyone left that are not specifically in that list, thereby focusing on all who are oppressed, exploited, enslaved, hungry, sick, poor, orphaned, widowed, and in prison. We live in a world that sin has corrupted, it’s a mess. The people of God working to make a difference is desperately needed right now. Fourth, as the sower sows, so we sow seeds of shalom whenever and wherever we have opportunity. As sowers we should not pre-select those that appear to be the most receptive, but, rather, we are the signposts of the kingdom of God and we bring that kingdom to life in a world that seriously needs life and hope.
So where do we start? I include the astute insight from Christopher Wright as pointing a way.
Where do we start? The language of the “priority of evangelism” implies that the only proper starting point must always be evangelistic proclamation. Priority means it is the most important, most urgent, thing to be done first, and everything else must take second, third or fourth place. But the difficulty with this is that (1) it is not always possible or desirable in the immediate situation, and (2) it does not even reflect the actual practice of Jesus. . . But ultimately we must not rest content until we have included within our own missional response the wholeness of God’s missional response to the human predicament—and that of course includes the good news of Christ, the cross and resurrection, the forgiveness of sin, the gift of eternal life that is offered to men and women through our Witness to the gospel and the hope of God’s new creation. Mission may not always begin with evangelism. But mission that does not ultimately include declaring the Word and the name of Christ, the call to repentance, and faith, and obedience has not completed its task. It is defective mission, not holistic mission.”

The context will tell us what is the most imperative or ultimate need. Our task, in partnership with the Holy Spirit, is to seek the good among those we are called to serve. We may build bridges of love by giving a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name, feeding the hungry, giving clothes to the naked, securing medical treatment for the sick, helping the dying to do so with dignity, and all the while being the hands and feet of Jesus as we extend his kingdom on earth. Kingdom Missiology includes transformation and reconciliation—of people and societies. Transformation and reconciliation is the goal of a mission theology in the city.
Transformation takes place one person and one community at a time. It begins with an individual and moves through communities much like yeast leavens bread. This is what Jesus says the kingdom is, yeast, a mustard seed, small yet powerful, subversive at times, but with enough potential to take over a garden or a loaf of bread, a kitchen, a house, a neighborhood, a community, a city, even a world. It is the renewing of the mind at the street level. Rather than viewing the enormous need that exists in the world today, it is far better to start by bringing shalom into the community that is immediately available to us. In that ministry context we can work toward a world made right, a world where all individuals and institutions, families and people, regardless of their social standing, as well as the whole creation, are joined together leading to the praise of the Lamb, who alone is worthy of our praise, and makes all things new.