The Evangelical Suburban Infatuation

Here are two thoughts from Gary Lamb, whose blog I just started following. He's a church planter in Canton, Ga., a town of 20,000. He has a heart for small towns. His church is starting a new church in a town of 7,000, and is looking at three other towns of less than 15,000.

"Why does everyone want to only go to white-collar suburbs or college towns to plant churches? We would rather plant where there are 20 others churches as opposed to going to urban and rural areas. Romans 10:14 haunts me here."
Since you're wondering what Romans 10:14 says, here it is: "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?"

I occasionally harp about the evangelical lovefest for the suburbs (like here and here). We want to go where there is growth, and that always means those former corn fields on the city's edge being turned into tree-less housing developments for the middle class.

This ties in nicely with this next thought from Lamb:

"It can’t be all about numbers. Trust me, I am a number freak but it has to be about community impact. A church of 500 in a town of 16,000 will have a stronger community impact than a church of 5,000 in a city of 250,000."
It's the big fish, small pond deal. Anchor is a church of 100, and we can kick our low-esteemed butts all the way to Timbuktu for being so infinitesimal. But the number 100 in no way represents the number of people whose lives we've influenced during the past ten years. We've made a difference in our urban community, and our presence makes that community better.

Meanwhile, a bunch of megachurches ring the city, with multi-million-dollar facilities, well-groomed kids, amazing Sunday services, and other good things. And people drive for an hour to get there. But quite often, these churches are regional. There is no community. No town they are making better. They're still doing good work. But I wish The Church could see the value of going into poorer parts of the city, as opposed to trying to attract those people to our suburban cathedrals.

Posted on July 24, 2008 08:46 AM|

Comments

You sound like Phil Mortensen and Love Church.

Great!

Posted by: dad | July 24, 2008 08:36 PM

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