Reaching the Cities

If God were to tell you it is His will for your life to move to a large city to spread the Gospel, what would your response be? Some people might respond by saying: Lord, there is so much concrete, and the people, they are so rude. Lord, what about trees and grass, You know how much I love being outdoors. I sure would hate to leave the wide open fields and the forests where I go hunting every year. And Lord, that small church in small town, Alabama sure does need a pastor. Lord, I just couldn't go to a city.

While I do not doubt that the church in small town, Alabama needs a good pastor, I do question whether many people are ignoring God's call to go to the cities. During the past one hundred years a great shift has happened in American society and in many other parts of the world. People have become decreasingly agrarian and more industrialized. They have moved from the country to the cities, so much so that now the vast majority of Americans live in the cities. There remains a need for strong churches in the small towns of America, but there is a far greater need for churches in the cities of this nation.

My heart has been increasingly burdened for these cities lately. There does not seem to be any good reason to go anywhere other than the cities. (other than God's perfect will of course) My prayer is that millions of Christians would flood to the great cities to spread the Gospel, not with an attitude of condemnation, but with love and compassion desiring to see lost people changed from the inside out and molded into the image of Christ.

So where will you go? Will it be Miami, the gateway city to latin america and home to many who have relocated from the northeast? Will it be New York, one of the great multicultural cities of the world, with the kind of diversity to be able to send missionaries back to every country in the world. Will it be Montreal, the french capital of North America. How about Las Vegas, sin city itself? More importantly though, will you follow God whereever His perfect plan for your life calls you to go?