We’ve reached the final chapter of David Smith’s Seeking a City with Foundations: theology for an urban world. Part 1 engaged with urbanization; Part 2 with the biblical narratives, this section seeks to be an interpretative bridge between the two, working towards a theology for an urban world.
What then is a Christian response to our urban world?
Smith paints a crucicentric picture:
1) The death of Christ reminds us of the systemic evil confronted at the cross
– such evil has cosmic dimensions
– the cross is a victory over the powers of evil and is a reminder of the continuing power of evil and injustice
2) The cross is a reminder of the character of God and his relationship to the world
– the suffering love of God which reaches into the darkness to offer salvation, forgiveness and joy
– the cross reaches out across deep barriers in a divided unequal globalised world
– the cross reaches out beyond personal faith, to world transformation
3) The cross leads to the resurrection of the vindicated Son of God
– Urban mission brings hope, significance and meaning to a culture marked by a loss of hope and frequent boredom and meaninglessness
4) The cross and resurrection are followed by the Pentecostal gift of the Spirit which creates a new covenant community.
This leads to a new urban form of community, visible and public and attractive.
And Smith links Pentecost with the explosion of Pentecostalism globally. The new community of Acts 2 is found afresh in the favellas and barrios of Latin America and the Global South. It is the poor and dispossessed and marginalised who make up the majority of the world’s Christians. Who find community and hope in the 21st century version of the early church. The sheer scale of global Pentecostalism has the potential to effect massive social change.
Smith is not uncritical or naive – global Pentecostalism has its warts and they are big juicy ones (my language here!). But it has the potential to change the world in parallel ways to the first Pentecostal church. These are poor churches, but they contain seeds of hope.
How’s this for a challenging quote to us Christians of the rich West?
The testimonies of humble Christians … bear compelling witness to the power of the gospel in creating hope in desperate situations, but they may also cut through the coldness and complacence of churches which have existed so long in contexts of material satiation that they have forgotten the liberative life-bestowing power of the gospel. 231.
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