LOVING THE CITY GOD'S WAY

by: Pieter Bos
date: 8/4/2000
Category: Nations

Loving the City God's way

Workshop outline for
"Amsterdam 2000", Conference of Preaching Evangelists,
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association,
August 4th 2000.

This is the 2nd article that introduces the book “The City Called”, to be released autumn 2006

"Does the Church love Cities God's way?"
by Pieter Bos, former city planning consultant,
now leading "Serving the Nations", The Netherlands,
internationally teaching on and leading intercession for nations and cities.

Opening questions:

What cities are "represented" in the audience?

Which city do you identify with most?
>> List the represented cities
In what sense do you identify with your city?
>> In "using" her, or in personal ways?

Do you love / hate that city?
>> Seems a "personal" relationship. Did you ever talk to your city, treat your city?

>> Can you effect your city?
Did you ever weep for your city, plead for your city?

>> Does God treat your city as "personal"? Does your city's poverty or your pity motivate you?
>> Isn't love a better motivation than need or pity?

Do you evangelise individuals or the city?
>> Is the city too big for you, or for God?

Per continent roughly two or three major cities were represented in the Workshop. What international business would not be jealous to have her regional headquarters so strategically well spread over the globe? When Jesus said: "Go and make of all nations disciple nations", he in fact was looking forward to such a strategically positioned harvest force.

Main thrust of this workshop:
- THE HARVEST WILL NOT ONLY BE A HARVEST OF SOULS, ALSO A HARVEST OF CITIES.
- MOST OF THE BIBLE IS IN THE PLURAL AND IN THE CORPORATE; WE MUST (AGAIN) LEARN TO THINK CORPORATELY.
- A JUDGEMENT OF THE NATIONS WILL COME, AND THE CHURCH IS IN CHARGE, RESPONSIBLE, TO PREPARE HER NATION AND HER CITY FOR THAT JUDGEMENT.
- Definition: A CITY IS A HELPMATE TO GOD, AS THE PEOPLES AND NATIONS GATHER AND INVEST THEMSELVES IN HER PLACE.
- GOD'S GOAL AND DESIRE IS TO HAVE A NEW COVENANT WITH ALL PEOPLES, NATIONS AND CITIES; THAT IS THE CORE OF DISCIPLING A WHOLE NATION.

Teaching and application
1 The city is by her God-designed nature INTER-NATIONAL, INTER-RACIAL, INTER-CULTURAL, and as such the showpiece of God's creation: man > man corporate =tribes-peoples-nations > man international=city. Therefore the spiritual city, the church, must be "neither circumcised nor un-circumcised, Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free, barbarian nor Scythian" (Gal 3:28, Col 3:11).
Application re 1: Does your church/ministry appreciate to be inter-national, inter-racial, inter-cultural? Each of these five "divides" were in Paul's time most sensitive; it is Satan's strategy to blur this sensitivity or to turn them in to the most aggressive nationalism: people against people and kingdom against kingdom (Matt 24:6,7). If your church/ministry is mono-"cultural" she behaves at tribal level, fighting tribal fights (!), instead of daring cultural barriers where the world is afraid.

2a IN THIS BEAUTY OF MULTI-COLOREDNESS CITIES ARE DESTINED TO LEAD THE NATIONS:
Jerusalem: "Gate to the nations" (Ezek 26:2); she and other cities indeed led, or rather mis-led, nations: Jerusalem, Babylon, Tyre, Nineveh are accused to lead astray and even to prostitute with all the nations (Isa 47:1,7-10; Ezek 23:29-30; Rev 17:18, 18:3,23). But on the new earth we will see nations (!) walking in the light of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:24). The high calling shows God's high appreciation and magnificent destiny for the city. A high calling, therefore with gross corruption, but we must not primarily focus on the negatives of the cities, but on the positives.
2b Because of this high calling we understand God's CONCERN FOR THE CITY. Jonah was sent to the most influential city of his time, though very oppressive and full of evil (Jonah 4:11). Paul also consistently focuses on cities for this very reason of the leadership of cities.
Application re 2: Is your urban area leading in crime, in prostitution, in hiding refugees? Just like New York is leading the international stock market! Both are close to their destiny: leading, only with the wrong topic. Cities attract (deceive) people from the countryside, as if they say: "Come unto me, you who are heavy laden…". Pray for God's destiny for your city to be revealed, to understand her history, to have a vision for her future, to encourage her population even before they are converted.

3 GOD LOVES CITIES; THEY ARE A PRECIOUS REWARD!
Adam already received a vision for the city to come, and (seems to have)inspired Cain to build the first city ever (Gen 4:17). Abraham looked forward to the one God had designed (Hebr 11:10). God, Solomon and Jesus give cities as a reward (Josh 19:50; 1Kng 9:11,16; Luke 19:17,19); Jesus' own Bride will be a spiritual city (Rev 21:2,10). Nations and cities are corporate persons, created in God's image, just as individuals. Mind the names for Jerusalem: Righteousness and Salvation, Herald of Good Tidings, My delight, The Throne of the Lord, Joy of the Whole Earth, The Lord id There! And other cities: Weapon for Battle, City of Renown, I Delight in You, Protection and Vengeance. Also negative "names" for cities occur in the Bible many times.
Application re 3: Not the need, the poverty or the discrimination of an urban area should be the motivation to go and preach there, but the fact that God loves that (section of the) city. Such an urban area is not the "shame of the government", but God wants to make it (her) the pride of the nation. Go around the city and cry, out loud: "Miss Amsterdam, Jesus loves you"; "Miss Nairobi, Miss Metro Manila, Jesus loves you."

4 CITIES ARE CORPORATE PERSONS AND GOD DESIRES A COVENANT RELATION WITH THEM.
He calls them, in and outside Israel, "Virgin -to be covenanted-" or "Prostitute -covenant breaker-" (Hos 3:1; Isa 47:1,7-10 and +100 other references). This covenant was broken and will be re-established (Zech 11:4-13, Isa 24:-5-6, 25:6-7); Rev 21:3: "I will be their God and they will be my peoples", which is the covenant formula. That's why we speak to the heart of the city.
Application re 4: If the Message only touches individuals in their spiritual life, or even individuals in their social welfare, then your ministry withdraws into the periphery of society, not being light and salt "of the world", and compromising the unique destiny of the church and endangering the unique destiny of your city(!). The Message is for the whole of society on which you focus, touching all social dynamics! As your ministry/church leads in corporate prayer, in confession of corporate sin, and expects and realizes the corporate destiny, she "rules with Christ in prayer". Soon she will counsel the city leaders, and lead the city into a covenant with Her Maker. Not the dedication of cities to old gods, queen of heaven, masonry powers, but covenanting the city to God, officially, by the Lord mayor, is "harvesting her". As far as I know there are in Brazil three cities that covenanted to God, incl. the city of Diadema, with astounding societal effects; in the Filipinos four provinces covenanted to God, and four entire nations covenanted/dedicated to God through their king/president: Tonga, Zambia (1991), Benin (1997) and Uganda (1998). Through saturation church planting (DAWN-ministries among others) do the bottom-up part of this task is done, visionary and necessary; the presidents and lords mayor do the top-down part, completing the harvesting of their nation or city. And the church in all this is the mediator, in prayer.
THE HARVEST OF CITIES HAS STARTED AT LAST.

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