Evangelicals Respond to Urbanization with Nationwide Initiative
Evangelical Christians are hitting the San Diego beaches to spiritually transform one of the largest cities in the nation.
San Diego is California's second and the nation's eighth largest city and the Greater San Diego area is home to more than 3 million people. With less than half of the population claiming no religious affiliation and only 6 percent claiming to be evangelical Christians, Southern Baptists are partnering up for a strategic effort called Vision San Diego to revitalize the old churches in the area and start new ones.
"We're here to help our pastors. They're the ones God has called to reach San Diego with the Gospel," said Mike Carlisle, Vision San Diego's executive director, according to the North American Mission Board (NAMB). NAMB is the domestic mission agency of the Southern Baptist Convention.
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"We want to respect their uniqueness and their differences," Carlisle continued, "but at the same time bring individuals and groups together based on our common ground.
"We're better together than we are by ourselves."
Southern Baptist entities including NAMB, the San Diego Southern Baptist Association and the California Southern Baptist Convention have partnered to strengthen the 178 existing local churches through training and resources and to start more than 100 new churches over the next three years.
The Vision San Diego team is currently in the initiative's planning year to establish strategies for the citywide outreach which will begin in 2008. A Seeing and Serving Vision Tour beginning in August will also provide opportunities for churches and others who want to learn about and participate in the new initiative.
Vision San Diego is part of NAMB's Strategic Focus Cities – a nationwide initiative to reach out to North America's urban centers, home to 60 percent of the country's total population.
Strategic Focus Cities recognizes the dramatic shift in American life this century – urbanization – and predicts that by 2020, the top cities in the U.S. will grow by 30 to 70 percent.
Urbanism expert Eric Jacobsen says urbanization will literally reshape the way ministry is done, according to Outreach magazine. "Churches are going to have to change."
Change begins with one's approach to church growth.
"Don't grow up, like a tower. Grow out, into the community," says Jon Sharpe, professor of global urban studies at Seattle's Bakke Graduate University.
In response to the urbanization and need for change, NAMB along with its partners in 1998 began focusing their attention on the major metropolitan areas in North America where they would increase evangelism and church planting exponentially. The initiative was launched in Chicago and Phoenix in 2000. Other cities that followed are Las Vegas, Boston, Seattle, Philadelphia, Miami, New York City, and Cleveland, Ohio, respectively.
Baltimore and San Diego are the newest Strategic Focus Cities.
"I believe that when God calls us to ministry, He puts in our hearts a passion for certain locations, cultures and people. This is it for me. These are my people," said Vision San Diego's Carlisle.
"Be in tune with your city," Jacobsen advises. "Go out and walk the neighborhood. Hang out in coffee shops. Get to know the local context. Don't let your church be an isolated pod."
According to Dwight Simpson, director of Missions for San Diego, many San Diego churches are small and led by bi-vocational pastors. He hopes Vision San Diego will help churches partner and cooperate to increase God's Kingdom.
