Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that "The city is recruited from the country." I think about that as I travel around this city of Nagoya, a city of over 2 million people. You would think that a city in Japan that is hundreds of years old, interestingly, there are not many people who I have met who are from Nagoya. They may be from another city like Tokyo or Osaka, but many of the people were born out in the country, small towns and smaller cities and either moved to Nagoya out of their own volition or came as children with parents who sought work since World War II.
That unscientific observation would support what Conn & Ortiz noted in their wonderful book, Urban Ministry: The Kingdom, the City & The People of God
I see that struggle played out in the local Japanese Lutheran churches with whom I work. On one hand they are a place of quiet strength; people stop by the church during the week to pray --- the doors are always open, and on the other the diverse programs that make up the ministry from the kindergarten to the requests for money and food from the homeless.
I think urban churches are at the center of ministry in Japan. But perhaps what I have experienced here is what is happening around Asia. Just ponder these facts from the United Nations Urbanization Prospects Here :
Since 2008, for the first time in history, more than 50% of the world's population lives in urban areas;
61% of the global population now resides within Asia;
In 1950 the New York, USA metropolis was the only world mega-city (cities of 10 million or more). Today there are 26 and 11 are in Asia with Tokyo (33 million) topping the list;
And finally 75% of the global population is expected to concentrate in cities by 2050.
Mission is no longer about working in the dark corners of a jungle but in the teeming cities of Tokyo, Jakarta and Shanghai.
Interesting!
Posted by: Stephanie Ras | 30 May 2017 at 08:19 AM