Perspectives on City Dwelling

I ran across this article a few days ago--
Why I Moved Back to the Suburbs
-- an interesting take from a woman who transitioned from dense city-dwelling into suburban London.  She writes,

I’m pleased to be gone because, despite all the hype about their supposed edginess and creative ferment, I find fashionable inner city neighborhoods increasingly as banal, antisocial and plain dull as any suburb. For all their reputation as hives of individuality, neighborhoods like my own city’s Broadway Market offer almost identical businesses to those you’d find in currently hip city neighborhoods anywhere.  While the base materials (streets and houses) may be different in, say, NYC’s Greenpoint, Berlin’s Neukölln, or Madrid’s Malasaña, the trappings of gentrification – expensive coffee and bike shops, junk sold at a premium as “vintage” and, soon after, bitterly resented chain outlets – make these places seem increasingly homogenous. 

This touches on a tension felt by many of us "urban missionaries."  It's part of the ongoing conversation especially among New Monastics, who 1) often live in cities and 2) are characterized by "Relocation to the abandoned places of Empire" (one of the 12 "marks," or distinctives of the movement).  Part of what makes the conversation tricky is that the movement stepped up to face the data and realities coming out of the late twentieth century.  White flight was a visible reality in most American cities at that point.  City cores were precisely the types of places that had been built and then abandoned by Empire.  For people to choose to live in the city was a radical decision.

I have seen this change dramatically, even in the 10 years since I began college.  Urban renewal has actually taken place, making downtowns attractive - and expensive - places to live.  The building boom vastly expanded housing options with condos and high-rise apartments.  And even outside of downtown, urban areas have become attractive places to live.  With higher gas prices, people wanted to shorten their commutes.  When real estate prices dropped, city housing became more affordable (well, somewhat).  In other words, it becomes more difficult to make the case that missionaries are going into a hard, harrowing, unattractive setting by living in many American cities.  In fact, they may even seem to be like all those other people who think that urban areas are cool/ creative/ invigorating/ (insert adjective here).

I will confess that sometimes I have been sure to emphasize that our neighborhood isn't one of the cool, trendy ones.  Even last night at church, we met someone and when she heard where we lived, she said, "Oh yeah there are such great restaurants there!" No, no, I thought to myself, you are thinking of another part of town, not far away, but very different.

But before I get way off track, that's not the point.  My point is, I'm learning God does not just call us to the abandoned places -- no more than God calls us exclusively to the "hip" places.  God calls us to care for all His places.  As a result, I really don't have anything to prove about why I live where I live.  I do like it.  I do benefit from it.  I do believe that my neighbors are some of the world's down-and-out, marginalized and ignored.  But I can't kid myself into ignoring that I'm also living and commuting alongside up-and-comers.  I'm in a beautiful, wealthy, tropical city that is by no means "abandoned."  Whether homogeneous or creative, trendy or sketchy, there is no hierarchy of ministry locations.  God's love is needed everywhere.  Now, I can seriously vouch for some areas more than others, =) but that's me speaking.  Not the God of the universe.

So move where God takes you -- let God take you places.  And by all means proclaim the Good News of God's Kingdom, needed in every place, people, and time.