Why We Might Be Failing Our Cities Part Two

The church is ineffective in society because it has relegated its influence to the realm of that which we have traditionally perceived as sacred.

A few years ago, I started something called the Creative City Project. It continues to grow in its mission of “unexpected art in unexpected places.” Each year, we partner with dozens of artists and arts organizations to put art and performance in public spaces all over Downtown Orlando. We partner with for-profit arts companies, non-profit arts organizations, individual artists, governmental agencies and private businesses. There is absolutely no religious or evangelistic agenda or association to the event. There are all kinds of people of varying beliefs and unbeliefs involved. Those things aren’t even part of the conversation. Yet, there is something deeply redemptive about what happens through the event. The Creative City Project exists on the foundation that artists have the ability to change a place for the better. I am involved with the project because I believe art does something powerful in the lives of people and in the life of our city. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

There will most likely be street preachers on the sidewalks of Downtown Orlando when we present the Creative City Project in November of this year. And while there is so much redemptive beauty in the art and relationships around them, they will be shouting from the street corner about the need for people to repent. That’s where we’ve missed it. We believe that our best contribution is standing at a distance, putting an invisible wall between what is spiritual and what isn’t.

When we recognize the role of the Church extends beyond our walls, it expands our perception of where reconciliation extends.

In Exodus 31, God gives Moses a word about the spiritual underpinnings of seemingly practical work. He says, “See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship.”

God wants to see thriving people, cities, and nations. That happens when you and I are willing to dissolve the line between what is sacred and what is secular. It happens when we recognize that even the systems, governments, buildings, businesses and infrastructure around us can be perfected. But what have we done instead?

The Church has limited its influence by attempting to modify cultural behavior through the violent imposition of legislation.

While Christ was concerned with the hearts of people, many of his followers today are obsessed with external behavior. Christians have set their end goal – not as the redemptive thriving of all things – but the illusion of a morally ordered society.

The only reasonable outcome of this means of rule-making is the same outcome we see resulting from the rigid, religious legalism of the Pharisees. Jesus called those whose behavior changed under threat of punishment, “white-washed tombs.” While the behavior may be modified on the outside, our insides are filled with fear, hopeless and despair.

Fear within the Christian (of judgment from God or shame in the Church) becomes a motivating factor that serves to perpetuate fear in the rest of the world. Ultimately, fear – an enemy of the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace and the like – becomes a wall between God and society.

So where do we go from here?

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Be sure to check out, "Why We Might Be Failing Our Cities Part One,"