emerging mosaic

I came across this article while browsing Churches Embrace New Urbanism as Antidote to Isolation and it stirred some  thoughts. The writer references the author of  Sidewalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith (The Christian Practice of Everyday Life)

New Urbanism has become a mantra for people interested in restoring urban centers and reconfiguring suburban sprawl. Its designs have sprouted across the country, from new towns like Seaside, Fla., to redevelopment in existing places like Gaithersburg, Md., or West Palm Beach, Fla. The Congress for the New Urbanism started small 12 years ago and now has more than 2,300 architects, developers, planners and urban designers.

Now Christian leaders are adopting the movement. They say the philosophy behind New Urbanism is a possible antidote to the isolation experienced by many churches and Christians. Across the country, influential Christians are thinking theologically about urban design and applying its principles to the church. They advocate for New Urbanist concepts because they force people to share with one another, dwell among their neighbors and allow for a healthy exchange of ideas.

The national advocates for New Urbanism include Randy Frazee, a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, a trend-setting Illinois megachurch attended by more than 20,000 people. Frazee says there’s a “movement brewing” where Christians are striving to capture the values of New Urbanism because of an urgent need.

A couple of years ago I was able to participate in a seminar on new urbanism. I was  enthralled by the potential synergy between the new urbanist social movement and the call to churches to return to our urban centers and be a part of their renewal. I think of Mosaic life as a new urbanist faith community, though we are not strictly a geographic or parish church. It is interesting that Randy Frazee is embracing new urbanist values. itisinteresting to me that Willow Creek which is so often talked about like the evil empire of the church often innovates more in terms of praxis.

Frazee compared mega-churches to castles surrounded by moats. A few times a year the drawbridge is lowered to let people in, where they become a subculture separate from the outside world. They become so involved in church life that they are not involved in their neighborhoods, he said.

“You have to disengage from your community to be involved in the church,” Frazee said, describing the problem. “Now the church has become irrelevant to the community.”

Willow Creek is a laboratory for new ideas in the evangelical world. Frazee said the push for New Urbanism will include the 10,500he 10,500
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV

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churches in the Willow Creek Association, which links smaller congregations that share the megachurch’s philosophy of ministry

Last fall I went to the CCDA conference in indiana and Dr. John Perkins taught a Bible study every morning his main text was Zechariah 8. Th efollowing verse stuck in my mind and seem to me to evoke the kind of new urbanist perspective tha Jacobson expresses, 

¹ Then another message came to me from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies:
² “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: My love for Mount Zion is passionate and strong; I am consumed with passion for Jerusalem!
³ “And now the Lord says: I am returning to Mount Zion, and I will live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will be called the Holy Mountain.
⁴ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Once again old men and women will walk Jerusalem’s streets with their canes and will sit together in the city squares.
⁵ And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play.
⁶ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
⁷ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west.
⁸ I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.
Zechariah 8:1-8Zechariah 8:1-8
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
8 The Lord's Promises to Zion ¹ The Lord All-Powerful said to me: ² I love Zion so much that her enemies make me angry. ³ I will return to Jerusalem and live there on Mount Zion. Then Jerusalem will be known as my faithful city, and Zion will be known as my holy mountain. ⁴ Very old people with walking sticks will once again sit around in Jerusalem, ⁵ while boys and girls play in the streets. ⁶ This may seem impossible for my people who are left, but it isn't impossible for me, the Lord All-Powerful. ⁷ I will save those who were taken to lands in the east and the west, ⁸ and I will bring them to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, faithful to bring about justice.

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