Intercessors and Cosmic Urban Spiritual Warfare

~

Taking our cities with the Gospel is one of the greatest challenges facing us in the '90s.
It will require intense intercession, sacrifice and prolonged spiritual waifare. Although this article focu~es on cities rather than peoples, the author believes «the waifare for the unreached peoples
will largely be fought in the cities. "

By Viv Grigg

'l1.;s morning my friend, a political 1. i~der in exile from an Asian city,
told me that God wanted him to destroy the prostitution trade in his city. I wept to myself in the quiet of my office. For eight years I had waited for God to
answer prayer (1) and raise up such a man.
It had been eight years since I first entered that city. On that day I had sat on my bed in the guest house and waited in the presence of God (2)1 He ;ook my hands and used them to form shape of the spirit over that city. A ::>1-'mt that was deeply sensuous, and one giving power to the very kingdom over the land had entered. Later I went out, and there on the sidewalk saw the images of this goddess.
We read that "Jesus became a man and dwelt among them." Peter, later in life said simply "we touched him." Out of the incarnation, came the warfare (3). There is no intercession unless we die for a people. So I asked God for a person (4) for someone who would go to this city and rescue the victims of the prostitution trade-for the Kingdom of God is manifest in service to the poor. And God spoke to a woman. Within a few months of her arrival, and the beginning of her evangelistic ministry, the wives of some of the rich in the city came to her asking how they could help. For their husbands were part of the structures that perpetuated the trade, and they were ashamed. Spiritual encounters now moved to a second level, beyond the victims to the people ~ower in the structures. A level of IOrity had been earned through incarnation, evangelism and service to the poor (5). Gradually other ministries formed. A city prayer movement was developed.

But I asked where was a national leader of sufficient political standing to carry the spiritual warfare into the very centers of power. This morning I wept for I had my answer. Eight years of carrying the burden of a city in my spirit (6).
This paper is about intercession and
its impact on issues of completing the unfinished task of reaching cities. For many years it has been a privilege to
walk with my family behind the Lord in the dark side of the mega-cities slums of the third world and to intercede for many of these cities.
Out of intercession has come the emergence of movements, missions and churches. These have ,not boon the result of any particular charisma, nor because of massive resources, for we have lived as poor people, without significant resources, just daily bread (7) and what he has provided to cata- lyze each new work. These movements are the result of the sovereign hand of God moving in answer to prayer (8).

in from around the globe is that almost every one of these cities already have churches. The gospel must go to the ends of the earth. But none of these cities have sufficient numbers of believers and churches to effectively evangelize each major sector of the city .3
Today we are moving into what Dr. Paul Pierson calls the fourth era of the modem missions - reaching the cities. In the last decade over 1 billion people have careened down rural roads into multiplying concrete highways to be disgorged and disoriented into the city and its slums.
Most mission leaders are aware that almost all population increase in the next decades will be both urban and urban migrant (rural population growth will remain static), that the majority of this will be in the slums and squatter areas and that these will increase far faster than the rate of industrialization of these cities.
Therefore, the penetration of these cities and these receptive urban poor conununities define the target of missions for the next decades and will probably require'more energy and more suffering than has been seen in the whole of the modem Protestant era. We can foresee that the future of missions is urban, and that it is to the poor.

Strategic Focus for Intercessors in
the Next Decades
Where do we strategically focus
prayer? As coordinator of the Cities
Resource Network of the AD 2000
Movement, some very simple compari-
sons of existing research has resUlted in
an estimate of 1136 such un~varigdized
cities. By AD 2000 there will be over ",.' , .
400 cities over 1 million 'and over 300 Intercession Involves Entermg the of these could be classifi~ as unevan- " 'Sufferings of the Poor
gelized. Some 30-90% of the popula-Any cursory look, at worlds A, B, C,
tion of each of these live in highly' or the 10/40 Window; shows that the
responsive slums, coloniasJavelas, least evangelized are the poor of the
bustees, bidonvilles, shantytowns, earth. As Bryant Myers has pointed
squatter areas...2 out, "the poor are the lost."
The exciting thing as data has come As an intercessor, I have to call you
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 10:4 OCT. 1993



Intercessors and Cosmic Urban Spiritual Warfare
to enter into the poverty of the poor, forfruit to the families of those hurt by Wide responses. Wagner and others
that was the model of him who nowthese events. As he did the people saw
intercedes for us. As a strategist it is God come among them.
evident that the responsive migrantAnd the first bustee in another city is
poor ~ the.key to th~ citi~ - bibli-. penetrated with the gospel. What was cally, historically, ~ologtcally, and m the cost of initial penetration? One terms of church planting and growth. worker lost her hearing, one worker lost her health, fifteen workers gave from three to seven years of their lives with severe sicknesses,frequent demonic activities (12) surrounding them. And behind it, several hundred people praying (13). Today in six b'ustees there

196

The Great Mission of Jesus
Given these contexts of massive urbanization, globalization and impov- erishment of city populations, what is OW' goal in praying? Let us look to OW' Master to find the ansWers.
He came preaching the
Kingdom of God. Preaching, teaching, healing and deliv-
ering were his primary activi-
ties. He trained his disciples
in the same central issues of methodology. We are to pray
for l4borers who can do the
same (9) (Matthew 9:37,38).
In Luke 4: 18 He declares
His mission and ours, the
great mission. It is to preach
good news to the poor. The
central activity is not giving
bread. The central focus is
not the middle class. An
apostolic focus, on the poor,
in a holistic context and
numner to the apostolic
ministry needs to be central.
Luke 4:18 is the heart of the
great commission of Matthew
28, and Mark 16 which define the extent and further expand on metho- dology.

Penetrating the Least of the Least EvanaeJized Cities
He bad been a language helper for a foreign man of God. One day he refused to give money for the puja, the te1ebration of worship of the goddess, "I have been reading this holy book and it says we are to have only one God." Then he fled &om the bustee (slum). He gave his life to the only one God. During those days a train smashed into the coJDDllJllity, two houses canght on fire. The people said it was because he had turned against their goddess - perbap6 it was, they would know.
The me to whom he taught language was a man of prayer, and a man who walked among the poor, and in prayer God spo/u! (10,11) to take flowers and

. : "WCRt" cnIES. " .
'"MB .f~~=£~TEI!.
12,000 ClTIaSlN TIU!WORLD
TAKING THE CITIES
A MOVEMENT OF THE FOURTH MISSIONARY ERA !1 Co"".n'" 2lnland 3 People "'0>'1" Trib", 4 Citi",)



AND OVER
1 00,000 PEOP]

VIV GRIGG "A"""""
!AS'" I99ODATAI

are eI11erging groupS of worshipping people. And what will be the cost of a movement? Somebody giving 15 to 20 years of their lives for this peop~, building upon the penetration. Every step bathed in prayer (14).
In this city of 12 million we estimate there are ISO movements needed to penetIate each major sector of the city. So far in the last 18 months we have prayed in three pioneer teams. Some 60,000 people have praye4 for a month for the city. Every month we have asked God to send in an intercessory team of pastors. He has answered in diverse ways.

How Long Has it Been Since Someone Took a City?
Wagner has popularized the work done by Ed SilvO8O and Harvest Evan- gelism. with stories of cities that evan- gelistically have bad significant city-

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIJi;R MISSIONS

' '

A lot of people are talking about taking cittes today.
. What do they mean?
. How do we measure success? . What do we mean by closure in this comic urban warfare?
. What is the role of intercession?

relate the success to spiri-
tual mapping (15), and spir- itual warfare. R.A.Toney,preached
back in 1904 in my home
city of Dunedin, New
Zealand. It was a city
founded by a shipload of Presbyterians to be a city of God. When he preached, the
city closed down. Shops
were closed with signs
"gone to the crusade."
Trams full of people wonld burst out into singing of
hymns. Toney saved a city
by a revival in the power of
the Holy Spiril Old men, ,
kept a city under the sove-
reign grace of God by their consistent prayers (16). Is
this taking a city?
Nehemiah, soaking in the word of God (17), prayed for a city.
God gave him the opportunity of
rebnilding Jerusalem after a godly
manner. Is this what we mean by
takin~ a city?
Jonah was reluctantly spewed up to a
city. His prophetic word (18) stayed
the hand of God for 400 years, all
repented from king to slave. The story
is told of St. Francis of Assisi, that wandering Pentecostal evangelist of
earlier years, as to how he saved Assisi.
The city was in civil war. He sent
Bernardo ahead of him to declare to the spirits over the city (19) that Francis of Assisi was coming and to depart and to gather the leaders of rich and poor.
They then sat down and negotiated a contract that saved the city. The
Westeys saved cities and nations
through preaching a holistic gospel of
the Kingdom to the poor. Is this taking --
a city for God?
Jesus. like Abraham, looked forward



to a city but was thrown out nom a city ~ for which he did batik in prayer (Matt. 23:37), and to which he proplu!sied (20). The outcome was its destroction 40 years later. Did he take a city? Did Abraham when he pray~ for Sodom take a city? We
cannot preempt the
judgments of a sove-
reign God by some
model of success in
how we take cities.
Intensive Goals for
Prayer
I would propose specific prayer goals for cities tbat have different levels of spiritual life and resources:
*Penetration evangelism in
cities less than 05% evangel- ical.5
*Kingdom movements
(including discipling DlOv~ ments, chW'Ches, and new
denominations) within major sectors of cities less than 3 % evangelical.
*Saturation evangelization of cities resulting in revival move- ments in every major sector and wban poor mission-sending thrusts in cities from 3-20% evangelical.
*Discipling of whole cities, bringing whole cities under the socio-economic-political princi- ples of the Kingdom of God, transjbrming the very struc-
tures and culture of the cities where there are more than 10% evangelicals (Jesus and Paul did not have this opportunity, but many through history have).

Extensive Goals for Prayer:

~

* 3500 cities over 100,000.
* Focus in on 1736 Cities Less than
3 % Evangelical. 6
* Primary focus on 51 cities over 1
million and less than 05 % Chris-
tian.

Viv Grigg

197

brought to the notice of the Western nations the sb'ategic place of Iraq
(Babylon) and Iran (the Kingdom of Persia) in the Biblical end time scenarios, as being strongholds of two immensely powerful spirits. While hesitant about George's unique interpretation of Revela- tion, the reality of these two powerful spiritual centers seems verifi- able. There are other centers of tremendous power in the 10/40 region. I would identify at least five - Calcutta (center of Kali and Brahmanic Hinduism), V~si, Iraq, Iran and the Tibetan region. Penetrating these is done only through death (21). These powers are centered in cities, control countries or whole regions and extend their inftuence through the "isms" of philosophy and religion. The level of demonic activity in the context of these centers of princi- palities could be far greater than. dtat of past Protestant missions focused on tribes. It is certainly greater than in easily accessible countries or Christianized or CathoIicizOO contexts.
At the same time as we face a higher level of intensity of 0ppo- sition, the world is moving to the cities, where all the depravity of man coalesces in giant grotesque forms that enable the spiritual powers to wreak great destruction in increasing levels. And so in general, reaching and trans- forming the cities becomes increasingly difficult.





3O-000~~ ci cities~r . are slums
and increasing

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S1RA1EGIC FOCI IN
CITIES AT DIFFERENT
lEVELS OFEV ANGELlZATIO~
- - - - - - - -COOCeiitialioilon - - -~ - --- Transfonnation
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ..1- - - - - - -
of City Structlm
- - - - - - - .andCulture-

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Concentration on
:D ~ - - - - - Revival :.People's -=- - -
Movements
- - - Om~~n-~

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ioneering

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ffigh Intensity Intercessory Warfare Not only demographically but theo- logically many are aware that the final Biblical battles are battles between cities, between God's people in the cities (the bride of Christ, which is the city of Goo) and biblical Babylon as it represents the emerging interglobal network of cities - the global city itself. The casualties will be greater than even in these least unreached cities. The level of direct confrontation with the powers will be more intense. George Otis 7 in his artistic style has .

A Biblical Theology of Cosmic Spiritual Urban Conflict
Biblical history is a history of a cosmic spiritual conflict between two cities - the city of God, and the city of man - of power stroggles taking place in two centers of demonic powers - (the rich and the poor): Th~ principalities over the military elites who mle the world's city-states from the mega-cities (for most countries have only one city

VOL 10:4 OCT 1993



198

Intercessors and Cosmic Urban Spiritual Warfare

What Does "Taking a City" Mean?

Based on such models, each of these men or women:
. Listened to God, and He revealed the battle for the city.
. They spoke that plan and lead the people into battle, giving leadership at the point of battle that was crucial at that time.
. The outcome looked different in each time and place.

to which the nation's resources flow. 1bere are few true democracies even today). The powers are manifest in the urban slums, where the victims of the oppession, violence, corruption and mimum~ement of counbies and cities find their dwellings.

Cities as Covenants Between Peoples and God
Jerusalem was a city built from a covenant with a pattiarch whose eyes were fixed on a heavenly city. Cities today frequently retain some of the effect of covenants made in former days.
When I was a child, there was a group of old men who used to pray for our city in York Place Hall in the center of the city. They were the fruit of the revival lead by R.A. Torrey in 1904. In my 14th year they died. That year the Presbyterian churches of the city founded by migrant Presbyterians to be a city of God. Later, however, sensuous dancing was started in the churches. By the end of the year the youth were dancing into sexual relationships in the town hall, and had left the churches. That year the spiritual life of the city died. The city has never recovered. Even today I can count on one hand the spiritual churches in that city. God upheld covenants made with Torrey and with these men throughout their life- time as they pmyed. It was here I was f1fSt struck to the floor by the Holy Spirit into a wonderful sense of his presence. They were pmying in another room, nevertheless, such was the power of Holy Spirit in their pmyers.
Taking cities has to do with re- establishing the covenants of the cities (22), desttoying the covenants made with devils and re-establishing cove- nants with God. As for Torrey it began with the preaching of the gospel which is the power of God for salvation.

Cities As Centers of Demonic Principalities
Jacques Ellul8 in perhaps the most significant theology on the city since Augustine's City of God, grippingly portrays this theme from the f1fSt city built by Cain in rebellion against God. His descendants built Babylon. Which, in the Scriptures begins as the name of a city but takes on the meaning of a principality far larger than any city, and becomes representative of a world urban system warring against God. In a similar manner, Jerusalem comes to represent not just the geographicalloca- tion of the city of God, but a picture of the universal city where God dwells. Today in the same manner, we fmd Bangkok, the "city of the angels" and in regular daily ceremonies, every portion of its land is dedicated to the spirits, for whom small houses are constructed. Kalikata or Calcutta, is named after a goddess. This city of death, is a servant of the goddess of death and destruction. Discernment of these spiritual powers helps in prepamtion for the battle. It occurs by the preaching of the word, the word of our testimony, the signs that follow, and "loving not of our lives unto death." As Luther under- stood, "He who would true valour see, let him come hither...there's no discou- mgement can make him once relent his fast avowed intent to be a pilgrim." While the nature of principalities dwelling over territories may be inferred from the Scriptures, Berkhof, Walter Wink,9 and others coming from a variety of theological perspectives, indicate that the primary biblical cate- gories are not simply geographical thrones and dominions but the warfare is against the philosophies and religions of the people. Thus Hollywood has been the name not only for a place but for a demonic intrusion into the homes of millions, propagating licentiousness, adultery, immorality and undermining many forms of resbictions on human

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS

sexual practices that are necessary for holding the family together. New
York is known for the fmancial philos- ophies and the structures they produce around the globe, while Washington is known around the world for the misuse
of power and oppression of poor
nations.
It seems that each city has a philo- sophical focus that defmes it. Frequent-
ly the powers are "isms" that seem to have a territorial center. This seems logical when considering the fmite
nature of demonic beings in contrast
with the omnipresence of our God. Through the proclamation of the gospel, the Kingdom impacts the very structures of the cities. The Scriptures
are consistent that working for justice
in society is both part of a righteous person's lifestyle and lays the basis for ---- intercession. Colossians tells us that
Christ is the integmtor of the structures
of the universe.10 He holds cities
together. Romans tells us to obey the instituted authorities for they have been appointed by God.tt
But what of the institutions not
founded by God, such as slavery of
much of North Africa and many Asian cities, or the structures of prostitution or child labor and abortion? This tension
'of "City of God, City of Satan" to use Robert Linthicum's termt2 is one that requires constant discernment. Struc- tures are not usually neutral. They may be ethically corrupted, or ethically good Or they may have life birthed into them at points by the Holy Spirit, or death by demonic powers.
For example we may break down
into components the educational struc- ture of a city-state. The policy (1) set by the governing parliamentary chamber (2), under the leadership of a secretary of education (3), is then set into operating procedures (4) by bureaucmts (5), and implemented (6) by educators (7). At any point demonic activity or the life of the Spirit of God



~,

can enter into individuals and through individuals into the policy, philosophy, or administration. Aspects of this struc- ture can be demonized.
Cities may be ethically good (1) , bad (2) or neutral (mixed (3» , governed by godly peogle by God's principles (4) or infiltrated on the other hand by demonic powers (5) operating through people and philosophies.

Strategic Issues in Intercession for Cities
1. Common Progressions in City
Partnering Processes
For each city God has a purpose.
And for each city God has a battle plan. It is our task to discern it. It then is our task in unity to walk with him in the
obedience. Listening, unity and timing are crucial factors.
We need to know the processes involved in partnering churches together for establishing of the Kingdom in every sector of a city. Every step in such a process is of neces- sity the working of the Spirit, as we r--- work with him. Every city is different and will follow a different pattern with a different time frame and style. Every battle is different.
2. Spiritual Unity of the Church Key to Spiritual Warfare
In most evangelized cities (with a . significant number of churches), there will be a movement of the Holy Spirit that brings pastors of the city together. There may be many networks of pastors, Christian interest groups, prayer networks, women's networks etc., scattered across the city. Linking the leaders of these together around some common goals is ,a central element of reaching a city.
This must be birthed by the Holy Spirit. The spiritual unity of the leaders of the Church is a key to spiritual power (see Acts 2,4). The Holy Spirit may not work significantly in a situa- tion where he is grieved due to their disunity .
3. A Shared Theology of Brokenness ~. If there is not significant unity, the first step is to bring together the pastors in prayer or in renewal and teaching until there are reconciliations and brokenness occurs between each other.

Viv Grigg
A few weeks ago as I spoke with the
pastors of one city, and as I looked around the room, I realized I had heard negative stories about every one of them. In their culture people say nice things about others but then end with cutting comments. As I began to talk about this, some 50 pastors then cove- nanted together to never cut down another. It had taken seven years of suffering and work to bring us to this point.
The riots in Los Angeles were the key to catalyze the unity of the church of that city. After the riots Korean and Black pastors, Hispanic and Afro- Americans and Anglos publicly confessed their sins to each other (23) and began to work on issues of transfor- mation of the city together.
4. Prayer Movements
Prayer births visions of what God can do in the city (24), and builds mutual trust and relationship (25). It is a common denominator around which many diverse Christian groups can work in unison.
Citywide prayer, prayer walks, prayer marches, neighborhood prayer strategies, prayer triplets (26) are some of the components of such movements of prayer, that are included in the Cities Strategy Manual.13 Concerts of Prayer are effectively working in many cities. The Intercessory Prayer Manual devel- oped by John Huffman of "Christ for the Cities in Latin America" is one of the best tools for integrating prayer and research at a local church level.
5. Released From Worldly Powers
Many sins prevent effective intercession (27). Some stand out. Penetrating centers of affluence (cities), requires the Biblical renunciation of wealth (28). St. Francis of Assisi has been the universal model of apostolic poverty. It was his release from the powers of greed of his times that enabled him to move into levels of spiritual power and save whole cities.
6. The First Issue In Spiritual Authority
Out of our sufferings God has given
a level of authority for part of the
warfare in this city. Jesus gave an abso- lute principle that "unless the grain of wheat dies it does not bear fruit". He modeled it, for, "Jesus became a man and dwelt among us..." Incarnation among the poor releases the power of

199

the Spirit. Choosing suffering with the poor produces the character of the Spirit, enabling an outflow of his power.
7. Intercessory Leadership Begins In Reaching The Poor
From the ministry of preaching among the poor emerge those with truly pastoral hearts. Again and again we find the spiritual leaders here of the city began with planting the church among the poor. We fmd that God raises up those who work among the poor to be the spiritual leaders of the pastors of cities. Jackie Pollinger-Chao began with drug addicts in Hong Kong and today thousands in that city owe spiri- tuallife to the ripples of her ministry. Roger Forester began by taking needy people into his home and is being used across London and the world.
"Why?" we might ask. One reason is
that a qualification of an elder is that they not be greedy.14 Perhaps also other pastors see that these are not hire- lings but truly care for the sheep. Thirdly, being among the poor proves to be a training ground for under- standing the structures of the city, which oppress the poor, and cause poverty, and leads us into the emer- gence of a prophetic powerful ministry. Luke 4: 18 tells us that God unleashes his Spirit especially on such servants. 8. People Group Thinking: Necessary but Not Sufficient
We need to mobilize massive move- ments of prayer (29) in Latin America for the unevangelized cities in Asia. To do this requires city proftles, proftles of "peoples in cities" and proftles of "the cities of the mega-peoples" to be devel- oped and disseminated along the lines of people proftles.
It also requires changing the format of people. group proftles so that the cities of the peoples become focal, for they are the entrance point to most peoples. For while the people group movement has picked up steam, (and rural peoples will remain a major item for world evangelism), the unreached people groups have been moving to the cities. The warfare for the unreached peoples of the world will largely be fought in the cities.
Some would contend that people group thinking is all that is needed to strategically reach them. But this is a VOL 10:4 OCT 1993



zoo

Intercessors and Cosmic Urban Spiritual Warfare
redu~tionist error. ~~tywide thi~~ iswho know how to plant the church community in the city (e.g. suburbs in
required to reach ~ties. Part of this IS to among the urban poor in the power of America).
develop an analySIs of the peoplethe Spirit and are able to live simply4
group~ in ~<:h city. But while c~tiesgoing from economies that are begn:- Rew~~:~e:9:Varfare Prayer,
have Im~U.lStic groups, and ethDlc ning to have sufficient support base tog ,. ~
commUDlties, they also have networks, sustain them. In such a statement I am 5 The percentage levels are purely rule economic and class, and cas~ barriers also predicting that the Lord will stabi- of thum? It .seem~ that arou~ 3%
and many other forms of social groups. lize several Latin economies as the evangehcalm a city some kind of Diversity, not ~uct!°nism, is the way church begins to move from simple sustainable processes begin to ~ .
to urban evangelization. evangelism to transform the structuresshape. It seems that beyond thIS pomt
Is There StUl a Place for Western of those nations. and that they will have increasing levels of transformation of Missions?the economic base for sustainedsociety begin to occur.
There is new

po

wer in th "

C
h . - mission sending. 6We could redo this ranking on the
eans .

b
.

fB

'

%
Chris

.

Hi

matic" leaderships from the West.The resources are available. The aslS 0 arrett s. tian: s
Unfortunately they do not know thepotential workers are available. Pres-fig~es ~ based ~~ an mtegnty of
issues of poverty. They have heard the e~ce among the poor, proclamation soclolog~cal defiDltiO~S. Percentage. Lord speak about the poor, and areWith ~wer and prevailing prayer Evan~ehcal from ~atr1~k Jo~nstone IS
seeking to obey, but so far have beenremaIn the methodologies to bringan estimate, also With mtegnty but
unwilling to pay the price of changingabout closure, to bring about a disci-measuring a variable more readily
their lifestyles, structures and message. pling movement in every major sectorperceived by front-line evangelists.
Decadence and greed take their toll. in 3500 cities on the globe. We need to Basing a ranking on Barrett's model Yet there are pockets of significance - move from Penetration to Church-gives roughly the same rankings but
such as the commitment of the New planting to Movements ofTransforma-leaves out re-evangelization of Catholic
Zealand churches to the poor that has tion of these cities, and before the Lord and Orthodox cities.
resulted in seven missions now sendingreturns. ~obilized, strategically70tis, George, The Last of the Giants,
long-term teams to the slums of Asia.focused. mfonned, trained and incama-Chosen Books 1991.
Apart from teams in the slums oftional intercession is our starting point.8 Ellul, Jacq~es, The Meaning of the
Manila with International Teams and

E
d
N
te

City, Eerdmans, 1977.

the

.

fA

.

I
n 0 S
comnutments 0 ction ntema- 9 An excellent summary can be found
tional, and the growing focus of. ll!inciples. of 'intercession are in in McAlpine, Thomas, "Facing the
'!W.AM and OM. on the urban poor, it ItaliCS and With a (number) beside them. Powers: What are the Options,"
IS difficult to fmd a large U.S. mission 2See Grigg, Viv, "Cry of the Urban MARC, 1991.
society with a strategy fo~ sendingPoor,"chapt~r 2. MARC, 1992, for a1OCoiossians 1:16-20.
teams o~ ~hurch planters m to the slums more extensive summary of research onnR13.1 7
of the Cities. If they do not reach thethe extent of the slums.omans. - .
~ of these citie~, how w~l they know 3As a rule of thumb we are looking at ~2Linthicum, Robert, City of God, the Issues o~the CIty? And if they do major sectors 'as any people group (asC~ty.ofSatan, Zondervan,.1991. A
not suffer wIth the people, how can they defined by a people themselves) Blbhcal theology of the city from the
p~~y for a city? and so how will the consisting of over 100,000 people. This pers~cti:e of Christian community CItieS be reached?is generally based on language andorganization.
The Lord is turning to others.ethnic background, but also by occupa-13A vailable from Urban Leadership,
Perhaps the future is with missionaries tion, and to some degree by economic 127 N. Madison Ave, #20, Pasadena, from newly developed countries to thestatus (e.g. street children, slumCA 91101 ($20 incL tax, P&H).
cities of the poorer nations. Peoplecommunities), and to some degree by14 1 Timothy 3:3.

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