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Portraits of Urban Ministry Past and Present · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reform thinking. We are we are absolutely
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thrilled to have you joining us today for this deep dive.
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Our our mission is to examine how the gospel actually reaches
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urban centers. We're going to be looking at
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historical models from the early church and matching them up with
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modern examples from across the globe.
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We have a spectacular primary text to guide our conversation.
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Today we're looking at excerpts from the book Biblical Missions,
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Principles, Priorities, and Practices by Mark Tatlock and
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Chris Burnett. Specifically, we are focusing on
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a section titled Portraits of Urban Ministry Past and Present.
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OK, let's unpack this. When we look at the world around
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us, especially through the lens of Reformed theology, we
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understand that absolutely nothing is an accident.
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The sprawling metropolis. The bustling global hub.
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The crowded city streets. These are not random results of
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human engineering or, you know, economic coincidence.
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Cities are sovereignly ordained hubs.
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God, in his absolute Providence, designs the rise and fall of
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populations. He gathers incredibly diverse
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groups of people into these concentrated urban areas for a
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highly specific reason, so they might hear his word.
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I want you, our listener, to think about your own zip code
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for a moment. Think about your neighborhood,
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the people who live next door to you, the person who makes your
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coffee, or the Co workers you see every single day.
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God's specific placement of you in that precise location is no
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accident. He has positioned you there
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intentionally. Today we are going to look at
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how God has historically used these urban centers as the
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primary launching pads for His gospel.
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Yeah, that framing is essential because when we examine the
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historical and biblical record, the strategy is brilliantly
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clear. The Lord Jesus and his disciples
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deliberately prioritize cities as part of their strategic
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ministry in Israel. We see this recorded
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continuously throughout the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
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Jesus was constantly moving toward population centers,
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teaching in the synagogues, and addressing the masses gathered
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in the civic hubs. And when we look at the apostle
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Paul, his efforts were unequivocally concentrated in
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major cities. In his letter to the Romans,
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specifically in chapter 15, Paul makes a staggering claim.
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He writes to the church in Rome that he has fully preached the
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gospel from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.
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And he actually says there is no further place for him in those
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regions. What's fascinating here is the
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sheer geographic reality of that statement.
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We're talking about a massive Crescent of land stretching from
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the modern Middle East across Turkey, through Greece and all
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the way up into the Balkans. The overwhelming majority of the
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land area in that vast region was entirely untouched by the
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Christian message. There were countless rural
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villages, nomadic tribes, and isolated agricultural
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settlements that had never seen a Christian or heard the name of
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Christ. Yet Paul could confidently claim
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his work in that massive region was finished.
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He could make this claim because he had successfully planted
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churches in all of the major cities, places like Antioch,
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Ephesus, Corinth and Philippi. The strategic logic of that is
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just brilliant, but it requires a bit of visualization to really
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grasp it. Think of it like a heavy stone
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dropped into a completely calm pond.
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The city is the point of impact. When that stone hits the water,
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it creates a massive splash right at the center.
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But then the ripples begin to form.
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Those ripples move outward, extending across the entire
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surface of the water, reaching the furthest edges of the pond.
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The city is that initial point of impact for the gospel.
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When a healthy church is planted in an urban center, the people
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in that congregation, the merchants, the laborers, the
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traveling families, they take the gospel with them as they
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travel, trade, and interact with the surrounding rural areas.
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The ripples of the gospel reached the untouched lands not
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because Paul personally walked to every single Dirt Rd.
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village, but because the city dwellers carried the message
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outward along the Roman Rd. system.
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But I want to ask you about the specific nature of what Paul was
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building in those cities. I mean, he wasn't just holding a
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quick revival meeting and moving on, was he?
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Not at all. And that brings us to a core
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tenet of Reformed ecclesiology. The goal of biblical missions is
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never simply individual conversions.
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If Paul just wanted to count decisions, he could have walked
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the countryside preaching to individuals 1 by 1.
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The actual goal is establishing local churches that faithfully
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preach the Word and properly administer the sacraments.
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The Westminster Confession defines the visible church as
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consisting of all those throughout the world that
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profess the true religion along with their children.
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Paul's strategy was to establish these visible covenant
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communities right in the urban centers.
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He appointed elders, he established sound doctrine, and
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he ensured the ordinary means of grace.
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The reading of Scripture, the preaching of the word, baptism
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in the Lord's Supper were firmly in place.
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Once that visible church was established, it acted as a
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living, breathing Organism in the city.
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The believers lived out their faith in the marketplace, the
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public baths and the trade guilds.
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They demonstrated a completely different ethic regarding
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marriage, money and human dignity.
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This visible witness in a high density area naturally drew
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people in, and just as you mentioned with your pond
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analogy, it pushed the message out as those believers
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interacted with the broader region.
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It is a remarkable strategy, and we see it play out continuously
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in the early centuries of church history.
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The early church was, in large part an urban church.
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Tatlock and Burnett give us a really vivid historical picture
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of this from the 2nd century, involving a man named Irenaeus
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of Leon. For those who might not be
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familiar with early church history, Irenaeus had an
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incredible theological pedigree. He was a young disciple of
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Polycarp, and Polycarp was a personal disciple of the Apostle
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John. So you have a direct, unbroken
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line of teaching from Christ to John to Polycarp to Irenaeus.
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He was originally from the Greek speaking region of Asia Minor,
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but he was ordained as a pastor and said all the way across the
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Roman Empire to a place called Lugdanum, which is modern day
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Lyon in France. He was sent there to replace the
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previous Bishop and a man named Pathenus, who been brutally
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imparted for his faith in the year 177 alongside dozens of
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other believers. So Renee is walking into a
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traumatized, grieving urban church.
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The physical and cultural setting of Lions is highly
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significant for our understanding of God's
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Providence and missions. Lions was the capital of the
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Roman region of Gaul. It was a massive Center for
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manufacturing, trade, the military, and political
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influence. This prominence brought
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immigrants and merchants from all over the known world.
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You had Potters arriving from Italy, marble traders coming
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from Africa, retired military officers settling down after
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their campaigns, and slaves from all across the Roman Empire.
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It was an ancient global metropolis characterized by
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intense linguistic and religious pluralism.
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You had temples to the Roman pantheon, Celtic deities, and
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mystery cults all operating in the very same Pacific space.
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And here comes Irenaeus. Coming from Asia Minor and
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steeped in high Greek culture, he was very much an outsider to
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the Latin and Celtic speaking population of Gaul.
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In the ancient world, the Greek language and culture reviewed as
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the absolute pinnacle of human civilization.
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Everyone else was literally considered a barbarian, which is
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a word the Greeks actually invented to mock the sound of
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foreign languages. That cultural superiority makes
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his next move so striking. If Irenaeus had followed the
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cultural norms of his day, he would have demanded that the
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locals learn Greek if they wanted to hear the lofty truths
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of the Christian religion. But he didn't do that.
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He didn't isolate himself in a comfortable enclave of Greek
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expats. Instead, he gave dignity to the
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outsider. He recognized the biblical truth
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found in Galatians chapter 3, verse 28, that in Christ there
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is no Jew or Greek slave for free.
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He treated them as equals. He laid aside his cultural
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privileges, dedicated himself to dwelling among the people, and
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learned their local Celtic dialects.
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He learned their language so thoroughly that in one of his
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later writings he actually apologized for his Greek
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becoming rusty. I'll applause on that.
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For a highly educated scholar in the ancient world to apologize
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for losing his mastery of Greek because he spent too much time
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speaking the dialect of the common laborers is staggering.
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It is a massive physical and intellectual sacrifice.
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The theological motivation behind this sacrifice is
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glorious, and it points directly to the incarnation.
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When we read Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 through 8, we see
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the ultimate model for this kind of sacrificial living.
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Christ, though he was in the form of God, did not count
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equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself,
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taking the form of a slave. He left the glories of heaven to
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take on human flesh, to speak human words, and to dwell among
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sinful men. Irenaeus modeled this divine
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condescension. He emptied himself of his
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linguistic pride to reach a diverse city with the gospel.
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He understood that communicating the truth of Christ's
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substitutionary atonement to the people of Lyons was vastly more
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significant than maintaining his academic reputation.
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This is incarnational ministry in its purest form.
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It is the willingness to let go of your own comforts, your own
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cultural preferences, and your own native tongue to ensure that
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the people got His placed around you can actually understand the
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Word of God. So what does this all mean?
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It means that theoretical theology must lead to practical
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physical sacrifice. Irenaeus gave up his comfort and
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his native tongue to identify with the people he was called to
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reach. Basil shows us what it looks
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like to leverage a massive crisis for the Gospel in the
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ancient world. Fast forward to the 4th century.
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We are introduced to Basil Caesarea.
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He was the Bishop of Cappadocia and Caesarea from the years 370
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to 379. Most people who study Church
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history know Basil primarily for his resolute defense of Orthodox
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Trinitarian theology. He fought fiercely against the
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Aryan Heresy. For our listeners who might be
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fuzzy on ancient church councils, could you breakdown
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what the Aryan Heresy was and why Basil was fighting it with
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such dedication? Absolutely.
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The Aryan Heresy was arguably the most dangerous theological
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crisis the early church ever faced.
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It was propagated by a man named Arias who essentially taught
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that Jesus Christ was a created being.
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Arias famously claimed there was a time when the Son was not.
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He argued that Jesus was the 1st and greatest of all God's
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creations, but he was not Co eternal and Co equal with God
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the Father. This completely destroys the
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gospel. If Christ is not fully God, his
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sacrifice on the cross is insufficient to bear the
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infinite wrath of God against sin.
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Only an infinite divine Savior can offer an infinite atonement.
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Basil understood this clearly. He knew that if Arianism 1.
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The Biblical Gospel was lost because of his Orthodox stance
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affirming that Christ is truly God of truly God.
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Basil faced intense persecution from the Roman Emperor Valens,
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who was an active supporter of Arianism.
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Valens use the full weight of the state to persecute Orthodox
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believers. We are talking about exiles,
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banishment, confiscations of property, and severe violence
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against those who clung to the true faith.
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Basil was managing a church under extreme state sponsored
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duress. And right in the middle of this
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intense theological and political firestorm, a massive
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physical catastrophe struck the region.
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In the year 368, a severe famine hit Cappadocia and Caesarea.
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The historical accounts describe an extremely cold, dry winter
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followed by an unusually hot, dry spring.
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The wells and rivers literally dried up.
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The crops failed completely. The laborers, the farmers, and
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the city's poorest residents began to starve to death in the
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streets. Historical records from the time
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say the poor took on the appearance of living cadavers,
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and the desperation reached such a fever pitch that some parents
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were selling their children into slavery just to buy enough grain
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to survive. Meanwhile, the wealthy people in
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the city, the land owners and merchants, were hoarding grain
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in their storehouses and driving up market prices out of sheer
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greed, profiting off the starvation of their neighbors.
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This raises an important question regarding pastoral
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ministry and the scope of the church's responsibility.
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How does a faithful pastor handle extreme theological
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heresy and extreme physical suffering simultaneously?
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The natural tendency is to pick one or the other.
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Some pastors might focus solely on the theological battle,
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arguing that the soul's eternal state is all that matters, while
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ignoring the starving bodies outside the church doors.
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They might say we don't have time to feed people, we have to
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write theological treatises against the Aryans.
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Others might abandoned the theological fight altogether,
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arguing that debates over the Trinity are useless when people
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are starving, and focus entirely on social relief.
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Basil rejected this false dichotomy entirely.
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For him, the supremacy of the Word meant caring for the whole
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person. He understood that authentic
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faith must address both spiritual deadness and physical
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suffering, and we see his Reformed theology shine brightly
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here, particularly his understanding of total
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depravity. I want to dig into that because
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when we talk about total depravity, people often
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misunderstand it. They think it means every person
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is as thoroughly evil as they could possibly be in every
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single action. But the Westminster Confession
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teaches that total depravity means sin has corrupted every
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part of human nature, our minds, our wills, our affections, and
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it affects every single social class equally.
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It leaves us completely unable to choose God on our own.
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How did Basil apply this doctrine practically during a
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famine? He applied it by issuing severe
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biblical correction to everyone, regardless of their bank
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account. He saw that sin was the root
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issue across the entire society. He used the pulpit to condemn
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the wealthy Christians who were holding food.
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He preached blisteringly clear sermons against their greed,
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telling them that the grain rotting in their silos belonged
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to the starving man outside. He showed them that their wealth
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was exploiting the famine for financial gain, which was a
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gross violation of God's law. But he did not stop there.
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He also issued biblical correction to the impoverished
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Christians who are using the desperate conditions of the
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famine to excuse personal sin. He recognized that poverty does
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not make a person inherently righteous, just as wealth does
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not make a person inherently evil.
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If the starving man cursed God or stole from his neighbor,
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Basil corrected him with the Word.
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Both the wealthy hoarder and the impoverished Sinner needed the
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regenerating work of the Holy Spirit and the correction of
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God's Word. You mentioned Basil issuing
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biblical correction to the starving poor.
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I think a lot of modern listeners might bristle at that.
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Isn't it harsh to correct people who are literally starving to
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death? Our modern instinct is to say
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that their material conditions completely excuse their
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behavior. But Basil respected them enough
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to hold them to the standard of God's Word, demonstrating that
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their greatest need, even in a famine, was holiness and
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communion with God. Sin is an equal opportunity
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destroyer, and Basil addressed it across the board while
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physically responding to the crisis.
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He practically demonstrated this theology by establishing a
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massive relief effort that became known as the Basilius, or
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the New City. This was an incredible
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undertaking. It included a home for the poor
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and the orphaned. It housed A renowned hospital,
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which historians know it was the very first of its kind in
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recorded world history. Think about that.
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The first hospital in the history of the world sprang out
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of a reformed Orthodox understanding of God's love for
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the suffering, spearheaded by a pastor who is simultaneously
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fighting the Aryan heresy. The Besilias also provided skill
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training, opportunities for honest work, a massive stockpile
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of food for the neediest, and a hostel for weary travelers.
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Basil guided this entire massive operation with his teaching on
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Biblical hospitality. He taught that believers should
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provide a frugal sufficiency for those in need.
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He wasn't advocating for extravagant excess or creating a
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permanent welfare state that stripped people of their
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dignity. He advocated for precisely
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enough nourishment to relieve weariness and meet the actual
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physical requirement, allowing the person to recover their
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strength and return to productive labor.
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He viewed this kind of practical hospitality as a massive
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missionary platform to display Christian love in a Pagan
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culture that despised the weak. Basil's life was relatively
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short. He passed away at just 49 years
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old, his body broken by the stress of his laborers.
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But his legacy is staggering. He proved that the proclamation
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of the truth and the physical demonstration of Christian love
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are to operate perfectly together.
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That principle certainly didn't stop in the ancient world.
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Let's Fast forward to the modern era.
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Tatlock and Burnett assert that while the makeup of the urban
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context has changed over the millennia, I mean, we have
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subways and skyscrapers now instead of Roman bath houses.
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The basic needs, the unique challenges and the essential
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elements of gospel ministry have remained unchanged.
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The first modern portrait we are given is the incredibly moving
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story of a young man named David.
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As an infant, David was brought to the United States illegally.
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He was born into an environment completely saturated by the
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effects of total depravity. His father was a violent gang
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member who beat David and his mother regularly.
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One of David's earliest childhood memories was being
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covered in shattered glass in his own bed when the police
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broke through his window to arrest his father for murder.
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He lives in a tiny one bedroom apartment with his younger
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brother and his mother, who actively practiced as a
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neighborhood witch doctor. Wait, I want to stop right
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there. A neighborhood witch doctor in a
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modern American inner city? I think we assume that animism
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and witchcraft only happened to remote jungles, but this is
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happening right in a major US urban center.
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It is a stark proof that paganism and spiritual darkness
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are heavily concentrated in our modern cities.
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Because of the severe beatings he endured from his father,
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David's face was physically disfigured.
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He struggled to speak and had difficulty controlling his
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saliva when he talked. Because of the deep shame and
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trauma, he rarely left the apartment.
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He lived in intense isolation, surrounded by violence and the
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demonic activity of his mother's practices.
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Into this extremely dark and broken situation, God moved.
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In His sovereign Providence, God called a Christian public school
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teacher to move directly into that specific inner city
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neighborhood to work with a local church.
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This teacher and his wife patterned their ministry after
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the early church models we discussed.
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They partnered with Para Church Ministries to start an after
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school program. They combined educational
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mentorship with Life on Life discipleship, and they opened an
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internship house for young adult Christians who wanted to live on
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mission in that specific neighborhood.
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Here's where it gets really interesting and frankly,
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incredibly beautiful. For years, this teacher and the
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people from the local church kept inviting David to come to a
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Bible study or just to hang out with him in a safe environment.
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For years, David refused. The promo was just too deep.
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But God's irresistible grace was at work.
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One day, David finally stepped out of his apartment and went to
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the high school youth group. He told the leaders he wanted to
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start reading the Bible, but because of his educational
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background and physical challenges, he struggled with
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reading texts on a page. The church responded by buying
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him an audio Bible on CD. Our source material paints this
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vivid picture. David began walking around his
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rough neighborhood wearing his headphones, listening to the
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Word of God being read over him, and he had a massive smile on
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his face. He smiled because through the
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hearing of the Word, he came to understand a glorious reality.
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Even though his earthly father had brutally abused and forsaken
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him, his Heavenly Father loved him.
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He realized that Christ was willing to die for his specific
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sins. The theological depths of
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David's story are magnificent, particularly when we focus on
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the doctrine of substitutionary atonement.
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The turning point for David was not a moral improvement program.
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It wasn't the church telling him to clean up his life or try
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harder. It was the realization that
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Jesus Christ stood in his place, bearing the infinite wrath of
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God for David's sins, so that David could be declared
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righteous and made a new creation.
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And we must also highlight the sheer efficacy of the Word of
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God in this account. David's heart was totally dead
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in sin, surrounded by violence, witchcraft, and severe trauma.
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Yet simply hearing the audio Bible CD was the instrument the
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Holy Spirit used to regenerate his soul.
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It proves that the ordinary means of grace, the simple
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hearing of the Word, is sufficient to breakthrough the
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hardest, darkest circumstances imaginable.
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The local church in that neighborhood didn't just preach
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a set of Orthodox doctrines on Sunday morning and then vanished
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to the suburbs. They lived out what Tatlock and
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Burnett call a gospel culture. They love the people in their
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neighborhood compassionately. They practice the kind of
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hospitality and generosity we saw in Basil and Irenaeus.
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And that gospel culture literally changed the entire
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ecosystem of the community. Today, 20 years later, David is
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faithfully leading that very youth group.
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His mother, the former witch doctor, and his brother both
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came to saving faith in Christ after witnessing the consistent
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love of the Christian community. And that specific neighborhood,
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which used to be ranked as one of the most violent in the
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country, is now one of the safest in the entire city.
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It is a stunning picture of what happens when a visible church is
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planted in the dark place. But we don't just see God
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working through inner city ministries, we see His
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Providence rescuing people from false teaching on a global
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scale. This brings us to the stories of
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man named Ahmed. Ahmed was born into a prominent
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Muslim family in East Asia, but he was raised in the United
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States. He lived a lawless life, got
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into serious trouble with the authorities and was deported
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back to his home country. There he married a Muslim woman
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and became a mid level drug dealer, using his family
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connections to traffic illegal drugs without restraint.
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Once again, God graciously intervened.
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A friend shared the true gospel with Ahmed and the Holy Spirit
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regenerated his heart. He put his faith in Christ.
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However, his conversion came at a massive earthly cost.
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His wife divorced him and he's completely isolated from his
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son. The cost of following Christ in
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a predominantly Muslim culture is incredibly steep.
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Ahmed lost his family, his social standing, and his
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community. He started attending a local
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church and even began leading some ministries eager to labor
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for his new king. But his spiritual growth was
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severely stunted because that particular church was heavily
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influenced by pragmatism and prosperity theology.
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Let's break that down for the listener.
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Prosperity theology is the false teaching that God's primary goal
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is to make believers wealthy, healthy, and perpetually happy
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in this life. It promises earthly wealth,
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constant health, and an easy life if you just have enough
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faith or give enough money to the church.
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It is an incredibly anemic and unbiblical message.
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Think about Ahmed's situation. Here is a man who has lost his
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wife and his child because he confessed Christ.
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A theology that promises you a shiny new car and a fat bank
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account is not going to sustain you when you are weeping over
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the loss of your family. It appeals to the flesh, but it
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starves the soul. It completely ignores the
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Westminster Confessions robust biblical teaching on suffering
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which acknowledges that God sovereignly ordains trials to
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refine our faith and draw us closer to Himself.
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God's sovereign care for His elect is absolutely relentless.
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He was not going to leave Ahmed starving in a church to preach
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the false gospel. This is where we see a
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breathtaking display of God's massive overarching Providence.
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In the year 2020, the global pandemic hit.
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The government locked down the entire city where Ahmed lived
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and all the physical church buildings were forced to close
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their doors. Ahmed was suddenly cut off from
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his pragmatism driven church. He was forced to stay home and
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watch sermons online because he was searching the Internet for
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teaching. He was providentially exposed to
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faithful expositional preaching from Reformed churches around
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the world. He started hearing the true,
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robust, verse by verse exposition of Scripture.
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A hunger grew in his soul for that kind of solid food.
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He realized what he had been missing.
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Once the lockdowns eased, he began searching his local area
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for a church that would actually feed him from God's Word.
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Rather than offering him pragmatic self help talks, God
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led him to a faithful missionary church plan located even closer
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to his house than his previous church.
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If we connect this to the bigger picture, consider the staggering
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scale of what happened here. God sovereignly ordained a
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global pandemic resulting in citywide lockdowns to achieve
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his highly specific purposes for one individual man in East Asia.
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He used a worldwide crisis to rescue Ahmed from the
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destructive grip of prosperity theology and to guide him safely
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into a local congregation that practice sound expositional
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preaching. Ahmed is now being discipled
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through rigorous academic study and life on life mentorship, and
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he's a tremendous burden to bring gospel clarity to both the
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Muslim community and the theologically weak churches in
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his nation. This perfectly illustrates the
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Reformed doctrine that God works all things according to the
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counsel of His will. Nothing is wasted.
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Even a virus that disrupts the entire globe is utilized by the
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Almighty to ensure that one of His sheep is properly fed and
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protected from spiritual harm. We see a similar theme of God
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rescuing someone from cultural and spiritual confusion in our
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next modern portrait, which is the story of a woman named
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Putri. Poutre was born into a tribe
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that officially claimed a Christian identity, but in
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reality their belief system was heavily defined by animistic
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syncretism. They mixed Christian terminology
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with ancient Pagan spiritism and ritualism.
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For someone listening who hasn't encountered that term, what does
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animistic syncretism actually look like on a Tuesday afternoon
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in this tribe? How does it play out
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practically? Practically, it looks like a
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life governed by fear and superstition lightly masked by
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Christian vocabulary. The people might use the name of
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Jesus, but they believe the world is filled with localized
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spirits, spirits of the forest, spirits of ancestors, or spirits
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of sickness. If someone gets sick, or a crop
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fails, or a marriage struggles, they don't look to the sovereign
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Providence of God. They assume a spirit has been
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offended or a curse has been cast.
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Therefore they have to perform specific Pagan rituals, offer
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sacrifices, or consult A shaman whom they might call a pastor to
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appease the spirits. Putri grew up in a city, had a
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wealthy and well educated background, and worked in the
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technology industry. But despite her modern education
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and wealth, her worldview was entirely controlled by these
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unbiblical animistic beliefs. The crisis came when her husband
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committed adultery and cheated on her.
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His family, deeply entrenched in this syncretism, blamed Putri
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because of her specific tribal background.
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They accused her of placing a magical curse on him that caused
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his infidelity. They actually demanded that she
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returned to their tribal church and perform an animistic ritual
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under the supervision of their pastor as an act of penance to
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fix the marriage. It is utterly tragic to see the
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holy name of Christ slapped onto Pagan rituals.
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The demand that an innocent wife perform an animistic ritual as
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penance for her husband's sinful adultery is a gross violation of
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the Gospel. It completely denies personal
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responsibility for sin and places the burden of works
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righteousness on the victim. But Pew Tree refused to do it.
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Because she refused to participate in the Pagan ritual,
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she was cast out of her marriage and left completely isolated by
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her community. She was broken, ashamed, and
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terribly confused. But she lived in a diverse,
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global city. One day, a friend invited her to
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a Bible study hosted in the home of a Christian missionary.
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Normally, because of her strict tribal background, she never
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would have associated with people outside her specific
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group. But the sheer diversity of the
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city broke down those cultural barriers and exposed her to the
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broader family of God. At that Bible study, she heard
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the true, uncompromised gospel of Jesus Christ clearly.
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For the very first time, she realized it was actually good
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news. When we look at this through the
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lens of Reformed theology, Pew Tree's story is a beautiful
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illustration of justification by faith alone.
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The tribal family demanded a work.
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They demanded A ritualistic penance to earn back her status,
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to appease the supposed spirits, and to fix her marriage.
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But the true gospel taught her that she could never earn her
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standing before God through rituals or sacrifices.
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Her identity, her worth, and her justification were found solely
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and entirely in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
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She abandoned her old ways of spiritism.
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She rejected the heavy burden of ritualism.
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She stopped trying to find her worth in the opinions and
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accusations of her tribal family.
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The missionaries welcomed her into their home for regular
27:10
discipleship, and she began to understand her true identity as
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a fully justified, fully adopted child of the living God.
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She was rescued from a system of works righteousness disguised as
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cultural Christianity, and she found her rest in Christ alone.
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This brings us to the final modern portrait we are going to
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look at today, which centers on a family referred to as the
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Roberts family. After spending significant time
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studying language and culture, this family intentionally moved
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into a large Muslim majority city.
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They recognized that while there were a few churches in the city,
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those churches were theologically weak, highly
27:44
insular, and making zero genuine effort to reach the massive
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Muslim population surrounding them.
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Following the historical example of Irenaeus that we discussed
27:52
earlier, the Roberts family felt a strong conviction to immerse
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themselves in the local culture for the sake of the gospel.
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They made a highly strategic and sacrificial decision.
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They moved into a neighborhood near a massive, impoverished
28:05
slum. Local believers from the
28:07
established churches actually warned them against this,
28:09
insisting that the people in the slum would be totally hostile to
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their message and that it was a dangerous, foolish move.
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Initially, their plan was not to start a series of house
28:17
churches, they just wanted to build relationships.
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However, just as we saw with Ahmed, the Providence of the
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COVID-19 lockdowns changed everything.
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Traditional church gatherings across the city were completely
28:28
shut down by government mandates.
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The Roberts family couldn't rely on inviting people to a Sunday
28:34
service in a building, so they simply began inviting friends
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into their living room for a shared meal and a Bible study.
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The first people to attend were nominal Christians who had been
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entirely disconnected from any local church.
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The severe reality of the global pandemic, the fear of death, and
28:50
the isolation had awakened them to their desperate need for
28:52
eternal hope. The Gospel took firm root in
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their hearts. Once these nominal Christians
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were truly converted and regenerated by the Holy Spirit,
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they began inviting their unbelieving Muslim friends.
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And what is most beautiful is how their perspective shifted
29:05
post conversion. They stopped viewing their
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Muslim neighbors as dangerous threats to their safety and
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instead began viewing them precisely as Christ did in
29:13
Matthew Chapter 9 verse 36, as lost sheep without a shepherd.
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That shift in perspective changes absolutely everything.
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When you stop seeing your neighbors as a threat to your
29:23
cultural comfort and start seeing them as lost sheep
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desperately needing a savior, your entire posture towards them
29:29
softens into genuine Christ like compassion.
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Because of this new found compassion, many of those Muslim
29:36
neighbors began attending the home Bible studies.
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A few of these former Muslims heard the word, believed it, and
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expressed saving faith in Christ.
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The fellowship of their home grew so rapidly that they had to
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multiply into three separate house groups.
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By the year 2023, these groups officially combined and began
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gathering as a recognized, functioning church with
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appointed leadership and the regular administration of the
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sacraments. What stands out to me here is
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the absolute simplicity of their method.
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When we talk about Reformed theology, we frequently
30:05
mentioned the ordinary means of grace.
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We trust the God uses simple, unflashy tools to accomplish His
30:10
supernatural will. The Roberts family did not use
30:13
any elaborate marketing campaigns.
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They didn't have a massive budget for a laser light show or
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professional rock band to draw crowd.
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They used their dining room table.
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They used basic hospitality, the reading and teaching of the
30:24
Word, and prayer. And God sovereignly blessed
30:27
those ordinary means to bring about the miracle of
30:29
regeneration and the visible multiplication of a brand new
30:32
local church in a highly resistant area.
30:34
It proves that the Word of God is entirely sufficient to build
30:37
the church, even in a Muslim majority slum during a global
30:40
lockdown. We do not need pragmatic
30:43
gimmicks. We need fidelity to the
30:45
Scriptures. Tatlock and Burnett conclude
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their section by tracing this ongoing pattern right back to
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the biblical text, specifically the book of Acts.
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They note that the massive expansion of the early church
30:55
began in a major city which was Jerusalem.
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When severe persecution broke out against the believers in
31:02
Jerusalem following the stoning of Stephen, the result was a
31:05
mass exodus. Believers were forced to flee
31:08
for their lives, becoming refugees overnight.
31:11
But as they fled, they acted as missionaries, the book of Acts
31:14
records. At the very first place the word
31:16
was preached. Outside Jerusalem was another
31:18
city, Samaria. The man who preached there was
31:21
Philip. He was a displaced refugee, a
31:23
despised outsider in Samaria, a region with a long history of
31:26
intense ethnic hostility toward Jews.
31:29
Yet he was not deterred by his difficult circumstances or the
31:32
cultural barriers. Acts chapter 8 tells us.
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He boldly preached Christ to them, resulting in great joy in
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that city. The pattern is undeniable.
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God routinely uses extreme, difficult circumstances to push
31:43
the Gospel outward and refine His church.
31:45
In the book of Acts, he used violent persecution to push the
31:49
believers out of their comfort zone.
31:50
In Jerusalem in the 4th century, with Basil, he used a
31:54
catastrophic famine to demonstrate the holistic love of
31:57
the visible church and our modern examples.
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With Ahmed and the Roberts family, he used a global viral
32:03
pandemic to break the grip of false teaching and multiply
32:06
house churches. God is never reacting to these
32:09
events. He is ordaining them to
32:11
accomplish His precise redemptive purposes.
32:14
That is the ultimate comfort of the Reformed view of history.
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History is truly His story. Everything that happens, from
32:21
the rise of a megacity to a drought that dries up the wells,
32:24
from the decree of a Roman emperor to the regulations of
32:27
modern health department, absolutely everything is
32:30
orchestrated by God for His own glory and for the eternal joy of
32:33
His elect people across the globe.
32:35
God is still offering great joy to the cities of the world to
32:38
the continuous proclamation of the same powerful Savior.
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Let's synthesize our main takeaways from all these
32:44
incredible historical and modern accounts.
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We have seen the clear biblical mandate for prioritizing urban
32:50
centers demonstrated by Jesus and Paul.
32:52
We've seen the early church's model of incarnational sacrifice
32:56
through Irenaeus laying aside his cultural pride to learn a
32:59
new language. We've seen Basil providing
33:01
physical famine relief while simultaneously fighting for
33:04
orthodox doctrine and correcting sin across all social classes.
33:08
And we have seen breathtaking modern examples of God's
33:10
absolute Providence breaking right through total depravity,
33:13
saving a young man through an audio Bible in a violent inner
33:16
city, rescuing A believer from false teaching via a pandemic,
33:20
pulling a woman out of animistic syncretism, and building a
33:22
church in a slum through basic hospitality.
33:25
Whether you live in a sprawling metropolis, a quiet suburb, or a
33:28
tiny rural town, these principles applied directly to
33:32
your zip code. Incarnational Living, trusting
33:35
in the ordinary means of grace, and maintaining sound doctrine
33:39
are the tools God uses to build His church.
33:41
Wherever you're located. You don't need a new strategy.
33:45
You need a faithful reliance on the Word of God and a
33:48
willingness to open your life to the people God has sovereignly
33:51
placed around you. I want to leave you, our
33:54
listener, with a final thought to Mull over as we conclude our
33:56
time together. When you look out your front
33:59
window later today or when you walk down your street tomorrow
34:02
morning, consider the people around you.
34:04
What would happen if you actively stopped viewing the
34:07
difficult or different people in your neighborhood as nuisances
34:10
or threats? What if you started viewing them
34:12
precisely as Christ did, as lost sheep entirely without a
34:15
shepherd? Consider the reality that the
34:17
Sovereign Lord of the Universe has intentionally placed them
34:20
near you in your specific city on your specific St. for the
34:24
express purpose that they might hear the life giving word of God
34:26
from your lips. That is a phenomenal charge to
34:29
end on. Thank you so much for joining us
34:31
for this deep dive on reformed thinking.
34:33
We will catch you next time.