SIM International Director Malcolm McGregor

SIM’s recent Seize the Day Review showed that while SIM workers already serve in many urban centers around the world, we need to place even more emphasis on cities. Why? The answer is simple: people! All around the world, vast numbers of families and individuals have been moving from rural areas into urban centers, and the United Nations predicts that more than half of the world’s population will live in cities by 2007. We tend to focus on mega cities like Cairo, Lagos, or São Paulo, but according to the 2005 World Population Data Sheet, 52% of the world’s urban population are in cities of fewer than a half million residents.

The Challenges of the City

• Anonymity and mobility with a weak social fabric that limits the development of community
• Insecurity and fear with robbery and violence an ever-present threat
• Abuse, especially of children and women
• Overcrowding as demand for housing exceeds supply
• Pollution, garbage accumulation, lack of green spaces
• Poverty in the midst of displays of enormous wealth
• Noise and activity with little opportunity to escape

Opportunities of the City

• Ideas, debate and education
• Art and architecture
• Government, potential for societal change
• Wealth and other resources
• Variety of religions and beliefs
• Optimism and despair side by side
• Energy

The apostle Paul’s strategy for the Gospel was focused around cities—places like Athens, Rome, Philippi, Thessalonica, and Ephesus. He saw them as gateways for the Gospel to the surrounding communities and to the travelers who passed through from distant locations. He recognized that change and new ideas usually flow from cities to surrounding communities.

Cities are not easy places in which to live and minister, but the Gospel needs to be effectively shared and demonstrated in these rapidly growing and influential communities. SIM needs people who can thrive in cities, who can take on the huge challenges they bring and turn them into opportunities for the Gospel.