Why Cities Matter

To God, the Culture, and the Church

By: Stephen T. Um, Justin Buzzard

Narrated by: Conrad Bear

More people live in cities now than at any other time in human history, presenting a historic opportunity for Christians to influence the majority of the world. Unfortunately, most Christian literature about the city focuses solely on its problems (crime, homelessness, etc.), rather than providing a comprehensive analysis of the city that informs, instructs, and inspires. Using sociological research and data, urban pastors Justin Buzzard and Stephen Um lay out the vision and rationale for church planting, cultural engagement, and missionary impulses in our world’s cities as they provide a solid foundation for motivation. Here is a call to make the cities our home, to take good care of them, and to participate in God’s kingdom-building work in the urban centers of our world!

©2013 eChristian (P)2013 eChristian

City of G-d

Of all the "Yay Cities" books out there (Triumph of the City, the Death and Life of Great American Cities, whatever Richard Florida spits out, etc) this one brings a uniquely Christian view of cities. The authors do acknowledge the longtime Christian distrust of cities. I've listen to the book twice and I've come away with two different feelings. On one listen it seemed to provide some guidance on being a Christian in the city and how to look at the city and what mindset to see the poor in cities. On another listen there seemed to be a bit more of a mission field outlook, which has no appeal to me since I'm not one who is planting churches or in a support capacity of church planters. So in that listen, I focused on the 'yay cities' part of it. If you've listened or read other pro-cities books you know that entails why cities are so great and wonderful and as Glaeser said, man's greatest inventions. It's got that too.
Performance wise it was a good listen and something I may return to a 3rd or fourth hearing.