Urban Mission in Europe: Tales from Two Cities

Peter Crawford (ECM) and Mike Pears (Urban Expressions) share their visions of mission in Europe’s cities.

Lisbon: A City Undiscovered

A couple of years back, the Mastercard advert in the arrivals hall of Lisbon Airport ran something like this "Discover the city that discovered half the world: Priceless". And therein lies the enigma of this great European capital.

During the age of the great oceanic voyages of discovery of the 16th Century, Lisbon was poised, as it were, on the western edge of the world, strategically situated to benefit massively from all the global trade that the age of discoveries produced. The Mastercard advert was not hyperbole. This city really did discover half the world. But now the oceans are no longer a superhighway, and this southwest corner of Europe has become something of an economic backwater. Lisbon waits to be discovered again.

Fast forward to 1989. The mood is buoyant after half a century of repressive dictatorship, and now with entry into the EU and a period of relative political stability, the stage is set for Lisbon to host a great International Trade Fair, a move which resulted in the creation of Park of the Nations, popularly called EXPO, a shining brand new residential and commercial district along the north bank of the Rio Tejo.

It is hard to think, two decades on, how much that mood has changed, with the current austerity measures, rising unemployment and the emigration of young professionals to greener pastures beyond Portugal’s frontiers. However, Park of the Nations retains an air of clean bright optimism, a haven of relative prosperity, and continues to be a sought after address for the upwardly mobile. It has come to symbolize the aspirations of today’s Portuguese. That’s why ECM considered it a strategic location for a new church planting initiative in 2005. The key ingredients have been a collaborative approach (the church plant team comprised ECM, JMM of Brazil and a local Baptist Church), the use of short term volunteers,  an approach to outreach that is contextualized to the felt needs of the community, and a worship format that is contemporary with a strong focus on mission.  In a rich neighborhood like this, the felt needs are expressed more in terms of family and relational dysfunction rather than economic or social needs. And, of course,  a lot of prayer.

Typical of this demographic is Ana, a young architect with two small children. She began bringing them regularly to a weekly  childrens’ activity that the small church had begun in the park. There was nothing explicitly evangelistic - no singing, no Bible stories, but Ana told us later “It was the love you showed for each other that attracted me, at first, and you kept talking about Jesus. I just had to know more...”   In fact, when it comes to developing a strategic approach, God often works, if not  in spite of our strategy, then at least in ways we had hardly even dreamed of. Over 7 years, the average attendance has grown to between 40  and 50 and the church, now meeting in a local school auditorium, is poised to be established with its own autonomous board.

“Currently a number of church and mission leaders are meeting and praying together about developing a church planting network for Lisbon”

Meanwhile over on the other side of the city, other urban church plants are coming into being. Currently a number of church and mission leaders are meeting and praying together about developing a church planting network for Lisbon that will bridge denominational boundaries. With 25% of the total population of the country (10.5 million) concentrated in and around the greater metropolitan area of the city of Lisbon, the city represents a huge mission field. Missão Global 2015 an initiative launched by the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance in 2004 with the support of DAWN ministries, recognizes the need to see a significant number of new churches planted in the greater Lisbon area in order to reach its stated goal: “A church accessible to every person throughout this land, in this generation”.

It may seem an enormous challenge, but as the city waits to be discovered afresh for the 21st century, a great opportunity exists for further concentration of new resources, prayers and cooperation between churches and missions, which could help Lisbon discover the glorious, healing and transforming grace of God

Peter Crawford ECM www.ecmi.org

Peter Crawford is currently National Director for ECM in Portugal. For the past five years, he and his wife Anna have been helping plant “A Ponte” (Comunidade Bapitista Parque das Nações) in Park of the Nations, Lisbon. With his previous 18 years working in Pakistan, Peter is also currently coordinating the development of ministry among Muslim for ECM in Europe.

Bristol: What we have learned so far

My involvement in urban ministry started almost 30 years ago when my wife and I moved into an extensive area of high-rise developments in Peckham (S.E. London) —an area characterised by violence and what was beginning to be labelled the ‘under-class’—to re-plant a closing Baptist church. Twenty five years on and two cities later we find ourselves living in a large ‘white estate’ on the edge of Bristol. Like many such estates around the U.K., ours was built in the 1930’s as a slum clearance from the east of the city and suffers from chronic multiple deprivations.

In our experience, urban life has changed in a number of significant and important ways over the last three decades. City centres have been largely regenerated and the standard of services available for many has improved. Alongside improvements there is however a dark underside. Poorer communities have, where possible, been moved away from city centres and the gulf between rich and poor has grown almost unchecked, to what can only be called obscene levels.

Whilst Bristol is the UK’s wealthiest city outside of London in terms of personal average income, it maintains large areas of deprivation where the common experience of many is that they are unable to afford enough food to eat or energy to heat their homes. A baby born in our neighbourhood is likely to face such complex challenges – including disadvantages to their health and mental and emotional development – that they face severe obstacles to finding what most people in Bristol would consider the minimum requirements for a reasonable life.

We are part of a network of small groups who have moved to live long term in the most deprived 10% of the city. We find ourselves being deeply challenged in a few critical areas, perhaps most significantly how to be ‘present’. I’m not talking here primarily about evangelism as such or spending time with those who are interested in ‘coming to church’, nor setting up projects to help those in need – as worthy as these things are. For us it is about putting aside the expectancy of running things and instead to seek to nurture Christian community that is able to live patiently and attentively amongst those who find themselves bewildered, lonely and vulnerable. It is about taking time to be with people, to get to know their names, listen to their stories and be known as someone who can be trusted. It is about not expecting anything in return; not demanding that lives have to change or that they join in what we do. 

This kind of presence is to do with incarnation, characterised for us by the parable of the woman kneading dough (Matt 13:33). Leven that once lost in the dough cannot be extracted again, is not visible or high-profile, but is bashed around in the process of kneading so that the only way you can tell it is there at all is when the whole batch rises and is ready to bake.

“However, a vast majority of Christians in Bristol live in, and attend church in secure middle-class areas”

We are finding that this kind of simple presence is far from easy! To avoid burn out and isolation, it needs a careful nurturing from those who bring mature and sensitive support. It demands that we are attentive to our own inner lives and are prepared for an uncompromised following of Jesus to deal with our own prejudices, insecurities, loneliness and prickliness. It means that we need to learn our own limitations and realise that we cannot be the answer to everyone and everything. We have needed to re-learn Sabbath and sabbatical, the necessity of quiet space with Jesus as well as leisure and fun so that we don’t get consumed by a sense of our own importance.

Presence is a critical challenge for the wider church in our city. Yes, there are scores of amazing Christians of all ages who work in both professional and voluntary capacities with those who are vulnerable and marginalised. However, a vast majority of Christians in Bristol live in, and attend church in secure middle-class areas. There is an urgent need for the church in the city to shift the centre of gravity of its presence towards the margins. The prophetic call on the church is to create an alternative imagination of life in the city by gathering together in peaceable relationships where Jesus is central, so that the stranger and alien in our city are embraced. I am convinced that such a community would radically subvert the settlements of power that characterise urban life, settlements that continue to keep the city divided and are the reason for an ever widening gap between the haves and have-nots.

Mike Pears Urban Expression www.urbanexpresssion.org.uk

Rev Mike Pears’ lives on a marginal white estate in Bristol working both with mainline denominations and small Christian communities to develop theological reflection and practical approaches to ministry amongst those who find themselves most excluded from mainstream society. He works with Urban Expression, Bristol Baptist College and the Baptist association in Bristol.