Living in a global city

Yesterday Erica and I took our kids to our local mall where they have a indoor playground that our kids love. It's a playground with 5 ft. plastic pieces of food - hot dog, watermelon, banana... It's amazing what entertains kids!

I sat next to an older woman that was Jewish and born and raised in Egypt, lived in Jerusalem for 5 years, and has lived the last 40 years in Toronto. Her husband was the former ambassador to Canada from Israel. We had a great conversation about Jesus, and I learned alot.

I then struck up a conversation with a Nigerian professor that is studying at UCLA. When I asked him what he enjoyed about being in Los Angeles he paused and changed the topic.

I heard Chinese, Japenese, Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, and yes good ole' English spoken in the 30 minutes I was sitting there watching my kids play.

A few observations after living in a global city for a few months:

1. God is orchestrating the world in a way that is bringing the world to the cities. We have gone from 8% to 50% of global population living in global cities. Most of this growth is international. It will eclipse 80% in my life time.

2. The Church must spend the thrust of its energy strategizing how to reach global cities. It does not make sense to focus on rural areas. In a very real sense "we are not in Kansas anymore."

3. Stop focusing on the suburbs. I don't know how many times I have gotten advice from others admonishing me to go to the suburbs rather than the heart of the city. I know it makes for much quicker growth, but please!

4. The Western Church must lose its biases and become a servant to all.