Regular readers of Urban Review – St. Louis will notice something new – Google advertisements to the right. This is not intended as a money maker – just enough to cover server expenses. What is interesting is to see what ads come up based on the keywords of my site.
One such ad as was for a publication called Markets & Morality from the Action Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty. That certainly got my attention! While I have my own brand of personal faith, I haven’t a religious bone in my body. Which, considering that my father was raised Southern Baptist and my mom raise Mennonite, is certainly amazing. Thankfully, my parents raised us to be honest & moral – not necessarily religious. Anyway, I’m getting off subject.
This ad peaked my interest so I clicked on the link and began to peak around on the various perspectives & editorials in PDF format. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found:
I have come to the conclusion that “community” is a very elusive concept. The way that we even use this word in our contemporary culture is confusing. At one time, “community” meant the people living near us. Currently, “community” seems to mean people with whom we share an interest or an advocacy with no expectation that we live near or even have met anyone in our “community.” We mostly hear the word community in phrases such as “gay community” or “Christian community.” To talk about community as a physical place or a setting for real human relationships, as the New Urbanists have taught us to do, is revolutionary.
Quite true, community as a physical place beyond a sprawl subdivision is revolutionary. The above quote is from Eric O. Jacobson, an Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Missoula, Montana in a paper entitled, “Receiving Community: The Church and the Future of the New Urbanist Movement.”
The ideas behind the New Urbanist movement represent a significant challenge to the reigning orthodoxy, which has held sway within the guild of professional developers and planners over the past fifty years. The town of Seaside, and other successful New Urbanist developments, have demonstrated that this movement represents a viable alternative to post-World War II development practices. For the first twenty years of its existence, the New Urbanist movement has been primarily a secular movement, but it must not remain exclusively so. This article, argues that if the New Urbanist movement aspires to be more than just a short-term economic success or a market correction it is going to have to take the church more seriously as a conversation partner in its cultural project. In particular, the church can help the New Urbanist movement grapple with some of the powers and forces, which have an impact upon communities in ways that are more profound and enduring than economic factors alone. These forces involve such Christian concepts as redemption, interdependence, selfless service, and even right worship. Understanding these forces may not help New Urbanists to build community more efficiently but, rather, may teach us all how to graciously receive community as a gift.
Interesting. Certainly worth a read.
Churches certainly can play a role in the revitalization of St. Louis – or in the case of the Catholic Church – ignoring the city. Pastor Battle from the House of Deliverance Pentecostal Church in Hyde Park could benefit from these ideas of community & church.
In the meantime, if you bid on any “Urban Renewal” from the eBay ad let me know how that works out…
– Steve