:: AIP#2 - What's In a Name? ::

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." - Jeremiah 29:4-7

We are calling our new church community "The City Church." Our name summarizes our mission; it reminds us that as a church, we exist as a community on mission. Throughout the Bible and history, cities are places of refuge and safety, of culture, of politics and trade, and of gathering. The Bible calls believers “the light of the world… a city on a hill” (Matt 5:14). And God describes his future, eternal world as a perfect, redeemed city.

In the A.D. 300’s, an African bishop called Augustine wrote an enormous book called The City of God [full text online here]. In addition to defending Christianity against the charges of burning Rome, Augustine reintroduced the idea from Jeremiah 29:4-7, that Christians are called to live “as a city within a city.” In other words, God calls us to carry out his mission: actively involving ourselves in, and seeking the redemption of, the “city of man” (as he called it), where we work, play, and live. The verses are at the top of this post; read over them and spend a few moments dwelling on them: how does that look in your life?

Augustine’s ideals lay the dual foundation on which we want to build our church – for the glory of God and the good of Fort Worth. But “City of God” as a name sounded both cult-like and kinda pompous ("we're the City of God!"). We don’t want to be either of those things, so we settled on “The City.”

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Thanks to the many(!) of you who have already sent comments, notes, and encouragement, asked questions, and been interested in what we're doing! This has been an exciting journey already, and we look forward to sharing more of it with you. My next entry will start to describe how we got to this point in our lives - honestly, it's something that's been years in the making!