Seek The Welfare Of The City Where I Have Sent You

The Crumpton Family
Foundation Ministries International
Derek and Jean Crumpton commissioning their son John
SA Kingdom Come conference 2017

In 1991, a major apostolic leader from South Africa, named Derek Crumpton, came to see me in my home city of Annapolis.  What he shared with me during his visit would become a defining moment in my life and journey.  Derek shared that he had been prompted by the Holy Spirit to come to Annapolis to tell me that unless I addressed the stronghold of slavery resting over our city that our ministry would not flourish.  I knew that he knew nothing of the history of our city or state.  So, as he began to share what God had shown him I was quite sure he had been moved by the Holy Spirit.  He said, "God has shown me that there were slave ships that came to Annapolis from Africa. The slaves on board, came with their witchcraft and voodoo and cursed this city, it’s habitants, and their descendants.  The curse pronounced was, that what happened to them would come back on the city's residents and generations yet to come."  Derek then exhorted me to gather the descendants of the slaves and slave owners, Church leaders, and city officials to gather together to repent for the city's participation in slavery and to break off the prevailing principalities and powers resting over the city.  We began this work in 1994 and have led our city in several healing and reconciliation gatherings all the way through to our current time. However, God is calling the Church to do more. This prophetic word was the beginning of my journey into the redemptive work of the Lord in our city.  Now we are embarking on engaging the entire Body of Christ, locally and globally, to work together for urban change and community transformation.  God's vision for places is for spiritual, cultural and social transformation.  The whole New Testament is filled with examples of whole communities being transformed by the Gospel.  Let me once again state what God had shown me back in the 1980's.  Whole cities and nations are going to be "saved" transformed by the power of God in the coming days of history.  Psalm 102:18 says, "This is written for a generation to come.  That generation which shall praise the Lord." There is coming a time when a whole generation will praise the Lord!

How can we ignore God's intent to transform the nations?  Matthew 28:18-20 commands us to go "disciple the nations."  Why on earth do we pray the Lord's prayer, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven", and not expect this prayer to be answered and become a reality?  When our cities were conceived in the heart of our father in heaven, what did he see for it?  What did he dream about it?  Do you realize that in Matthew Chapter 4 Satan took Jesus up to an exceedingly high mountain and offered Him the kingdoms of this world if he would just bow down and worship him?  This was a real temptation for Jesus to avoid the cross and take the easy route to gain the kingdoms of this world. The major purpose of Jesus' work on the cross was to become Lord over the kingdoms of this world. Why?  Did he just intend to leave the world in its current state? No!  The cross makes possible the "transformation of cities, communities, and nations."  It's the whole purpose that Jesus sent his disciples into the whole world. Your city and your place in that community (John 14:2-3; Acts 17:26) matters to God and you're responsible for its stewardship as a New Testament believer.  The question we need to ask ourselves is, "Will I leave this city in a better condition after I die than when I found it?" So, if my city is struggling through "racism" and an "opioid epidemic" what are we, the Body of Christ, going to do about it? What deposit are we going to leave in our city that other generations might pick up? I think if we leave our city with more darkness in it than when we came, we've done something wrong haven't we?  Should all of us be expectant that God's is going to do some amazing things amongst us? Otherwise, why pray the Lord's prayer?

God is the God of our cities and He is already working in them and He is waiting for His Church to come along and join Him.  All of churches together should be the leaders in attending to the spiritual, emotional, and physical wellbeing and care for the communities they are called to be in. But, God isn't waiting for the Church to work in the city. He's getting on with it!  Did you know that the Church is equal in responsibility with the government for our nation?  The Church is equal in responsibility with its local council for its city.  God did not call myself or any other pastor to pastor local congregations - he called us to pastor local cities and nations!  Instead of blaming everybody else, we are called to take responsibility for the problems, needs and welfare of our city and provide our communities with God-given solutions.   Ephesians 3:10 says, “His purpose was that, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the principalities and power in their spiritual realms.”  The Greek Word for “spiritual realms” is “epouranios” means “the sphere of spiritual activities.”   Paul was writing to the Church of Ephesus that it was through the Church sphere of influence that “the manifold Wisdom of God” would be made known to the principalities and powers in their communities.  Who are these principalities and powers?   The word “Principalities” have to do with the prevailing cultural perspective over a city or region.  Cities, communities and regions have cultural strongholds which many times have no solutions to their problems.  The word “Powers” means “institutions or systems of government” which often cause failure in their communities leading to systemic problems for years.  The Body of Christ, regardless of denominational affiliation, is God’s vehicle for community transformation.  Biblically and historically, it has always been the Church that has led the way forward in community transformation.  For Christians to be identified with Christ and the Gospel mandates that every Christian is to love, care and become engaged in transforming the places where they live with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In recent years, American cities, small towns, and rural communities have been struggling with a major opioid and substance abuse epidemics.  Marriage and family breakdowns have soared. Human trafficking of middle school children has become the number one crisis facing our nation today.  It’s a 38-Billion-dollar business of kidnapping and trafficking over 100,000 children that has surpassed drug trafficking in the United States.  Our continued national struggle over the historical systemic problems of race, social and legal inequalities have resulted in increased tensions and conflict in our inner cities. It’s a tinderbox state of affairs that is about to explode.  Many other numerous problems face us as a nation, just to name a few: Poverty, Mental Health Crisis, Addiction, Homelessness, Inadequate Access to Health Care, Disconnected Youth, Unemployment, No Job Training for Inner City Youth, Child Hunger, and the need For Public Education Reform. With the culture shifting, most Churches (yes, most) are still living as if they lived in a different era, not engaging the people around them or assisting our communities in finding solutions to the major problems our nation is facing.  Because of these issues, we need more culture engagers and more Churches to engage culture for the cause of Christ, not run from it.

People often ask, "How do you bring healing into the pain of a city?”  The answer is, “through engaging the pain.” The Church is called by God to move outside the walls and engage the pain, by offering His redemption and healing into each sector of the city.  Every pastor and Church is being called in our time to stop locking people down into Church buildings, pews, and programs and getting them engaged into the work of transforming their cities.  Building on the biblical foundations of Ezra and Nehemiah’s rebuilding the temple and restoring Jerusalem from ruins during the post-exilic period of Israel’s history, provides a model for cultural transformation.  Ezra was concerned about restoring the Church of his time.  Nehemiah was focused on rebuilding the city.  In seeking to rebuild the city, he asked two important questions; “What is the condition of God’s People” and “What is the condition of the city?”  It’s important to note that the conditions of our cities/communities impact the condition of God’s people.  All that you should do, is look at the condition of God's people in a city and you can see, whether the principalities and powers are prevailing. The boundaries of the city of Jerusalem were burned down and its 12 gates were burned with fire (12 sectors) and God's people were in distress.  The elders of the city sat in these gates when they were in use (these were the city’s stakeholders) bringing God's wisdom to the city, but the gates were now in ruins. Each gate represents an important sector of the city that needed the priest, God’s people, and the resources of the government partnering together with them to restore the city.   Some other scriptures to consider:

Jeremiah 29:7

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you, and pray to the Lord on its behalf,

for in its welfare you will find your welfare

Micah 6:9

Listen! The LORD is calling to the city! It is wise to respect your authority, O LORD! Listen, O nation, and those assembled in the city!

Isaiah 58:12

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Isaiah 61:4

They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

Luke 19:41

As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it.

Churches around our nation are throwing out the old measures of success. It’s no longer merely about size, seeker sensitivity, spiritual gifts, individual church health, nor the number of small groups. It’s about making a significant and sustainable difference in the lives of people around us—in our communities and in our cities. There is a growing awareness that we cannot continue to do the same old things and expect a different result.  This work will demand an array of competencies, such as community assessment, planning, mobilization, intervention, advocacy, evaluation, and most of all prayer. Supporting this type of community work requires widespread access to skill-building resources which can come from the talent, skills, and resources of local Churches.  Imagine a church that prevails over the gates of hell in their own city and community.  That is God's heart!  It's time for all of us to get out of the realms of traditional ministry and become engaged in the transformation of our cities!  If you are called to transform your place, you will not do that on your own.  We are called to be “THE” Body of Christ in our city.  Our individual church is not God's gift to the city. The Body of Christ is God's gift to the city! What must happen between where we all currently find ourselves; and where we need to be will require great courage.  When we are more present and working together “IN OUR CITY” - God is more present “TO OUR CITY”, working through us to bring about the change our cities so urgently need.  God is blessing the ministries where churches are coming together to do things together in a way that no one church could achieve on their own.  Real transformation in a city can begin with churches coming together and to begin praying  and interceding for their city.