Our Vision, Mission, and Values



Vision
: Leadership development that advances the gospel of the Kingdom and works toward the common good of the city.

Mission: To discover, support, and serve vibrant city movements by building processes that create good cities.

Values: Leadership, Collaboration, and Innovation.

What is a Good City?

A good city is a place where people find meaningful employment, create healthy families, live in safe neighborhoods, engage in and actively support creative arts, foster effective education, empower servant leadership in government, and live out their faith. In a good city, unjust systems are confronted and compassionate help is offered to those in need. It is a place where God’s redemptive plans are experienced by its citizens and sojourners.

A good city offers the experience of God’s common grace, the opportunity to experience God’s salvation, and a future filled with hope.

What We Do


The work of GoodCities is customized to the unique situations being faced by the cities or communities we work with. GoodCities will dramatically accelerate collaborative work with faith based and community partnerships to improve the lives of people in neighborhoods through:

City Convene

Our leadership development conferences offer the best way for city movement leaders to do team building that results in well-defined plans for the next steps in spiritual and social transformation work in their cities.

“City Convene is one of the few places where men and women who are passionate about impacting their cities can gather with like-minded leaders to listen and learn from each other.  The knowledge shared and friendships made are invaluable. City Convene creates space to hear from God and one another. It’s a place to learn emerging ‘best practices’ from the leaders of the growing numbers of Gospel movements in cities across the US.”  – Kevin Palau, President of The Luis Palau Evangelistic Association

 

“If you want to hang out with people who are on the front lines of the city movements in the US, the Good Cities meeting is the place to be.” – Jim Herrington, President of FaithWalking

 

“City Convene is the place to renew your vision, sharpen your skills and deepen your relationships with like-minded leaders who are passionate about city transformation” – Eric Swanson, Leadership Network

City Coach

Our leadership coaching dramatically accelerates the ability of city movement leaders to achieve their goals for spiritual and social transformation.

Build the capacity of local leaders by building of covenant communities which help match the unique callings of people with myriad ministry opportunities.

 

Developing leadership skills that make leaders more effective in their work serving others for the betterment of their city.

 

Utilize diagnostic tools to understand where your movement stands and what next steps are necessary.

 

Expertise is offered when needed in the areas of capacity building, strategic planning, volunteer mobilization, partnership skills, leadership development, asset-based community development, global/cultural trends, community assessment, organization assessment, and more.

City Connect

Through our website, blog, videos, books, ebooks and articles, city movement leaders find the tools they need for greater impact in their collaborative leadership work in their cities.

Why We Do What We Do

The city is a gift of God. It is a place of dense population characterized by residence, commerce, politics and culture. 

Persons and places matter to God. From the persons, places, and experiences of the patriarchs and matriarchs to the missional journeys of the Apostles the biblical record is clear that God values people and places that root covenants and communities in history and geography.

Each city presents a unique context. We learn about the history, demographic make up, geographic features, social, economic, and spiritual landscape in each city primarily from local sources. The common good is locally defined.

God’s people are tasked to seek the shalom and prosperity of the city. This timeless call of God on people expressed to the exiled Jews in Babylon continues to be our call today (Jeremiah 29:7). It has implications for faith, family, neighborhood, the poor and the prosperous. It is at the heart of our work in developing leaders who advance the common good and the gospel of the kingdom in measurable ways.

Outcomes matter. Too often we have been satisfied with measuring success by levels of participation and stories of individual change. Purposeful collaborative work should demonstrate outcomes that matter to all who live and work in a city. 

Servant leadership is central. Jesus led as a servant leader (Philippians 2:5-11). He lived purposefully and publicly serving God and others. This is an example we seek to emulate. 

The city provides a place where incarnational life, love, and witness happen. Cities provide proximity so that Jesus-followers can more easily engage and enjoy the rich diversity of humanity. The call to love God and neighbor as well as Jesus’ call for discipling and teaching God’s good news transcend time and locale. These are meant to be expressed and lived in culturally relevant ways in every era. 

The city is a place where deep relational networks are birthed. These networks spawn innovation, systemic change, and cultural movements.

The city presents an opportunity for the church to experience missional unity. Collaborative initiatives can move the needle on societal issues — releasing the good in the city for the good of the city.