What is a good city?
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.
About Us
At Good Cities, our vision is to develop leaders who advance the gospel and work for the common good of their communities. Our mission is to discover, support, and serve vibrant city movements by building processes that cultivate thriving cities. We are driven by the values of leadership, collaboration, and innovation, striving to create lasting impact through partnerships that make cities better for everyone.
Our Why
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By definition, a city is a place of dense population characterized by residence, commerce, politics and culture. None of these are neutral elements. Each has the capacity to be redemptive, aesthetically pleasing, joy-giving and soulfully satisfying.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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These networks spawn innovation, systemic change, and cultural movements.
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Collaborative initiatives can move the needle on societal issues — releasing the good in the city for the good of the city.
Questions?
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