“Some want to work within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.”
C.T. Studd, 1862-1931British missionary, China Inland Mission
“As a minister in the city of London I appeal to men who do not spend their sabbaths in the City. We have a claim upon you. You make your money in the City – where do you spend it? Are you the men to talk about absenteeism as a political blemish on the history of landlordism? Come, we are not going to talk about that until we have first cast the beam out of our own eye. You do not make your money in the suburbs, you only reside there. It is the City that feeds this world. Is it right that a man should be six days I the City and then turn his back upon it on the seventh day . . .?”
Joseph Parker 1830-1902, Pastor City Temple, London
“Paul determined to preach in cities under Roman administration. Paul preached in cities under the influence of Greek civilization. Paul sought out centers of Jewish influence. Paul sought out the “centers of the world’s commerce,” cities of trade and traffic, of social intercourse and economic vitality.”
Roland Allen 1868-1947 Missionary, China, Kenya
“The tragedy to me is that most of the whole spectrum of Protestantism has abandoned the city. To me, the cities determine the destiny of the nation. To abandon the city to Satan and despair is inexcusable before God.”
W.A. Criswell, 1909-2002, Pastor 1stBaptist Church, Dallas
“I like to see the downtown churches holding their places. It seems good to me that here and there amid the rush of traffic there should remain a building that has no “bargains” to offer and no shop window to display. This is a hospital for sick and weary souls. It is making a battle not for our own sake but for the safe of others. A church in any neighborhood is an asset, but none so much as a downtown church.”
Edgar A. Guest 1881-1959 American Poet
“Early Christianity was primarily an urban faith, establishing itself in the city centers of the Roman Empire. Most of the people lived closer together in crowded tenements. There were few secrets in such a setting. The faith spread I neighbors saw the lives of the believer’s close-up, daily.”
Wayne Meeks 1932-present, Professor Biblical Studies, Emeritus, Yale University
“People who live in large urban cultural centers, occupying jobs in the arts, business, academia, publishing the helping professions, and the media, tend to have a disproportionate impact on how things are done in our culture.”
Tim Keller1950-Present, A New Kind of Urban Christian,Pastor Redeemer Presbyterian Church New York City
“Since then we have traveled in many countries and felt this same tiredness coming over us. Often I have felt in it American cities. Now I know it simply means that I am in a place where Satan rules. But praise the Lord! I can be an overcomer when I stand in the power of the blood of the Lamb.”
Corrie Ten Boom 1892-1983 Rescuer of Jews during Holocaust, Holland
“Waters run downhill and the highest hills in the America are the great cities. If we can stir them we shall stir the whole country.”
Dwight L. Moody 1837-1899 Evangelist
“Most of us are guilty of precisely this point, and the evangelical church in particular is guilty. We have retreated from the world rather than invading the world. We have retreated to the suburbs or whatever our equivalent may be. Schools, churches, magazines, institutions, individuals – many have done this. They have retreated to where it is nice or safe or non-threatening, and as far as one can tell from their actions what they are actually saying is that the world can go to hell.. Shame on us! We spend millions of dollars to send faithful women and men overseas to tell the Good News there. But we will not go to our cities or neighbors if to do so costs us comfort or prestige.”
John Montgomery Boice, 1938-2000, Pastor Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia
“When you bewail the world’s iniquity, let not your emotions end in tears; mere weeping will do nothing without action. Get on your feet, ye that have voices ad knowledge, go forth and preach the gospel, preach it in every street and lane of this huge city; ye that have wealth, go forth and spend it for the poor, and sick, and need, and dying, the uneducated, the unenlightened; ye that have time, go forth and occupy itin deeds of goodness; ye that have power in prayer, go forth and pray. . .”
Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892 Pastor Metropolitan Tabernacle, London
“It is a lamentable impediment to the reformation of the Church, and the saving of souls, that in most populous towns, there are but one or two men to oversee many thousand souls, and so there are not labourers in any degree equal to the work; but it becomes an impossible thing for them to do any considerable measure of that personal duty which should be done by faithful pastors to all the flock. I have often said it, and still must say it, that this is a great part of England’s misery, that a great degree of spiritual famine reigns in most cities and large towns throughout the land, even where they are insensible of it, and think themselves well provided.”
Richard Baxter 1615-1691 Pastor, England