“The essential task of the church is to work for its society’s shalom – to work for the full 
and total transformation of all the people, forces, and structures with the love of God.”
That’s actually a quote by Robert Linthicum from his book Transforming Power: Biblical Strategies for Making a Difference in Your Community. It’s a prominent quote by Eric Swanson and Sam Williams in their book To Transform a City – and it well sums up the central thesis of the book.
To Transform a City certainly isn’t a light devotional read, but fortunately it’s not a thick, stuffy intellectual one either. I was drawn to it for the simple reason that for the first two decades of my work in ministry I found myself in an church setting that had no real intention of impacting the surrounding community apart from making converts to the church, of course. From such a vantage point, the city was something to be reached (for our own religious ends) rather than served and transformed.
To Transform a City not only provides a philosophical/theological framework for churches pursuing the transforming of their communities as not merely an ulterior motive but as an ultimate redeeming end in itself – the authors also provide a practical pathway for pursuing such transformation. And there are abundant anecodotes and illustrations that liven up the text nicely, along with a rather exhilerating tour of ways in which the church has actually gotten this right through the centuries.
I really didn’t expect to be so taken in by the book – I essentially read it in a single weekend just because I had the time and didn’t want to put it down, which, admittedly may say more about my own nerdiness than the stirling qualities of the book. And here was another unexpected find in this book. Having taught through Wayne Grudem’s book Politics this past year in a high school government course, I realized that in this much more succinct To Transform a City I held a book that would serve high school students much more practically and biblically for that matter. What would happen if we exchanged the religious/political agenda that says we elect candidates from this party who will then ultimately work towards getting more judges with this leaning that will lead to these political outcomes with a people who are dedicated to living incarnationally like Jesus in their community for the sake and benefit of all in their community? Which approach, would in fact lead to a more fully transformed community?
Swanson and Williams cite Ben Eclku, who lives in Ghana, West Africa as one way of pointing towards the answer: “If Christians are sixty to seventy percent of the population of Ghana, then we must own sixty to seventy percent of our country’s problems. If just the Christians did things differently – like not dumping their trash in the streets – the city would change drastically…just like that! I want to see, taste and smell Christianity. I want to see Christianity walking around.” Bingo. Christianity not as spiel but as simple, daily engagement with our community as followers of Jesus with no greater agenda than to love as he loved.
This is a question that can nicely be topped off with another quote by Eric Hoffer from his book The True Believer: “Those who would transform a nation or the world cannot do so by breeding and captaining discontent or by demonstrating the reasonableness and desirability of the intended changes or by coercing people into a new way of life. They must know how to kindle and fan an extravagant hope.”
Not a bad electon year quote. Not a bad election year book – especially for Christians who are ready to pursue something more than “breeding and captaining discontent.”
Take and read.
Vineyard Boise BookCellar 