Contrary to the popular belief that elite global cities are extremely secular, they are often much more religion-friendly than commonly advertised. New York City in particular is very friendly to religion and may be what journalist Tony Carnes has labeled "the first post-secular city."  In particular, there large Christian populations in immigrant and ethnic communities that can go completely unnoticed by many. There may be as many as 1.2-1.6 million Evangelical Christians in NYC, mostly in these under the radar groups.The religious heritage and environment of each city is distinct, so blanket conclusions can't be drawn about their friendliness to Christianity.  But it's a mistake to assume that these places must be highly secularized.A Journey Through NYC Religions: http://nycreligion.info/An Evangelical Revival in the Heart of New York: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/nyregion/central-park-festival-to-highlight-new-yorks-vibrant-evangelical-movement.htmlChristian Cultural Center: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/style/reverend-ar-bernard-new-york-megachurch.html

One characteristic of large coastal, elite cities, and their international brethren, is high population churn in their gentrified precincts. People are constantly moving out, with new arrivals coming in behind them.This high turnover has several implications for the churches there. One is that they have to be constantly attracting new members in order to avoid shrinking. Another is that it's very difficult for them to sustain community. In general, it's more difficult for people to make an sustain long term, deep friendships and personal connections in those cities than it is in most places. They are good places to move for certain kinds of people: the young, people originally from there or from a nearby town, wealthy people, and people with personality types that allow them to live mostly autonomously.  The people in these cities are shallowly rooted, as we saw during the pandemic when large numbers of their most affluent residents abandoned them. This calls into question how real the notion of "in the city for the city" really is.Escape from New York: https://arpitrage.substack.com/p/escape-from-new-yorkJoan Didion's essay "Goodbye to All That" can be found in her book Slouching Toward Bethlehem.  

Because elite cities have such a big role in creating and shaping culture, it's easy for Christians in them to fall into a theology of pride. They can end up believing not only that they are doing more important work than Christians but that they are better in many ways too.We'll examine this by looking at how James Davison Hunter's book To Change the World flatters the urban church world, how the urban church uses "third way" rhetoric to implicitly position themselves as better people than flyover country Christians, how the church church validates rather than challenges the way people in big cities are living their lives, and how seldom the church ever speaks prophetically about the sins of elite city industries like finance or entertainment.Works referenced:Kathy Keller on lessons learned from 30 years of ministry in New York: https://medium.com/redeemer-city-to-city/lessons-learned-from-30-years-in-ministry-e580d4afb846James Davison Hunter, To Change the World: https://www.amazon.com/Change-World-Tragedy-Possibility-Christianity-ebook/dp/B003TWNDVY/Preachers 'N Sneakers: https://www.instagram.com/preachersnsneakers/

American cities looked like they were headed for the scrap heap in the 1970s and 80s, but some of them, particularly the elite cities of the American coasts (and their peers in other countries) came roaring back. Thanks to globalization, deregulation, and other factors, places like New York and San Francisco now control the commanding heights of the economy. They also control the culture because they are the places where the elite institutions and networks that create culture are concentrated.The church must be present in these cities lest it abandon the economic and cultural centers of the nation. What's more, the cultural pressures facing the church come first and most intensely in these places, so it is there that the church's response to them can be developed. The importance of these elite cities means that the church their can fall prey to pride, something that will be explored in the next episode.Books Referenced:Saskia Sassen - The Global CityJames Davison Hunter - To Change the World

This episode begins a series called "Urban World, Urban Church" looking at the trends in global urbanization and the church's response to them. This first installment looks at the great shift underway from a planet that was almost entirely rural a century ago to one that will be overwhelming urban at the end of this century. As cities and megacities growth, this will require a complete shift in the way that the church approaches evangelization and missions.