[This is part of a series on Thriving in the City.]
When I first moved to London in 2002 I felt an overwhelming sense of joy at the opportunity to be here. I was 19 years old, and soon to start my studies in theology. I had grown up in a place that was radically different from London; a beautiful small city of around 30,000 people with nearby water meadows for wild swimming in the summer, woodland carpeted with bluebells in the spring, streets safe enough to play outside without supervision, and a church that felt like a giant extended family. Yet despite all this, I felt a powerful draw to London, and I hardly looked back.
I can’t put that draw down to any one thing. Part of it was the work of the Holy Spirit, I’m absolutely certain. He was binding my heart to the place where I would meet my wife, start a family, start a church, and meet all of you. But there was plenty about the city that drew me at a very human level. I loved the endless, inexhaustible streets with new surprises around every corner. I loved the people I was meeting from far away places. I was drawn to the sense of grandness and scale, but also came to appreciate the hidden nooks and crannies. And then there was the food…
It was only after some years of being in London that I began to understand something of a theology of the city, and the missional importance of the city. This was mainly through listening to and reading Timothy Keller in the mid 2000s (much of his thinking ended up in his book, Center Church). Suddenly, what I felt in my heart about London was matched with a theological rationale for city living and mission.
That heart + head dynamic has become very important to me over the years. Like everyone else, I have faced some of the drawbacks of city living, along with the pastoral challenge of communicating to others the big Why of doing life and church here. (I recommend going back to this series from 2017 if you want to understand more!)
And then there was covid. Of all the places on earth to live during a pandemic with mandated lockdowns, perhaps London would be close to the bottom of many lists. It seemed like all the good bits about London were taken away: the buzz of city life, the coffee shops, restaurants and museums, and being in and out of each others’ homes. Suddenly, we were not allowed to see each other, and we were cooped up in tight living spaces, desperate for daylight and face-to-face conversation and laughter (and for some of us, the hope of some relief from the constant noise of the kids…!)
I have not lost my passion for the city. On the contrary, I have had to dig deep and re-establish and confirm before God how committed I feel to being here as long as he has placed us here. Perhaps some of you have needed to do the same? Or perhaps the whole issue is unresolved? Over the coming weeks I want to take the opportunity in these emails to offer you many practical tips for thriving in the city. I don’t expect you all to feel as enthusiastic as I do. Each one of us is made for a specific call, after all. But I trust that you will be reinvigorated and grow a little wiser as you think about your life here in London.
It seems wrong to end this first note without including any actual advice. So, besides the prompt to listen to the 2017 series, here’s a brief word to encourage you. Whatever brought you here, whatever motive – whether good or bad – caused you to arrive at this place at this point in your life, and whatever plans you may harbour for the future, remember this: God has purposes for you in the here of London and the now of 2022. If I may borrow that memorable line that Mordecai says to Esther as she weighed her options in the face of the disaster looming over her people: “Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
So begin by asking these questions: Why does the Lord have you here? Why does he have you here now? Part of the joy of the Christian life is seeing the answers to these questions unfold over time, and the wisdom of God that nearly always becomes plain with hindsight. The great challenge is to see and understand glimpses of that wise plan in the moment, even as you are living it out.