City Changers: Being the Presence of Christ in Your Community

By Alan Platt

The Bible is clear about God’s love for the city, be it Babylon,Nineveh, or Jerusalem. Thousands of years later, His lovehasn’t changed—and God still calls His people to speak truth to
the cities of the world.

In City Changers, Alan Platt shows how we need to be in the classrooms, boardrooms, and marketplaces of our communities, engaged with society and ready to offer hope to the broken. Alan gives practical answers and inspiration for influencing the spiritual, social, and cultural dimensions of where we live, as he tells his remarkable story of watching God’s church deeply affect cities around the world.

Generations of changed lives tell us that Christianity can radically transform society, beginning with spiritual transformation in the lives of individual people. As Alan writes, the church is called
as a missional presence to instill the character and presence of Christ into the core of the community.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David C Cook
• Release date: Jan 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781434710970

Book preview

What people are saying about …

City Changers

Alan Platt is an inspiring, visionary leader who has not just prayed for citywide change … he has led it. Alan has created a movement of unified churches working together for radical city transformation. His journey from concern to compassion will move you to believe God for the miraculous in your city, and this book will give you the tools you need to be a catalyst for change.

J. Todd Mullins, MDiv, senior pastor of Christ Fellowship Church

There has never been a more critical time in history for the global church to discern and actuate transformational change in their cities. In this book, my friend and city transformation leader Alan Platt draws from a deep well of experience and shares practical Bible-based wisdom on how to be a twenty-first-century church purveying peace in the midst of the chaos currently dominating and characterizing the city culture.

Rob Hoskins, president of OneHope, Inc.

"I have the privilege of being on Alan Platt’s leadership team at Doxa Deo in South Africa, where Alan Platt consistently inspires us to greater depths of understanding and implementing city transformation. This book will help you see God’s perspective on the life and purpose of the church in a glorious new way. I highly recommend City Changers to every Christian leader so every city and town can see the church rise up to be a light that displays the glory of God in every sphere of society."

Jean Symons, pastor, and leader of Doxa Deo Team in South Africa

Alan Platt is one of the most visionary and strategic minds I have met. When a diversified church is unified in purpose and strategy to serve, it brings change to the city. When a unified church strategically mobilizes every member to be a city changer, people will see and experience God in all spheres of society. It is about new churches, reaching new people, that impact our society. Let the voice from the south influence our thinking and action in the north.

Øivind Augland, founder and leader of M4 Europe, convener and networker of NC2P Europe, and leader of xpand Norway

CITY CHANGERS

Published by David C Cook

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David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

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The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission from the publisher.

The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of David C Cook, nor do we vouch for their content.

Details in some stories have been changed to protect the identities of the persons involved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked

AMP

are taken from the Amplified® Bible, copyright © 1954, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org);

ESV

are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved;

HCSB

are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, copyright © 1999, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers;

TLB

are taken from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved;

THE MESSAGE

are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 2002. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.;

NASB

are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org);

NIV

are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica, Inc.;

NLT

are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved; PHILLIPS

are taken from The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition © 1972 by J. B. Phillips. Copyright renewed © 1986, 1988 by Vera M. Phillips. The author has added italics to Scripture quotations for emphasis.

LCCN 2017950931

ISBN 978-1-4347-1094-9

eISBN 978-1-4347-1097-0

© 2017 Alan Platt

The Team: Alice Crider, Jeff Gerke, Amy Konyndyk, Abby DeBenedittis, Kayla Fenstermaker, Susan Murdock

Cover Design: Nick Lee

Cover Photo: Pexels

First Edition 2017

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

103017

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. From Concern to Compassion

2. The Accomplished Work of Christ

3. A New Bandwidth in My Theology

4. A Changed Philosophy

5. A New Understanding of the World

6. A Strategy for Transformation

7. Producing City Changers

8. Transforming Together

9. Understanding Our Cultural Reality

10. Engagement

11. The Generosity Principle

12. The Generosity Paradigm

13. Going to the Other Side

Conclusion

Notes

Introduction

Babylon.

The name is synonymous with corruption and godlessness. The Bible condemns it from Genesis, where the Tower of Babel (another name for Babylon) represents humanity’s effort to become God (see Gen. 11), all the way to Revelation, where Babylon is referred to as the mother of prostitutes and abominations of the earth (see Rev. 17:5). There are about three hundred references to Babylon in the Bible, and in many of those, Babylon is portrayed as the antitype—the opposite—of Jerusalem. Babylon was a powerful city, affluent and influential. It was the seat of human power and the symbol of the rejection of God at its greatest height.

Sound familiar?

I am a citizen of the world. I hail from Pretoria, South Africa. My team and I have planted churches across that country and also in London; Stuttgart, Germany; and Auckland, New Zealand—and several more around the world are in preparation stages. Our current global headquarters is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

As I have walked the streets and breathed the air of these cities and so many others, I have seen lostness, pain, and brokenness running as rampant as the Bible depicts in ancient Babylon. These cities are affluent and influential, and right alongside human achievement marches human depravity.

I often ask myself whether this narrative can be changed. I wonder what may be done so that this confused generation will discover the grace of God, a gift He shares freely with all humanity.

We live in a world where violence done by people against people is so prevalent, there’s not enough time on the news to talk about it all. These days, a murderous rampage has to be spectacular in some way, or extremely close to home, to get coverage on the air.

Children are abducted, raped, and murdered, then dropped into dumpsters. Pregnant women are gunned down while answering the door. Terrorists line up prisoners to decapitate them for the camera or burn them alive in cages. Illegal drag races force other drivers off the road, leaving beloved innocents dead or paralyzed. Drug capos have honest judges assassinated in front of their children. World leaders are deposed for corruption and murder—or worse: they’re not deposed.

And those are just the news stories I happened to read on the day I wrote this.

Never mind our epidemics of war crimes, genocide, ethnic violence and injustice, child abuse, cronyism, graft, fraud, divorce, drug use, homelessness, dehumanization, elder abuse, and abortion, just to name a few.

If you’re like me, you’re ready to cry out, Give us wisdom, understanding, and strategy, Lord Jesus! Help us raise and release city changers who can engage this reality and make a difference.

Stay Awhile

In the Old Testament, the Jewish people had the belief that since God was their God, they were pretty much kings of the world and would always be protected as a nation. When the superpowers of the day came calling, God would surely save them, and there would always be a king in Jerusalem.

Never would the Assyrians prove superior to them. Never would the Egyptians. Never would the Philistines, no matter how many Goliaths they brought with them. And certainly, never, ever, ever would the corrupt Babylonians, the most evil regime under the sun, ever prove mightier than the armies of Israel backed by Jehovah, their God.

Except that’s exactly what happened.

To the people of Israel, Babylon was everything Jerusalem was not. Babylon was dedicated to false gods, while Jerusalem was dedicated to the one true God. Babylon was the center of pagan worship; Jerusalem hosted the only holy worship. Babylon was characterized by sin, while Jerusalem was the home of those worshippers blessed to live on God’s holy hill, where the ark of the covenant resided and where Solomon’s temple towered over the city. Jerusalem was God’s preferred address on Earth.

Which is why it was an utter shock when Babylon defeated Israel’s armies, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, desecrated the temple, and hauled off their leaders and thousands of Jews to live—and die—in exile, nine hundred miles from their home.

As you might imagine, the Jews taken captive to Babylon did not make the transition well. Their entire national identity, not to mention their faith, seemed to have been ripped from them. What they really wanted was for God to instantly judge Babylon and send them home to Jerusalem ASAP.

Imagine them sitting by the Euphrates, where they’d hung their harps on the branches of the willow trees. The Babylonians came to them and said, We’ve heard you sing beautiful songs. Won’t you sing us a song? They answered, "How shall we sing the L

ORD

’s song in a foreign land?" (Ps. 137:4).

How can we sing any song, much less songs praising God, in this ungodly land? How can we exercise that which is spiritually precious to us here in Babylon, the seat of everything corrupt? To sing those songs, we have to go back to Jerusalem.

On cue, some men among them rose up, claiming to be prophets from God, teaching that God had promised to overthrow their captors and send them home soon.

But the prophet Jeremiah, who had managed to remain in Jerusalem, really did hear from God, and he sent a letter to the exiles. Here’s the part that must’ve been a bitter pill for the displaced Jews to accept:

Thus says the L

ORD

of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, "Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the L

ORD

on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare." For thus says the L

ORD

of hosts, the God of Israel, Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, declares the L

ORD

. (Jer. 29:4–9

NASB

)

Did you catch all that? God said He sent them into exile. They’d thought it was some sort of fluke or anomaly in the universe, for how else could God have been overpowered by the power of Babylon? No fluke, Jeremiah said. God sent you there. He’s doing something intentional. You’re there for a reason.

Then he said they were not going to be rescued anytime soon. Those so-called prophets among you saying you’re about to come home … don’t listen to them. Don’t pay attention to their alleged visions and dreams. I haven’t told them to say that, because it isn’t true. Later in the letter, he said they’re going to be in Babylon for seventy years (see v. 10).

But just as they were preparing to fight a long campaign of bitterness against their cruel captors, God dropped the A-bomb on them:

Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the L

ORD

on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare. (vv. 5–7

NASB

)

Say what? I don’t want to build a house here … I want to go home to my real house in Israel. Plant a garden? Never! That implies I’m accepting that this is my reality and will be for the foreseeable future. Marriages and births? Seriously, God, You act as though we’re supposed to like it here. Are You forgetting how we came to be here? Don’t You see their pagan worship? Didn’t You see that they dashed our infants against the rock? This place is hateful to us, and You want us to go on as though this is our home now?

And if that weren’t enough, God asked them not only to endure their captors but also to actively work for—and even pray for—their success? Lord, I can see them thinking, I will never pray for the welfare of the ones who defiled Your temple and destroyed Your nation. Never!

Twenty-First-Century Babylon

A constant cry rises up from the Christians I encounter every day: "Lord, this place is too evil! The people have rejected You and have turned to every kind of evil! Please, won’t You rescue us? Could You return today? Or overthrow the evil and install a godly government! You can’t mean for us to live here."

Now, I’m all for being rescued out of this corrupt world. Who wouldn’t want to go from godlessness to the freedom of God’s perfect world in a single heartbeat? If that’s God’s plan, I’m on board with it 100 percent.

However, I’m pretty sure that’s not God’s plan. At least, not yet. My take on it is that God is saying to us exactly what He said to the exiles:

Build houses and live in them.

Plant gardens and eat their produce.

Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters.

Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands.

Multiply there and do not decrease.

Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile.

Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will have welfare.

We’re in exile here on this earth. The Bible calls Christians aliens and foreigners whose true citizenship is above (see 1 Pet. 1:1

NASB

; 1 Pet. 2:11

NIV

; Phil. 3:20).

Someday He will change it all in the blink of an eye. But until He does, I think He wants us to dig in, settle down, go about our lives, and seek the welfare of the land of our exile. Because our welfare is found in the welfare of this place.

Did you know that Jeremiah 29:11, that famous verse about how God will make everything turn out all right for you in the end, comes from this same letter of Jeremiah to the exiles?

For thus says the L

ORD

, When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the L

ORD

, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I