Stay in the City: How Christian Faith Is Flourishing in an Urban World

by Mark R Gornik, Maria Liu Wong, Timothy J. Keller (Foreword)

We live in an urban age. To a degree unprecedented in human history, most of the world's people live in cities. It is thus vital, say Mark Gornik and Maria Liu Wong, for Christians to think constructively about how to live out their faith in an urban setting. In Stay in the City Gornik and Liu Wong look at what is happening in the urban church—and what Christians everywhere can learn from it. Once viewed suspiciously for their worldly temptations and vices, cities are increasingly becoming centers of vibrant Christian faith. Writing from their experience living and working in New York City, Gornik and Liu Wong invite readers everywhere to join together in creating a more flourishing—and faith-filled—urban world.

97 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 9, 2017

Reviews

[DD · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories were encouraging and God is doing a great work in the city and we are invited to be apart of that work.

[Julian Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent primer on how urban Christianity is blooming in the US and throughout the world today. I loved how Gornik and Wong remind us that the faith really took off from cities (Luke-Acts). The Spirit was at work in gathering city-dwellers around this new sect of Judaism that would morph as Gentiles were added. This is a great read for believers beleaguered by all of the headlines of decline in American Christianities. It retunes our ears to the new - and old - work of God in Black congregations and immigrant congregations as well as other kinds of congregations (e.g., historic White mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic). As a citydweller myself, I was greatly encouraged by what vision for life might look like for my family here in Chicago. The discussion questions were also helpful and I will return to those.

[Kiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short testimony by and encouragement for urban Christians exploring the unique challenges and opportunities of faith in city life. The authors share experience, wisdom, and insight while highlighting resources to help ministry workers. The aim is to focus on relationships, wait on the Spirit, and to make the most of the strategic advantages and high impact opportunities that come with the density and creativity present in cities. 65 pages of a uniquely urban faith.

[Thomas Creedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This will be a short review, because this is a short book, which is at least in part a bit of a trailer for a longer book by the same authors, which I am now quite excited to read. Gornik and Wong write to Urban Christians – which, bluntly, is probably the majority of Christians in the world today.

https://www.thomascreedy.co.uk/book-r...

[Neil Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting and refreshing encouragement to see how the gospel can be practically worked out in urban life, especially in engaging cultural ways that appeal to all kinds of demographics.

[Al Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short book that takes a long view of the future of urban ministries. We are living in a time when a lot of city churches are closing following a thirty-year period of young families leaving cities for suburban life! That trend seems to have changed in so many of our larger and more vibrant cities with a resurgence of young, highly educated and energetic GenYs returning to the cities, joined by some Gen Xs who never left. Mark Gornick and Maria Liu Wong present a strong case for this resurgence with current examples of why followers of Christ are recommitting to the city. I found this brief book a good uplift and encouragement. My own personal research and experience have produced similar findings. One of the topics that has my total attention these days is the ways underused urban church properties can be positively repurposed to meet the changing picture of faith that is both "staying" in the city and "returning to the city.