“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways,” wrote the 19th century English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It is good to count the ways one loves. But it is also helpful to understand the ways in which one loves.

During pre-marital counseling with couples, I often reminded the future husband that no matter how much he meant bringing a bouquet of roses to his bride as an act of love, it wouldn’t seem that way—if his new wife was allergic to roses!

My host took me to a remote, rural village in India—so isolated, he said, that I was probably the first white person to ever visit. At one intersection stood some kind of circular storage facility, or so it looked to me. My host told me that this was originally a well built by an outside organization. The intent was good— clean water was a village need—but the implementation was flawed. The organization didn’t take time to listen and learn what kind of well would really benefit and be sustainable for the people. So, the villagers turned the non-functioning well into a storage place for tools.

Yes, there are times when loving action may not always be immediately welcome or warmly received (as when a parent, mentor, pastor, or friend challenges, admonishes, disciplines and corrects). In these moments, we follow the Apostle Paul’s instruction to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15, New International Reader’s Version).

But in general, if we truly want the best and full development for the recipient of our loving actions, we will want to understand the way, the means by which our love is practically demonstrated and how it is perceived.

If we agree that when God loves the city, it is for the purpose of that city’s welfare, future good, and abundance (Jeremiah 29:7, 11; John 10:10), then how are we to partner with God in such love for the city?

What do we need know about the city in order for our loving actions to truly be redemptive and transformative?

First, let’s remember that cities are not simply small towns on steroids. Each city is an intricate and complex mix of socio-economic-politicalreligious systems and relationships that were formed often over many years of history.

Like discovering how to love a spouse or a village, it will take effort and time to listen and learn.

How can we work with God in seeking the peace of the city? In Successfully Serving the City, I list three kinds of tools we need in our “toolbox” if we are to effectively love the city: Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes. There is not space here to review all these, but they can be summarized in seven core competencies as follows:

1. An ability to analyze social, economic, and political systems, and to organize appropriate ministry responses.

2. An ability to develop organizational and financial strategies to create and sustain ministry opportunities.

3. An ability to analyze and organize a congregation/community for holistic ministry and communitybased evangelism.

4. An understanding of culture, ethnicity, religion, and gender within the urban context.

5. An ability to develop strategies for working among diverse cultural groups and developing multicultural ministries and leadership.

6. A clear understanding of biblical and theological themes and paradigms that inform and shape ministry in the city.

7. A clear understanding of the development of personal leadership skills and spiritual formation.

Pledge yourself to ongoing, life-long development of these competencies and you will be well on your way to a practical divinity so real that if someone asks “What does it look like ‘When God Loves the City’?” others will point to you and your loving service in action.

by David M. Best
Mission Coordinator for Urban Ministries