Politicians preach “peace through strength.” The gospel proclaims “peace through justice.” Scripture teaches that just, righteous living produces peace.

So, the heavenly host’s praise that accompanied the angelic announcement of the Savior’s birth (Luke 2:14) was about more than the images now so commonly associated with this text: Moonlit houses blanketed with snow or nativity scenes filled with well-behaved animals, sanitized from stench of farm, field, or feces.

The peace being proclaimed is what the Hebrew language calls shalom. Shalom is a rich word that translators interpret using dozens of English words. You can find a word picture of shalom in Isaiah 58. Shalom is a plentiful peace for all creation.

Jesus described shalom in his first publicly recorded sermon (Luke 4), taking Isaiah 61 as His text. He declared that the good news of the Kingdom—the saving work of the Anointed One—creates shalom, and that this peace was present in Him and His ministry. This peace is far more than the absence of conflict. This is life abundant.

Jesus said, “I’ve come that you might have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). God’s desire for His people and universe to be fully alive can be summed up in this word, shalom.

God’s vision for cities is that they be places of peace, cities of shalom. Every city’s ministry is distinct because each city has a special character, spirit, and style. But there are common characteristics of biblically-based urban ministry. Some of these are revealed in Jeremiah 29.

God writes a letter to people who found themselves in a city. The people of God did not enjoy being in Babylon. The city represented all that was wrong with the world. Immorality and injustice produced destruction and despair everywhere.

It was a time not unlike ours: international upheaval, political, and moral crises. Scripture recounts that many prophets arose predicting the exile in Babylon would be brief. These were false prophets. It was in this context God said, “Jeremiah, send my message to the exiles.”

The letter has instructions for fulfilling God’s vision for the “peace on earth” praised by the angels and present in Jesus.

The first command is: Indwell the city (Jeremiah 29:4). This is the civic aspect of effective urban ministry. Live in the place you are called to serve. Physically identify with and engage the city.

To seek and find the fulfillment of God’s vision for the city, you must live there. Blitzkrieg evangelism is not biblical evangelism. You must indwell the city.

The second command is: Invest in the city (Jeremiah 29:5). God says, “I want you not only to indwell the city, but I want you to invest in it. Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce.” This is the economic dimension of effective urban ministry. According to God, such investment is itself, ministry in the city. Biblical ministry includes economics.

The third command of God for city ministry is in verse six: Increase in the city. Now remember, these people didn’t want to live in Babylon. They much preferred the comfortable surroundings of their towns and villages.

Yet, God said, “I don’t want you just to live there. I don’t want you simply to invest there. I want you to have your children there.” It is one thing to live in a place. It’s another to marry and bear children there.

God calls us to settle down, make the city our home, raise our family. Here is the relational aspect of effective urban ministry.

The fourth divine component is: Intercede for the city (Jeremiah 29:7). “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf.” This command addresses the spiritual power for effective urban ministry. We must pray for Babylon, but the prayer we’re to pray is very specific: For the city’s welfare, or shalom.

God’s shalom is not gained with worldly weapons (“peace through strength”) because, as the apostle Paul taught an urban church, we’re not fighting “against flesh and blood but against the powers, against the rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

Notice that the call to pray is last on the list of God’s commands. By obediently taking the prior actions, we participate in God’s vision and in the process enter into the prayer’s fulfillment.

There is a promise attached to these divine directives. As you are faithful in seeking the peace of the city, God has plans for your “welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope”(Jeremiah 29:11). God says, “When you seek the peace of your city, when you work and live on behalf of the city’s shalom, you will find shalom.”

Here is the intended outcome of the Savior’s birth that the celestial choir characterized as “peace on earth.” God’s desire is that your Babylon be transformed into blessing, changed from the City of Satan to the City of God. God’s people are called to and placed in cities for this purpose: to seek shalom—living out the plan and future God has for cities—a future filled with hope, goodness, and wellness for all.

But The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. warned that three interrelated evils—poverty, racism, and war—destroy shalom. The task of biblical peacemakers requires active, redemptive resistance to these evils.

Seeking shalom involves appropriating Christ’s redemption to the economic, political, and religious systems that God ordained for our good but become twisted into structures of injustice and oppression.

Having experienced the abundant life of Jesus, fully-alive persons are engaged joyfully in compassionate, redemptive service—a service of reconciliation, reformation, and restoration of God’s cosmos. We demonstrate and declare God’s liberating love so people and all creation might experience shalom.

For resources to help you implement God’s directives and proclaim the authentic Christmas message of “shalom on earth” visit online: www.BuildingTheBelovedCommunity.com and www.SeekingThePeaceofTheCity.com.

by David Best
Mission Coordinator for Urban Ministries