Urbana Interaction Paper: Urbanization

This seminar addressed an increasingly important issue within mission and one which I know relatively little about. The speaker started with a lot of helpful background information; he defined a slum (a community lacking in infrastructure and appropriate and affordable housing), presented the relevance of ministry in slums (1/6 of the total population of the planet currently lives in slums), and went on to describe a lot of the demographics of slums and how quickly the earth moved from being largely composed of rural populations to urban ones. After defining the challenge that urban communities present to Christian mission, he then went on to explain strategies that are being used and have been effectively used to respond to this challenge, outlining four key strategies (changing world views, seeking the Shalom of the city, restoring broken relationships, and aiming for reproducibility).

I found the meat of the presentation to be the second half, in which he discussed ways that Christians and organizations can respond to urban poverty. Many times presenters can overwhelm their audience with facts and figures that lead to a feeling of hopelessness since no method of response is presented as well. Because of this, I really appreciated that the speaker focused a good half of his presentation on how we can respond to urban poverty. Granted, it mostly focused on strategies that NGOs can employ rather than on individuals, but it was important for him to emphasize that there ARE ways to address these issues and several of these strategies can be effective on the individual level (most notably the emphasis on restoring relationships). I disagreed with his assessment of needing to find solutions that are reproducible in other contexts. While I agree that this would be ideal, I am unconvinced that what works in one particular context can be successful in another. I think there are too many variables that change between cultural contexts and economic situations to allow for that. I think that the search for reproducibility is somewhat of a quest for the Holy Grail, ultimately doomed to fail. I also think it can easily become a form of colonialism, driven by Western ideas of efficiency and success.

His discussion of the need for reproducibility, however, has made me more open to the idea than before, since there is also an urgency in helping to overcome poverty. Simply because I believe it probably cannot be done does not mean that it actually cannot or is not worthy of pursuit. If there is a way to develop successful, reproducible programs for addressing urban poverty, we need to find it. As future missionary to Muslim contexts, it is important that I become aware of these developments as well, since many of the megacities and slums of the world are located in heavily Islamic countries, from Indonesia and the Philippines to Bangladesh and Egypt. Wherever I end up in the Muslim world, I will no doubt be near urban poverty and I will need to know how to engage with Muslims in that context.