Sojourners Magazine: July 2017
“Seek the welfare of the city.” In recent years, Jeremiah 29:7 has been the mantra of urban church planters. Yet, as D.L. Mayfield points out in our cover story, these mostly white, missional-minded Christians rarely talk about how their church plants are contributing to the neighborhood's gentrification. “I can love my neighbors with my entire heart and soul, but what does that mean when every month more are driven away by increasing rents?” writes Mayfield. “How is our gospel good news for anyone but the gentrifiers themselves?” Her article is a challenge to Christians making new church homes in urban areas. As we know well, trying to walk humbly and do justice in the city is a long, often-difficult journey.