My urban lifestyle is very different from the suburban world I lived in until I moved to the Urban O of Denver. How so?, you ask... In my suburban world, I never even considered another transportation alternative besides my car. If I was at home and needed to go somewhere, I simply walked a few steps to my garage, pushed the garage door opener button, got in my car and drove to my intended destination. I never thought about the real cost of that convenience. Fuel, repairs, maintenance, insurance, depreciation... Because there really wasnt a viable alternative that I could think of. So I drove almost everywhere. In my urban world, when I want to go somewhere I have a decision to make. Do I really need to use my car? Or is it close enough to walk or ride my bike? Could I ride a bus or light rail? Or should I use Uber or Car2Go? My car is parked 5 floors below my apartment, so its not just a few steps to get to it. Ive either got to walk down 5 flights of stairs or walk half a block to the elevator, ride down to the parking level and then walk half a block to where my car is parked. Once I get in my car, I drive in circles down the parking structure to street level. Once Im out in the street, Ive got to navigate through the gridlock of urban traffic. So quite often, one of the alternative options is very attractive. I walk way more now then I did as a suburbanite. A lot more. I never once used public transportation while I lived in Springfield for 8.5 years. Now, I use public transit regularly. I rode a bus to the airport this week. I walked to the bus stop near my apartment, boarded the bus and worked on my iPad while the bus driver drove me to the airport and delivered me right to the curb for a fraction of what it would cost to drive myself and park my car. In fact, we went from being a two car family to a one car family because in the Urban O, we dont need another car. Its really a whole new world. My carbon footprint is much smaller than it used to be. My transportation costs are much lower. My personal transportation revolution is just one aspect of my life that is dramatically different from my suburban lifestyle. And it actually has huge implications on how I think about being part of a church family. For one, I actually prefer NOT to drive my car if I dont have to. So Im looking for a church I can walk to or ride public transportation to. Of course, I CAN and I DO drive to attend church out in the suburbs. But my preference would be to attend a church that is easy for me to get to. The hundreds of residents who live in my building have similar preferences. Many of them walk or take public transportation to work and play. But we all have a common problem. Most churches assume that we urban dwellers have cars and are willing to drive to them. I do have a car and Im willing, but Im a minority in the densely populated high rises of downtown Denver. Im a church guy, so Im willing to fight traffic and put wear and tear on my car to get to a worship service. Only a small minority of my fellow Urban O dwellers are church people. They wont go out of their way to get to the church. The church must go out of its way to get to them. Thus the plan of Urban Islands Project is to start clusters of neighborhood (island) focused churches all over the densely populated vertical and horizontal neighborhoods of the Urban O- churches I and my urban friends can walk or take public transit to. We are determined to remove every barrier that stands in the way of urban people hearing about and seeing Jesus. The need is breath taking. Its going to take an army of us deciding were not OK with the present reality- the presence of the church goes down as the density of the population goes up. Thats not OK. Urban Islands Project is a way for us to work together to reseed the Church back into the Urban O. Join us! Pray. Give. Go!
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 12:06:00 +0000
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