A Vision for Our Cities

Meyu Changkiri

Recently, I attended a two-day Prayer Summit held in Shillong, where Christian leaders, pastors, and believers from different parts of India came together under the theme “Together for Shillong.” Although the summit took place in one region, the discussions and prayers went far beyond Shillong itself. They spoke into the shared experience of cities everywhere - crowded and beautiful, complex and promising, filled with both challenges and opportunities. As I listened and prayed with others, I realised that what God was stirring in that room was not confined to one location. It was a reminder that the wellbeing of our cities is increasingly central to the wellbeing of our nation and the mission of the Church today. What I experienced there became a lens through which I began to reflect more deeply on the role we are called to play wherever we live.

Cities at the Heart of Modern Life

We are living at a time when cities are expanding rapidly. Every day people from villages, small towns, and remote areas leave their homes to settle in cities for education, employment, healthcare, safety, and better opportunities. Cities gather cultures, languages, religions, and aspirations in ways that small towns cannot. This concentration of humanity brings together immense creativity and immense pressure. Cities can be places of innovation, growth, and vibrancy, yet they can also be places of loneliness, inequality, and stress. In this paradox of hope and hardship, the Christian calling to be salt and light takes on new depth and urgency.

For a long time, Christians associated missions mainly with rural or distant areas. But today, the mission unfolds in the very streets where we live. With migration reshaping our nation, the city has become a mission field where the nations live side by side. Students from different states share hostels, families relocate for work, and people from diverse backgrounds meet every day in markets, offices, schools, and hospitals. The summit reminded me that if the Gospel matters, then it must matter here - in the neighbourhoods, workplaces, and public spaces of our cities. The mission has not moved away from the villages, but it has unmistakably expanded into the urban world. The city has become the place where cultures converge and where the Church must rediscover its vocation.

Praying for the City and Dreaming for Its Good

During the summit we prayed for cities to become places of hope and not despair. We prayed for cleaner and greener environments, for honest and compassionate governance, and for neighbourhoods where children can grow safely. We prayed for families to flourish, for the elderly to receive care, and for young people to discover meaningful direction in life. We prayed for justice for those who are forgotten and dignity for those who are unseen. These prayers were rooted not in idealism but in the deep longing that so many people carry for the environments in which they live. The summit offered a vision of what cities might look like if people of faith intentionally committed themselves to pray for them, serve them, and work for their transformation.

As we reflected, it became clear that cities are not made of buildings alone. They are made of people - people who wake before sunrise to sweep the streets or open small shops, people who drive taxis and autos for long hours, people who teach in schools and work in offices, people who labour at construction sites, people who create art and music, people who mend, repair, build, deliver, and nurture. A city is shaped every day by countless individuals whose work often goes unnoticed. Every life contributes to the character of the place. When we begin to see a city through this lens, we begin to see it as God sees it: not as a mass of infrastructure, but as a gathering of precious human lives. This realisation changes the way we think about our role and responsibility as residents, believers, and neighbours.

The Meaning of Shalom in an Urban World

One of the themes that resonated deeply at the summit was the biblical idea of shalom. Although often translated as “peace,” shalom carries a much richer meaning. It speaks of wholeness, wellbeing, security, reconciliation, harmony, and human flourishing. It is a picture of life the way God intended it - complete and unbroken. Every city longs for this kind of peace, even if it does not use the word. Families want stability, young people seek opportunity, elders desire care, and everyone looks for a community where they feel they belong.

Isaiah describes Jesus as the Prince of Peace - the One who brings shalom. When His presence enters homes, workplaces, and communities, restoration begins to take shape. Yet shalom is not merely a feeling; it is something we must actively cultivate. It grows through people who practice justice, compassion, humility, integrity, and love. It grows wherever relationships are healed, where communities choose unity over division, where institutions operate fairly, and where the vulnerable are cared for. The summit reminded me that God calls His people not only to pray for shalom but to participate in building it in the very places where they live. Cities experience shalom when ordinary people choose to live out extraordinary grace in their daily interactions.

The Gospel for the Whole City

Christians often unintentionally confine the influence of the Gospel to religious spaces. Yet the Gospel speaks into every sphere of city life. Its message is relevant to education, healthcare, governance, business, art, media, and culture. It teaches honesty in offices, compassion in hospitals, fairness in marketplaces, integrity in leadership, and creativity in cultural spaces. The Gospel is not only for the church on Sundays; it is for the daily realities of people managing crowded streets, complex systems, and diverse communities.

The late Tim Keller captured this idea beautifully when he said that we should go to a city not simply to build a great church but to build a great city. A great city is not one without problems, but one where justice, generosity, peace, and opportunity shape the life of the community. When the city thrives, the church naturally grows strong; when the city suffers, the church’s witness becomes limited. The Gospel invites us to bless our cities and help them reflect the values of God’s kingdom. A city touched by the Gospel is marked by compassion rather than indifference and hope rather than despair.

A Biblical Vision for Cities

The Holy Bible itself offers a meaningful perspective on cities. Scripture begins in a garden but ends in a city - the New Jerusalem - highlighting that God’s plan for humanity includes community, culture, and shared life. In the book of Jonah, God expresses His deep concern for the large and chaotic city of Nineveh simply because it was filled with people who needed His compassion. This reveals something essential: God cares deeply about cities because God cares deeply about people.

Cities influence nations, shape cultures, and impact generations. When the people of God withdraw from the life of the city, its values and systems are left to be shaped by forces that may not reflect God’s heart. But when believers step forward with humility, prayer, and service, cities can begin to reflect light instead of darkness. The story of Scripture invites us to see cities not as problems to avoid but as places where God desires to reveal His presence and establish His peace.

Taking Responsibility for the Places Where We Live

One of the most practical and personal lessons I carried home from the summit was the understanding that responsibility for a city does not depend on land ownership or long-term residency. In our modern world, many people live in rented homes or temporary accommodations. Students may stay in a city for only a few years. Professionals may be transferred from one place to another. Families may move often depending on work or opportunity. In such circumstances, people easily begin to feel like outsiders, believing the city is not truly theirs.

But the truth is that if God has placed us in a particular city - even for a short season - we have a purpose there. Our presence is not passive; it is part of God’s design. Our prayers, relationships, integrity, compassion, and daily actions all have the power to shape the environment around us. The responsibility to care for a city belongs to everyone who lives within it, whether permanently or temporarily. A city flourishes when its residents choose to care. When we recognise that stewardship is not about ownership but about responsibility, we begin to engage our surroundings with renewed purpose.

Renewal That Cities Need Today

Cities need renewal at many levels - personal renewal in character and spirituality, family renewal in communication and resilience, community renewal in trust and cooperation, cultural renewal in creativity and values, structural renewal in justice and governance, and missional renewal in seeing the city as a field ready for service. No single church, organisation, or individual can bring about such comprehensive change alone. But when people of faith across various backgrounds unite in prayer, collaboration, and shared purpose, transformation becomes visible and sustainable. Renewal is possible when unity replaces competition and when collaboration replaces isolation. The city becomes stronger when its people stand together.

The City as Our Mission Field

As the Prayer Summit came to an end, I was struck by how clearly this truth stood out: the city is our mission field. Mission is not only for those who travel far away; it is also for those who remain and live faithfully where God has placed them. The mission unfolds in the kindness we extend to strangers, the fairness we practise in our workplaces, the patience we show in stressful environments, the dignity we give to those who serve us, the compassion we show to the vulnerable, and the prayers we offer for our neighbourhoods.

Mission is woven into daily life. In the midst of the noise and complexity of urban living, these small acts of faith can shine brightly. Cities can flourish. Communities can heal. People can thrive. Shalom is not an impossible dream but a real possibility when God’s people rise together with humility, unity, and love. What began as a simple gathering in Shillong revealed a vision much larger than one place. It is a vision for every city, everywhere - that when we pray, work, and walk together, God can bring renewal in ways we may never have imagined.