The Urban Story
The Go-the-Distance Urban Bicycle Tour

America's cities have changed a great deal over the past century especially in the Midwest. At the turn of the 20th century, European immigration shaped the culture and industries of the Great Lakes region. Churches reached out to welcome these new immigrants and helped them settle in their new land. In the middle of that century--after World War II--churches appeared to thrive in the Great Lakes Cities. America's churches were building, growing and settling in to a time of prosperity and stability (so it seemed).

But God is always stirring up his Kingdom. The changeless God is always working and reworking the soils of his kingdom for the sake of his harvest. And indeed the soils changed. The steel, auto and manufacturing industries changed with globalization and technology. The culture of our cities changed with new immigrants from every continent--especially the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The face of religion changed too. Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Ancestral and Tribal Religions were no longer "out there" where missionaries ventured. They were our neighbors, coworkers and friends. The world had come to the very neighborhoods where great churches once stood, but most Christians felt ill-equipped to share their hope.

Over the next 40 years many Churches moved or closed in the urban areas. Between 1960 and 2000, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod experienced a 95% percent decline of their worshipping communities in the Great Lakes Urban Areas (Milwaukee, Chicago, Gary, Detroit, Cleveland). In Chicago alone the statistics are staggering. On a typical Sunday in the city of Chicago a little over 3,000 people gather in LCMS churches, where that number once was nearly 65,000.

In churches like St. John's, many of our members have roots in urban churches. Many come from the city. Many more work in the city. Surely our calling is to pray for a new harvest in the city and to pray, “count us in” to Go-the-Distance for the city. For St. John's our most challenging goal will be to partner with or plant a new ministry that produces fruit for the sake of the city and the Kingdom of God. Many of the GTD bicycle tour stops are at churches doing the very same thing. A key part of our denomination's “Ablaze” emphasis is to motivate Christians to share their faith and plant new churches.