How It All Began…

What do you think of when you hear the word urban? More than likely you think about it in its euphemistic sense instead of its actual meaning.  The actual meaning of urban is characteristic of the city or city life.  The generally accepted meaning of urban is black culture, even hip hop culture.  So let’s go with the generally accepted meaning for the nature of this blog.

Resurgence carries the idea of a renewal or revival.  Think of it figuratively as something that was once alive, died and given life again.

A little over two years ago, I was heavily burdened with the spiritual state of the professing urban Christian community, but not to the exclusion of other ethnicities.  Prior to that burden,  I would visit “Christian” message boards or talk to people and I began noticing the acceptance and defense of unsound or outright heretical doctrines.  I know this situation isn’t new, but it was new to me and I was in utter disbelief.

The essential doctrines of Christianity were being disputed by professing Christians. The essential doctrines that were in question were:

(1) The Triune Nature of God

(2) The Deity and Humanity of Christ

(3) Salvation by grace through faith alone

(4) The Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 

(5) The Sinfulness of Man

(6) The Authority and Inerrancy of The Scriptures.

In my logical mind, I thought how can people adamantly call themselves Christians and not believe the very Word of God on the issues that gives Christianity its identity.  Did they not see this blatant inconsistency? But it became obvious to me very quickly that

(1) They were not reading/studying their Bibles and

(2) They were being wrongly taught by so called Bible teachers and “pastors”.

(I don’t mean any disrespect to the person, but rather I am upholding the God appointed office of pastor/teacher) 

These essentials must not be compromised by professing believers. If they are, that is a justifiable reason to question the authenticity of their salvation.

Granted, there are many true believers who haven’t been taught well the intricacies of doctrine, but by God’s grace they will go on to maturity as they are exposed to faithful Bible teachers who fulfill their ministries by declaring the whole counsel of God.

So I began to see the need for sound doctrine to be commonplace in the urban community because of the pervading influential deception of prosperity theology and other heresies taught by persuasive hyper-charismatic personalities such as T.D. Jakes, Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland, Paula White, Juanita Bynum, Benny Hinn, Rod Parsley, and the like.

By God’s unmatched grace, within the last 5-10 years, the Lord has been raising up very sound urban pastors who are still under the radar of mainstream Christian America. In subsequent posts, I shall make mention of these faithful laborers and their influencers. Some I know and some I don’t, but perhaps will have the blessing of meeting and co-laboring with them.

What’s even more telling of God’s grace is He’s raising up theologians within the hip-hop community.  shai linne of  Lampmode Recordings, has coined the term lyrical theology as adescription of his music and there are more artists doing Christocentric didactic music.  More on that coming soon!

As an urban Christian, it is a privilege and a blessing to be enjoined with others in this resurgence by bringing theocentricity to the urban community. This blog exists primarily, but not exclusively, to that end and I look forward to all that I am going to learn on this journey! May the Lord be glorified!

I just have one favor to ask of you, other than praying for me. That favor is to remember this:

* Every verse must be understood in the context of its chapter

* Every chapter must be understood in the context of its book

* Every book must be understood in the context of the Bible

Welcome to Urban Resurgence!

Grace & Peace,

David