Consider the central corridor of St. Louis and you will find only a handful of Biblically-grounded churches. Elsewhere in the St. Louis region, evangelical churches abound. Within the central corridor from the Arch to Clayton, however, there are few--though the area includes a hundred thousand people and the region's major educational, medical, media, artistic and cultural institutions. The cultural heart of the St. Louis region embodies a secularized, post-Christian, postmodern spiritual dynamic that few Christians are working to reach, renew and reform. Yet the cultural shifts already seen in our urban core (or Boston, San Francisco or Seattle for that matter) will soon characterize the suburbs, too.

Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, expresses the urgency of this task:

A looming crisis for all American evangelical churches is that they cannot thrive outside of the shrinking enclaves of conservative and traditional people and culture. We have not created the new ministry and communication... models that will flourish and grow in the coming post-Christian very secular Western world. Our vision should be to develop... churches... that are effective in those fields in North America.

This is Memorial's vision: to see new life in Christ in postmodern St. Louis. The future of historic Christianity is being modeled at Memorial today. This little 140-year-old church has become a frontline ministry working to renew the city socially, spiritually, and culturally. We are confident St. Louis will be a great city once again through the renewing power of the Son of God.

God has a passion for the city. At history's earliest moment, God spoke to our first parents and called them to establish human civilization upon the earth (Gen 1:28). This is what theologians historically called the Cultural Mandate. At history's end, the apostle John tells us, all the kings of the earth will bring their cultural treasures into a great city and offer them to God. Every nationality will offer their greatest riches to adorn the City of God (Rev 21:24-26).

Jesus Christ doesn't save us so we can escape from the city. He saves the city itself--including all people who turn to him, whatever their race, language, gender, personal background or nationality. He's renewing us at Memorial individually and collectively, and is renewing our various relationships and callings through us: the family, the arts, education, law, medicine, labor, marriage, singleness, retail, housing, government, friendship, everything. We're committed to the city. We believe in it. We want God to use us to love St. Louis, to revitalize its institutions, and to renew its neighborhoods and culture.