The Impact of Urbanization on Pastoral Work

Zhang Zhongcheng

Urbanization generally means that the population is moving toward cities. A transformation in society, demography, space, and the economy occurs, as well as changes in lifestyle, from rural to urban. It is inevitable that the spread of urbanization will transform society and have a tremendous impact on social development. Up to the end of 2007, the estimated city population in China was over 594 million. What will be the impact of urbanization on the churches? Several aspects of the process are worth our consideration: What features will characterize churches during the process?; What challenges and conflicts will churches face?; How should the church respond in terms of its pastoral ministry? These are the main issues that we will discuss in this article.

How urbanization will affect the make-up of congregations

First, new types of Christian groups will appear--these groups have already begun to gradually appear in churches in large and medium sized cities. They are mainly made up of Christian entrepreneurs from companies of various sizes with a strong financial base and more highly educated intellectuals. The number of Christian entrepreneurs, such as private business owners, presidents and CEOs and board members of companies, is gradually growing. Such people, whose financial status is strong, are very important in church construction and financial support. Although Christians are still a minority of "intellectual elites" in major cities, their numbers are gradually increasing too.

Second, methods of pastoral work have proliferated and its scope has expanded. The rapid demographic changes in age and education levels during urbanization are noticeable; there is a growing population of young and middle-aged as well as educated Christians. This situation necessitates a diversification of pastoral methods to meet their needs for spiritual growth. In the past, the Sunday sermon, Bible study, and prayer groups were sufficient. However, urbanization makes diversification necessary. Churches have started arranging classes, youth groups, small groups, couples groups, prayer meetings, praise song meetings, and Sunday School for children. In addition, the transient population has increased along with the rapid pace of urbanization and thus the scope of the church's pastoral work is also expanding. The huge transient population that resides in urban areas for career purposes has spiritual needs due to high stress from work and boredom in their off-hours. This population has a higher tendency to accept the gospel and has naturally become an object of pastoral work.

Third, the tendency for secularization in the church, which is exacerbated by the process of urbanization, is of increasingly grave concern. As the financial strength of churches increases, secularizing tendencies are more common, as can be seen in some churches in Zhejiang. This is a common tendency as financial strength and material standards continue to rise in the churches as they develop. Secularization in the church is a complicated and pervasive issue. As a matter of fact, secularism in Christianity, determined by the innate character and the social nature of Christianity, has existed since ancient times. The relationship between Christianity and secularism, which takes various forms, is quite delicate; we cannot say that certain phenomena will always lead to secularization. For example, the church has to adapt to the society's needs to develop, and theological views have to accommodate the needs of the times. If things are not handled properly in the church, or if it is not guided by correct theory, the church may focus too much on the economy, on business, on the construction of luxurious and stylish church buildings, and competition may arise between churches; churches may focus on conducting study groups for "Christian business people," they may over-emphasize the salaries and benefits of ministers, and the incessant replacing and renovation of church amenities and facilities: these things may easily lead to secularization.

The challenges of urbanization

Pastoral work is not sufficient to meet the current need. In many churches, believers' needs are not met by the worship gatherings or the provision of activities. Methods may be out of date; if they are new, it may be that it's just one more meeting that does not provide anything new. Youth groups, for example, may suffer from out of date methods and material that does not meet the needs of younger believers. This is an area that requires consultation by the pastoral ministry of the church. Reasonable adjustments should be made.

There is a shortage of pastors with sufficient professional training. They need not only professional training, but a diversity of talents. The number of Christian intellectuals is increasing and more intellectual elites are starting to join churches. However, the church lacks pastors qualified to minister to them and relevant classes and counseling is lacking, resulting in ineffective pastoral care for these people. The gospel and pastoral care for intellectuals are an important ministry in the urban church, for they are or will be influential forces in society, and may become a storehouse of talent for the church and core co-workers. Therefore, it is important to lay the foundation of their spiritual lives. Ineffective pastoral care for these intellectuals is one of reasons that churches currently lag behind the society. There church has a relative dearth of professionals with diverse skills such as music ministers, ministers trained in psychological counseling, those with foreign language ability, and those with writing skills. We also need people with professional biblical knowledge and literary expertise.

There is a great deal of pressure for churches to regularize their management practices. With the growth in believers and the emergence of new types of groups, the numbers of unauthorized gatherings and meetings will rise. One of the challenges resulting from this complex issue is that it is disadvantageous to the standardization of management in the churches and can lead to disorder. In addition, management and pastoral work are far behind current knowledge and social progress in areas such as literature, archives, membership information, and website management. All this will inhibit progress in the church.

Pastoral care strategies during urbanization

The challenges and pressures that churches encounter during urbanization might result in new opportunities. If churches are able to overcome obstacles and problems and make appropriate adjustments, they can make great progress.

It is necessary to expand and broaden thinking on pastoral care and adjust pastoral methods upon the foundation of traditional methods. We should review the traditional model for pastoral care, summarize the pros and cons, and learn from our review. Believers tend to have high expectations of ministers, thinking that they should be superior in every respect, that they are spiritually and emotionally self-sufficient, and that they have many capabilities and can play multiple roles. Sometimes, ministers themselves consider themselves self-sufficient--that they can fulfill themselves and meet every need of the church. But they are often restricted and become defensive, refusing help from others, because if they accept help, they will be seen as losers. Ministers should not be fettered in their pastoral work by this view, but should rather focus on leading their team and drawing on the strengths of the team, thus making it possible for more people to engage in service to the church. This both expresses God's grace for the whole church and it gives those engaged in this service an opportunity for growth.

Attention must be given to the pastoral ministry among the migrant population. There are more than 14.7 million migrants, 10% of the total population. A big portion of this population is made up of rural migrant laborers, who are comparatively vulnerable. The church should see this enormous transient population as a great opportunity for pastoral work. Why not, for example, on traditional holidays such as Chinese New Year, Moon Festival, and so on, host special gatherings to bring the warmth of home to these people and alleviate their sense of loss? Also, churches should encourage their members who have the ability to participate in various activities for special groups. For example, a believer in Hangzhou launched the "Chong-Yi Clinics," which were highly praised for providing service to rural migrants at a discount. Some Christian entrepreneurs established new schools for migrants or provided financial aid to laborers in need. The most important work for churches regarding the big transient population is pastoral care and counseling, and the pulpit is the fastest and easiest venue from which to provide counseling; therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the pulpit ministry and set up a database for the urban pulpit ministry. At the same time, individual pastoral care and counseling should be promptly improved; the small care group model can be used to meet believers' needs.

Raising the quality of individual pastors is an urgent matter. In pastoral care in the church, ministers must generally play many roles: ministers need to distinguish true and false prophets, true and false teachers; ministers should follow rules and do things in an orderly manner to protect the believers; ministers should care for believers' spiritual growth; ministers should pursue virtue that is holy and unsullied as that of angels; ministers should treat those under their pastoral care astutely. Thus, improving the quality of ministers themselves is highly important for the church. Diversity is one result of urbanization, just as Chinese cities today are formed of many groups. Churches have to find ways to embody the special characteristics of their community: inclusiveness, mutual respect, and mutual love. Clearly, establishing diverse ministries of the church is a matter of great urgency.

In an era of ongoing urbanization, churches need to face reality and various challenges courageously; ministers should continue to raise their all-round quality through humble study to adapt to the needs of church and society. Let us turn challenges into opportunities and pastor our church so that church pastors may: "reach unity in the knowledge of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13).

Translated by Mei-Fei Yueh from Tian Feng No.359, November 2009.