Grace for Interdependence

Okay, so we've spent a lot of time looking at various natural factors up until this point: Phoenix seems like a great place to live: it's a vibrant and growing city, it has a culture that we can expect has the room to see Christianity and the church differently. It is a good place to travel from and to, and it's not outrageously expensive as many large cities are. What about the spiritual layers? What is God doing with this city? This is where I think things get even more interesting, as I think there is a decent case that can be made that God already has a grace deposit in place in Phoenix that is highly compatible with and interdependent outlook on life.

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Why Recent Growth means more than just more People

To open this up a bit, consider the point we made when we look at Phoenix's growth rate: not only is Phoenix growing rapidly, but also, much of its development has happened recently. It's not an old city that is growing, it is virtually new as a large city. This really matters because it means much of Phoenix's development has happened during the time period where interdependence has been "in the air" so to speak.

Recall when we looked at the reformation: the technology of the printing press provided the opportunity for independent-oriented paradigms to take root and it leavened society for decades before the spark in 1517 that initiated the reformation. In our day, that technology is the internet and it's decentralized connectivity. The key year for that is probably 1994, when the first public web browser (Netscape) was released (as well as Yahoo!'s search engine). This was the beginning of the internet being widely available, and in the intervening 25+ years its impact on business, politics, socializing and nearly every other part of life can hardly be overestimated. Most of the big innovations during this window have been related to interdependence. In fact, one were to think about the service that most major technology companies offer (and at a separate level what they sell to create income) is interdependence and connection.

What this as a whole means is that not only is Phoenix rapidly growing, but it has also really come into its own as a city during the window when the whole world has been tilting towards interdependence. How many major cities have had this experience? A small fraction to be sure. This is why many of the major cities in the US - cities like New York, LA, Chicago, and more were formed as major cities before the era of interdependence, so it's not wired into the fabric of the city, but with a city like Phoenix, it quite possibly is.

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Honestly, I'm not just making this Up...

In fact, I would argue that it is more than quite possibly wired into Phoenix as a city, it almost certainly is.

Consider this statement on Phoenix’s city manager website: We engage employees and the public in productive and respectful dialogue. Our success hinges on dynamic and interdependent partnerships.  We achieve our highest performance by working together. The city manager is talking about the value of interdependence! I would guess this is the result of development in the interdependent era.

Avondale (Phoenix metro area) City plan: Early in the General Plan public participation process, it became clear that residents of Avondale are focused on a community experiencing economic prosperity through diversification, self-reliance, interdependence, and adaptability.

City of Phoenix Transit Department describes their decision-making this way: Five interrelated and interdependent factors will permeate planning and decision-making processes to help ensure sustainability. And then it includes this chart depicting the interdependence:

The city itself is thinking and communicating in terms of interdependence. What better environment could we imagine for exploring an interdependent expression of faith and church?

In fact, Phoenix's great recent success as a city has been studied. This book describes Phoenix’s city government with these words:

Part of the success of Phoenix is that all the pieces fit together...the city’s culture of innovation is not built on any one or two or three factors. All of the following lessons or perspectives fit together to reflect and embody a consistent set of organizational and individual values and perspectives on people and innovation...it’s been building “layer upon layer over many years.”

So these lessons are neither sequential, in order of importance, nor separable. They represent interdependent characteristics of a unified foundation upon which Phoenix has built a record of success over time.

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What does this Mean?

Is this just a coincidence? I don't believe it is. I believe it's an indicator: a data point that reveals to us that God is already at work in Phoenix, cultivating interdependence. If this is true, then moving there to experiment with an interdependent expression of the church is joining what God is already doing, and that means Phoenix would be a superb place to undertake this experiment. The grace is already there: we would just be joining what God is already put in place.

One of the core tenants of walking with God for me is that we can only do what we see the Father doing (John 5:19). This is why, since the beginning of this journey I have been praying that God would show me where he is already doing this: where the grace for the next iteration of the Church and the World is already present. I know there is no chance of success with this whole endeavor unless we are meeting God where he is already stirring this type of grace. I believe Phoenix is at least one place that is happening (there may be more, I don't know). In fact, I believe this also connects with some of Phoenix's history, as we'll see next.