During my recent vacation in San Francisco, I had the opportunity to read Sara Miles’ City of God. I began the book expecting to learn about creative ways of renewing the church. Instead, I encountered a deeper question: Where is God already at work, and are we willing to follow?
The reality is hard to ignore. Churches across America face declining attendance, increasing religious fluidity, and a growing number of people — especially younger adults — who claim no religious affiliation. Yet this does not necessarily mean that people have stopped searching for God. Many are encountering the sacred in places far removed from Sunday morning worship.
Sara Miles tells the story of discovering Christ on the streets of San Francisco. Through Ash Wednesday liturgies, she came to recognize our shared mortality and God’s call to repentance and transformation. She found that while paradise may be imagined as a garden, heaven is experienced as a city—a place where God meets people amid brokenness, poverty, diversity, and hope. God has always been remarkably free to appear wherever people least expect: in a burning bush, a wilderness, a manger, a prison cell, and, yes, on city streets.
Her story reminded me of the vision of evangelization described by theologian Mortimer Arias in Announcing the Reign of God. He argues that authentic evangelization must be biblical, evangelical, incarnational, and conflictive. It is rooted in Scripture, centered on the good news of Christ, embodied in everyday life, and courageous enough to challenge the powers that diminish human dignity. Evangelization is not merely persuading people to come to church. It is joining God’s mission wherever God’s reign is already breaking into the world.
As we enter July, our hearts also long for peace in a world scarred by war, violence, and displacement. Whenever peace seems possible, we are reminded that reconciliation is not only the work of governments but also the calling of God’s people. Every act of hospitality, every conversation across differences, every meal shared with a stranger, and every effort to restore hope becomes a witness to Christ’s kingdom.
Perhaps the question before us is not simply, “How do we bring people back to church?” Rather, it is, “How do we become the church wherever God sends us?” Our worship should prepare us not to remain inside these walls, but to recognize Christ in our neighbors, our communities, and those who often go unseen.
May this month inspire us to step beyond familiar boundaries, carrying the good news with humility, compassion, and courage. For the God we worship on Sunday is already waiting for us in the streets on Monday.
Grace and peace,
Premkumar Immanuel Clement
