The following recommendation was approved by the General Conference of The Free Methodist Church in Canada (2002)
Flowing from the desire to be more significantly involved in global ministry as the Canadian Free Methodist Church, and desiring to use our resources in a strategic manner for Kingdom witness, it is recommended that the FMCIC take responsibility for 5 new initiatives into Gateway Cities (urban centres which impact upon unreached people groups) over the next decade.
Simply stated, almost half the world’s population (47%) live in urban settings. By 2030, 60% will live in cities. The U.N. projects an increase of 2 billion people over the next thirty years; almost all of those people will live in cities. Over this time period the greatest increase will be in the cities of the developing world (from 40% to 56%). Of the two billion new people, 1.3 billion of them will move into Asian cities.
If the Church wants to be where the unreached are, we need to be focusing our attention on urban centres, particularly in the developing world. When we ask where we should be focusing our resources of people, energy and finances, cities keep coming up as the most strategic use of those resources.
