As you visit our website or walk through one of our buildings, you may be led to ask “Is this a Christian organization, or more of a public secular space?” The answer is Yes.
Jesus himself was a walking embodiment of these two poles. His tendency, clearly recorded in the gospels, was to adopt a kind of “messianic hiddenness.” He was constantly upending most people’s expectations of what was considered sacred or secular space. His actions and manner almost always left each person he encountered feeling that “He gets me, I feel welcome here.” Every space could become a holy space, whether it was a police barracks, a brothel, or the home of a wealthy admirer. Everywhere he went, his actions and words created a space of welcome far more powerful than any welcome mat or sign.
Into each of these spaces Jesus brought the perfect love of God. His actions caused defenses to go down. So people could see each other as people, and listen to ideas as ideas. His words became tools for communicating and creating community, instead of markers for creating camps, allegiances, or weapons of exclusion.
New City Kids attempts to do the same. The fact that a visitor to New City Kids can spend an hour with us and not even realize our connection to what can be the powder-keg mass of confusing impressions known as “Christianity” is itself an expression of messianic hiddenness or “Christ-likeness”. We want people to know Christ exactly by not first encountering Christ as a slogan or as “that group” or “those types.”
In this way, we always hope our “style” becomes part of our substance; our form part of our content.
But stick around long enough, and you’ll begin to experience the more familiar sounding gospel. Words, sentences, whole passages of Scripture will come to you through raps, songs and the smile-saturated energy of children. Stick around long enough and you will experience the Holy Spirit breaking the bondages of sin, addiction, and …. But wait …. We shouldn’t use those trigger words until you’ve been with us for a while and can sense a love which makes words electric energizers of a truth so deep it can bring eternal transformation, and a love so strong it gives you freedom not to choose it. Come and see.
