“Thinking Theologically About Church Planting” series by Dale Little

First published in The Pulse (Evangelical Free Church of Canada), 2014 (no url available). Then reworked for the missionary community in Japan and published in Japan Harvest (Winter 2026), the magazine of Japan Evangelical Missionary Association. This is the 2014 version. See here for the 2026 version within this blog.

The opening pages of the Bible depict a rural context and the closing pages a city. This means we are on a journey toward a heavenly city.

Now, when we think of cities, we imagine masses of people—and that might not thrill us. But this future city will be very different than our cities. For example, one central feature of the heavenly city is its river, which flows down the main street. On both of its banks is planted the single tree of life (Rev. 22:1-2). So this city built by God seems much like a garden. It is qualitatively different from any city we have seen. Read More…