What if followers of Jesus were known not primarily for what we opposed, but for how we helped places flourish?
What if churches, faith-based organizations, civic leaders, neighborhood associations, artists, planners, business owners, educators, and community organizers could discover a shared language for seeking the well-being of the places we inhabit?
Over the past several years, I have had the privilege of participating in conversations with practitioners, scholars, faith leaders, and placemakers from around the world. These conversations have emerged in neighborhoods, cities, classrooms, conferences, and most recently through international gatherings such as the World Urban Forum. Again and again, a common question surfaced:
How might Christians faithfully contribute to the flourishing of places while working collaboratively alongside people of many faiths and no faith at all?
Today, I am pleased to introduce a working draft of what we are calling the Christian Charter on Sacred-Civic Placemaking.
This charter is not a creed, manifesto, or policy statement. Nor is it intended to be a final word. Rather, it is an invitation into an ongoing conversation.
At its heart lies a simple conviction: God cares about places.
From the garden in Genesis to the holy city in Revelation, Scripture tells the story of a God who creates, inhabits, restores, and reconciles places and peoples. The biblical vision of shalom extends beyond individual salvation to encompass relationships, neighborhoods, ecosystems, institutions, economies, and cultures. Followers of Jesus are invited to participate in this reconciling work as a faithful presence within the communities they inhabit.
At the same time, we recognize that many of the most meaningful efforts to strengthen communities arise through collaboration across differences. The challenges facing our neighborhoods and cities—housing insecurity, loneliness, ecological degradation, social fragmentation, displacement, injustice, and polarization—cannot be addressed by any one sector acting alone.
“Because the future of our neighborhoods, cities, and communities will be shaped not only by what we build, but by how we learn to be present with one another and with the places we call home.”
- Dwight J. Friesen
The Christian Charter on Sacred-Civic Placemaking seeks to articulate a distinctly Christian contribution to this shared work. It offers theological grounding for placemaking while encouraging humility, partnership, listening, and mutual learning. It seeks to affirm that Christians can participate fully in collaborative civic efforts without surrendering their convictions, and that such participation can be a profound expression of discipleship in the Jesus Way.
The charter draws upon several core themes:
- The sacredness of place and creation.
- Human dignity and belonging.
- Hospitality and neighbor-love.
- Justice, reconciliation, and repair.
- Ecological stewardship.
- Collaborative leadership and shared responsibility.
- Hopeful imagination for the flourishing of all and everything.
Importantly, this is a working draft. We do not imagine that the strongest charter emerges from a single author or organization. Rather, we believe it will be strengthened through dialogue with practitioners, pastors, community developers, urban planners, neighborhood leaders, artists, educators, theologians, and citizens who are actively engaged in the work of place-based renewal.
In many ways, this charter reflects a growing movement. Across the globe, Christians are rediscovering that mission is not primarily about extraction, expansion, or dominance. Instead, mission can be understood as participation in the missio Dei—God’s ongoing work of healing, reconciling, and renewing all things. Placemaking becomes one expression of that vocation.
Our hope is that this charter will provide a framework for reflection, conversation, collaboration, and action. We hope it helps communities discern what faithful presence looks like in their particular places. We hope it encourages partnerships across sectors. We hope it contributes to the emergence of neighborhoods and cities marked by greater justice, belonging, beauty, resilience, and peace.
Most of all, we hope it invites followers of Jesus to cultivate what I have elsewhere called a shalomic imagination—the capacity to act in accordance with one’s understanding of God’s peaceable dream for the ecosystem of all things while remaining open to discovering more.
The work of placemaking is never finished. Every place is unfinished. Every community is becoming.
This charter is offered in that spirit.
We invite you to read it, engage it, challenge it, improve it, and join the conversation as together we seek the flourishing of our places and our neighbors.
The draft is now available for review and feedback. We look forward to learning with you as this work continues to unfold.
Peace, dwight