For Partners and Friends
Why City
On A Hill?
Because we are in a cultural moment that calls for a church expression centered on the restoration and renewal of the image of God.
I.
The Name
A city within the city.
Our church is named City On A Hill (Matthew 5:14–16) because the crises facing the church have a unique social dimension. City On A Hill is the metaphor that Jesus uses which places the church in relation to society. A city in the ancient world was a place of refuge, formation, and renewal. We live in a time when the church is called to embody this presence. NYC needs the church to be a city within the city, to provide the life that the city itself cannot provide. This expression of church moves beyond transformationist notions on the one hand, and separatist notions on the other. The church exists within the city, to provide life, light, and power for the image bearers to be restored and renewed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18–20). God raises up new churches in certain seasons to address the particular challenges to discipleship. Discipleship begins with evangelism; you cannot be discipled if you do not believe in Jesus. This means that there should be little tension between what is good for the formation of believers and what is good to reach unbelievers. The unbelievers that we are trying to reach are created in God's image. They experience challenges to Christian discipleship as first order challenges to their humanity.
II.
The Diagnosis
Why the image of God?
God has raised up City On A Hill in Midtown Manhattan to be a church centered around the restoration and renewal of the image of God through the gospel. We center the image of God at City On A Hill because it has been decentered for centuries in the Western Church. This decentering of the image of God is a root of several shadow sides of Western imperialism: colonialism, slavery, apartheid. The decentering of the image of God is also at root of the contradiction in the American democratic experiment. As the image of God has been decentered, it has likewise been dislocated from traditional structures of support and development. Social media and artificial intelligence are the latest technologies to further dislocate the image of God from the structural support that God intended.
This decentering has led to a crisis of legitimacy for the Western church, a crisis of solidarity in the American democratic experiment, and a crisis of mental health in many people, especially younger generations. These three crises form the context for making disciples at City On A Hill. Because culture is embodied, and the church is a culture producing institution, a community centered on the image of God has unique power to answer each one of these crises.
i.
The Crisis
Legitimacy for the Western church.
Our Answer
We address the colonialist critique of the church with embodied community that honors the fullness of the image of God.
ii.
The Crisis
Solidarity in civil society.
Our Answer
We address the lack of solidarity in civil society by modeling a gospel solidarity within the church.
iii.
The Crisis
Mental health, loneliness, isolation.
Our Answer
We address mental health, loneliness, delayed marriage, and declining birthrates by creating healthy contexts for friendship at scale.
III.
The Practice
How do we center the image of God in our ministry?
Root metaphor & touchstone — carried outward through every scale of our common life
The image of God is the root metaphor and touchstone for everything we do, from how we open a Lord's Day worship service to how we plan community events. The result is surprising even to us. The insight that the image of God has been decentered across multiple domains is rather basic. No orthodox theologians would challenge it.
City On A Hill is unique in assigning a generative place to the doctrine of the image of God in every facet of our ministry.
Worship
Our worship services are at the center of formation for believers and evangelism for unbelievers. In our Lord's Day worship we model the beloved community that does not privilege anyone in particular over another, while at the same time acknowledging everyone's dignity and gifts. Taking the image of God as a point of departure has created a context to address unbelievers with dignity on the one hand, and theological substance on the other. Our services are mildly liturgical in that they employ fixed forms of prayer alongside spontaneous pastoral prayer and the Lord's Prayer. We preach expositionally through books of the Bible. The Lord's Supper is celebrated weekly. The result is a service that is at once efficient, rich with content for believers, and evangelistic for unbelievers.
Conversations
We plan interactive events at scale — City On A Hill Conversations — that create embodied context, giving places to ideas, individuals, and institutions. These events do not only diagnose the problems facing people, but create a context in which participation provides an opportunity for restoration and renewal.
Seasonal Services
We honor the unique dimension of creativity which flows from being made in God's image by creating special seasonal services of worship around the themes of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection.
Studies
Instead of community groups we offer Bible studies or book studies. As image bearers we are animated by a purpose. When we make the study and discussion of content the basis of the group, we provide the essential ingredient for friendship to form regardless of background: a shared purpose.
IV.
Partnership
Will you partner with us?
We need partners who understand the need of the hour and will join us with prayer and financial support. We believe that we have seen the fruit of our focus. Now we need partners to plant an orchard for growth and long term sustainability.
Foundational Support
Operations & Worship.
The recurring cost of being a church — venue, music ministry, pastoral salary, operational staff. The base load that makes everything else possible.
Formation Capacity
Studies & Discipleship.
Resources for Bible studies and book studies across the boroughs — leader development, curriculum, hospitality.
Public Witness
Conversations & Outreach.
City On A Hill Conversations, hospitality budget, the events that put the church in conversation with the city.