The Road to Somewhere by David Goodhart identifies two groups of people,”Anywheres” and “Somewheres”. Anywheres are the minority, they reflect the idea that you could happily live anywhere in the world. If you are an anywhere person then you are likely to be socially and geographically mobile, you are also likely to be at ease with the modern world. Soemwheres are likely to have stayed within a short distance from where they grew up for all of their life.
The concept of “Somewheres” and “Anywheres” has been picked up by Christians, particularly in the context of mission and church planting. It involves a recognition that Christians often seem to belong in the “anywhere category” and this aligns with the likelihood that you will have moved home for University and work. Church planters and missionaries themselves may seem to be “anywhere” people”, they have moved a long way from where they were born and so could “live anywhere for the Gospel.” This may help us to spot some of the challenges that we face when seeking to preach the Gospel and grow churches among people who are “somewhere” and correctly perceive us as outsiders.
I want to pick up on the theme of “anywheres and somewheres” and explore it in a bit more detail. First of all, I want to look at some limits to the categorisation and suggest how we can develop the language more helpfully. Then I want to think a bit more about some implications for us.
I want to make two disclaimers here. First, I am not attempting to engage with Goodhart’s book or in that sense his argument which is more to do with political theory with implications for things like immigration. I’ve not actually read the book and there may be observations I might agree with in it for all I know but also there may be solutions I strongly disagree with. Maybe one day I’ll get round to reading it but its not on my priority list. Rath, I er, I wan tto engage with the concept as used in church/mission circles.
Secondly, I’m not writing to disagree with the concept as such. I think it is helpful, though like all models it has its limitations. My aim here is to think about how we develop and refine our thinking.
So, in terms of the limitations, I think the main and obvious one is that a binary distinction is clumsy. Even Goodhart acknowledges this as talks about a category he refers to as “The Inbetweeners”. However, I’m not sure that there is such a homogenous lump. Rather, I think it is better to say that the “Somewheres” category is bigger than we might assume, especially if we think narrowly in terms of geography.
When I think of both then city where I grew up and the city where I now live, I’m aware of significant numbers of people who have moved, especially from other countries to live there and here. We may be tempted to think of them as “anywheres” because they live thousands of miles form where they grew up. However, I don’t think they are. This is because that “somewhereness” is as much about state of mind, culture and heart longing as it is about geography. They have had to leave home and they find themselves here in Birmingham. They are exiles.
This means that they couldn’t “live anywhere”, first because they are really surviving rather than living. They long for the home they deeply miss. Secondly, it means, I think that they can live “somewhere.” What do I mean about this? Well, I spent my 20s and early 30s living in the South east of England but I was never really at home there, even though I built up many friendships. I’ve not managed to make it back home to Bradford but here in the West Midlands, whether in Birmingham or Sandwell, there is enough about the place including architecture, culture and the make up of society for me to feel much more at home. It is telling that when our time at Bearwood came to an end, that we looked at possibly moving to one of a number of options around the country but in the end, it just made sense to stay in Birmingham. This is where God has called us to be and this is home, it has become our somewhere.
Secondly, what tends to happen is that you bring your “somewhereness” with you. You bring your accent and attitudes, your love of your home town football team, the need to defend your city’s honour etc. Indeed, I am tempted to say that this draws a whole bundle more of “anywhere” into the “somewheres” bracket. You may think you are an anywhere person but others instinctively recognise your “somewhere”, even if that “somewhere” is as generic as suburbia. I think we see this at work with gentrification. People move into an inner city estate but they couldn’t really live anywhere so they import their culture and valuers with them and begin to make their environment look like their somewhere.
Thirdly, this means that we tend to be drawn towards people who we identify with our somewhere. That’s why you find that communities of Afro-Carribeans form or those of Pakistani origins. That’s why you have large communities with a shared heritage to a single village or province. Now of course things evolve and develop, cultures mix. The result si that second and third generations from immigration are “somewheres” of the new somewhere. To be a “somewhere” of Birmingham or Bradford in 2025 is very different to what it meant to be a somewhere from there in 1925.
I think that another limitation comes not so much from the categories as from our theology. What do I mean by that? Well, there used to be a song with the lyrics “this world is not my home, I’m just a passing through.” It reflects the idea that we live briefly on earth, then when we die, we go to heaven. Yet, Scripture points much more to a new heaven and new earth, or a renewal of Creation, Christ comes down to rule for ever, we don’t float off into the clouds. We are aware of the way that such thinking has affected approaches to climate and creation care. However, it also affects our attitude to putting down roots, enjoying, creating and developing culture. This world is our home. There is a sense in which we are exiles because the full consummation of God’s kingdom has not arrived but we are heirs of the whole earth. It’s not that we become “anywhere” it’s just that “somewhere” gets a whole lot bigger.
And this helps us to think about what Jesus did when he came. One song says “You didn’t want Heaven without us, so Jesus, you brought Heaven down.” Some people have quibbled with the doctrinal exactitude of this song but I think it does a fine job of drawing out the point that Jesus came, bringing his kingdom. We might say that Jesus made his somewhere among us by bringing his somewhere into our somewhere.
There are some implications for us. First, I think it means that we have to work harder still. We cannot settle at identifying as a somewhere or an anywhere. We need to think carefully about what/where our “somewhere” is.
Secondly, I think it encourages us to think about destination. Think about how Abraham moves from Ur to Harem. He stays for a while in his “anywhere” but it is not enough. Abtraham was looking forward to his somewhere and God called him onward toCannan. Even there, the sense of Hebrews 11 is that he hadn’t arrived. He was still looking forward to the promise. I sometimes joke that we have gradually moved back towards my somewhere. I’m halfway to Bradford. However, the reality is that I’m not going back there. However, I have a greater hope. My true somewhere is in front of me, not behind. I’m going forwards towards it not backwards.
Faithroots 