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“These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said:‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.’”

Jeremiah 29:1-7

The theme verse of God & Government Youth (GGY) 2025 was the first part of Jeremiah 29:7: “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you.” This verse, penned in a time of great distress for the people of God, offers profound insights for us today as we navigate our own challenging circumstances.

This verse is not just a historical command; it’s a vibrant call to action for us today. The significant issues that impact our country, such as euthanasia, pornography, and pre-born human rights, may seem daunting, but the youth of the Reformed church are called to be part of the solution.

Understanding the Context of Jeremiah 29:7

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, and to truly grasp the depth of Jeremiah 29:7, we need to understand the context in which it was written. The prophet Jeremiah wrote this letter to God’s people from the land of Judah while they were exiled in Babylon. They had been relocated by force and they now found themselves in a foreign land, displaced and disheartened.

Their exile was far worse than you moving to a new neighbourhood. Put yourself in their shoes. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Clear your mind.

Imagine you are a young Jew living around 609 BC. You and your people are led by King Josiah. Your life revolves around a divinely inspired calendar of feasts and sacrifices. In fact, you just celebrated a Passover the likes of which hadn’t been observed since the days of the judges. You observe a weekly Sabbath day of rest, a year of Sabbath rest for the land every seven years, and a year of Jubilee every 50 years. You periodically visit the glorious temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, perhaps the most ornate, beautiful, and costly structure on earth. There the Levite singers and musicians make music to God and the priests offer sweet incense to the LORD. God has promised that a descendent of David will sit on the throne of Judah forever. In fact, the current king “turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might” so that there was never a king that came before him or after him that pursued the LORD with such fervour (2 Kings 22-23). Life is good.

During your lifetime, all that comes crashing down. The Egyptian Pharoah Neco kills godly King Josiah, hauls his successor, King Jehoahaz, in chains to Egypt, exacts a heavy tribute from Judah, and sets up a puppet king, Jehoiakim, on the throne. After a stint under Egyptian oppression, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon puts your country under tribute. When King Jehoiakim rebels against Babylon, bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites begin raiding your country. King Nebuchadnezzar comes back with a vengeance, besieges and conquers Jerusalem, carries away all the treasures of the temple and the king’s house, and carries away all the royal family, all officials, all the mighty men of valor, all the smiths and craftsmen, and 10,000 more captives. Only the poor remain in Judah, under another puppet king, Zedekiah.

Thankfully, the temple, the center of Jewish life, still stands. But your religious leadership pollutes this temple. Then King Zedekiah rebels against Babylon too, prompting Nebuchadnezzar to return again to besiege Jerusalem and trigger a terrible famine in the city. When the city falls, Nebuchadnezzar slaughters Zedekiah’s sons in front of him, gouges out Zedekiah’s eyes, and hauls him off to Egypt. But at least the temple still stands.

A few years later, Nebuchadnezzar attacks Jerusalem a third time, destroying every building in Jerusalem, including the temple this time, and tearing down the walls. Even the poor people who were originally left in Jerusalem were carried off to Babylon, except for the poorest of the poor who are left to work the land.  And even after all this, the poorest of the poor rebel against Nebuchadnezzar, murder the governor, and flee in fear to Egypt, the very place that God had led them out of slavery 890 years before. And so, the land lays desolate.

Your nation is utterly destroyed. Your whole religion revolving around the temple, sacrifices, and feasts is impossible. There is no descendant of David seemingly on the throne. It’s a horrific state of affairs. A few chapters earlier Jeremiah had revealed that the people would be exiled for 70 years. Any hope for a swift return to Jerusalem were dashed, and many felt abandoned by God. They responded with lament. We get a glimpse of this in Psalm 137: “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.” The prophet Jeremiah himself wrote an entire book of Lamentation because of Judah’s captivity in Babylon.

Seeking the Welfare of the City

In this context, God, through Jeremiah, calls the people to a radical response: rather than retreating in despair, they were to engage with their new environment. Let’s look at those verses again, starting at Jeremiah 29:4:

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

The command to build houses, plant crops, and start families was a sign of hope. If the Jews were to be entirely destroyed or assimilated into Babylonian culture, there would be no point in doing all these things. The Babylonians could simply seize their houses, eat their crops, or enslave their families. But God commands them to carry on life anyways.

But perhaps the most startling command is for the people to seek the welfare of the city of Babylon, the city where God had sent them into exile. It’s important that we understand this well – God’s people were in Babylon, a place that represented everything contrary to their beliefs and values. Why would they seek the welfare of their enemies who had completely destroyed their way of life?

Yet, God’s instruction to them was clear: seek the welfare of the city. In the context it was given, this was quite the statement. It meant engaging with a society that didn’t share their faith or morals. What Jeremiah is writing to the exiles in his letter (and in turn to us today, as this is part of God’s holy Word), “to seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you” is not merely a suggestion; it is a divine command.

The Hebrew word for “welfare” in this passage is shalom, which encompasses peace, prosperity, and wholeness. God instructs His people to actively pursue the well-being of the city, implying that their own well-being is intertwined with that of the place they inhabit. Just a few verses later, Jeremiah passes along this beautiful message: “I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

As Christians today, we find ourselves in a similar situation to the exiles in Babylon. We live in a culture that often contradicts our beliefs. In fact, Canadian culture has deep roots in a Christian heritage, coming out of over a thousand years of being steeped in God’s Word in England. But that Christian heritage and the Christian culture which our ancestors enjoyed has been destroyed. We can feel like we are in exile in a foreign and pagan land. We may feel like giving up, just as the Jews felt as they entered Babylon. But rather than retreating, we are called to engage, influence, and seek the welfare of our city, our province, and our country.

Like the exiled people of God, we are called to seek the shalom of our cities and towns. We are not to isolate ourselves, flee from authority, or rebel against it, but to engage deeply with our surroundings, contributing positively to the culture and community.

Two Ways to Seek the Welfare of the City

We can seek the welfare – the shalom – of our city in a couple of different ways. The first way doesn’t even involve politics. We can all personally in our daily lives seek the welfare of our city, our province, and our country in all sorts of ways that could be characterized as simply loving our neighbours.

For example, you can visit an old age home and brighten up a lonely senior’s day. Volunteer at your local pregnancy centre. Get to actually know your neighbours and water their plants while they are on vacation. Adopt a street and help keep it free of garbage. There are lots of ways that each of us can seek the welfare of our cities by just helping people out, being neighbourly. It is these ordinary acts of faithful citizenship that make us good citizens. Each of us are called to be Good Samaritans to our neighbour, personally seeking the welfare of the needy and vulnerable.

But we also can seek the welfare of our city, our province, and our country by getting involved politically, helping certain politicians get elected, or bringing awareness about important political issues. That’s because the quality of our laws and the quality of our political leaders have a huge influence on the welfare of the people.

Take, for example, the difference in the development between Canada and Argentina. Both countries were settled by Europeans roughly around the same time. Both are large, spacious countries rich in natural resources with long coastlines, flat prairies, and inhospitable land. Both largely depended on exporting natural resources over most of their history.

For the first few centuries of their existence, both Canada and Argentina were wealthy, flourishing countries. Argentina was one of the top ten wealthiest countries in the world by the early 1900s. It was on track to be the South American equivalent to Canada or the United States. And yet today, Canada is four times richer than Argentina. Why?

The answer is politics. Over the twentieth century, Argentina experienced several revolutions where the military essentially took over and ran the country. They also had successive socialist governments, governments who thought it best that they control the resources and means of production. Argentina also flirted with anarchy, where it was almost everyone for themselves. And each radical government Argentina experienced passed terrible economic policies. This combination of poor governments and bad law led things so that Argentina, instead of being in the top ten wealthiest countries in the world, is a very average economic country.

The quality of our leaders and the quality of our laws plays a huge role in the welfare of a country’s citizens. And so, being involved politically to elect good political leaders and to advocate for good laws is a very important way that we can seek the welfare of our cities, our provinces, and our country.

Praying for Our Communities

Jeremiah also emphasizes the importance of prayer. In speaking about the welfare of the city, he instructs the people to “pray to the Lord on its behalf.” Prayer is a powerful tool that connects us to God and aligns our desires with His plans. When we pray for our cities, we acknowledge that our welfare is bound up with the welfare of those around us.

In our prayers, we can implore God for justice for the marginalized and vulnerable, for peace among neighborhoods, and for the flourishing of our communities. This is not just a passive activity; it is an active engagement with God’s work in the world. Through prayer, we ask God to reveal His heart for our cities and to equip us to be agents of His grace and mercy.

So, how exactly should we pray for our cities, provinces, and country?

In Psalm 122:6-9, David offers a profound model for our prayers with his prayer for the peace of Jerusalem. The principles he outlines are universally applicable and can guide our prayers for Canada, its provinces and its cities. In these verses, the word used for “peace” is the same as the word translated “welfare” in our theme verse from Jeremiah: shalom.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

“May they be secure who love you!

Peace be within your walls

and security within your towers!

For my brothers and companions’ sake

I will say, ‘Peace be within you!’

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

I will seek your good.”

As we reflect on these verses, we recognize our calling to seek the welfare of our city through prayer that encompasses various aspects. We pray for the economic prosperity of our community, asking that all its inhabitants find financial security and opportunities for growth. We seek the safety of those who live within the city, praying for protection and defense against threats. We lift up our leaders, yearning for wisdom and effectiveness in their governance so that they may enact policies that promote the truths of God’s Word. Furthermore, we pray for every individual, aspiring for peace and harmony to permeate their lives, particularly those who belong to the bride of Christ (“may they be secure who love you”). 

Ultimately, praying for the welfare of the city reflects our desire for God’s kingdom to manifest on earth as it is in heaven, as Jesus taught us in the Lord’s prayer: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  We earnestly ask for the well-being of the city, understanding that true peace and welfare can only be realized when people are reconciled through our Lord Jesus Christ, as noted in Romans 5:1: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In this way, our prayers become not just a ritual, but a powerful means of imploring God to intervene in the affairs of Canada and bless all its cities and communities.

The Importance of Engaging with Culture

This God & Government Youth conference has many different objectives and all of them are in line with the mission of ARPA Canada – to educate, equip, and encourage Reformed Christians to political action and to bring a biblical perspective to our civil authorities. While some of these objectives will receive more focus than others in our few days together, they all involve engaging with others, and many times that means connecting with complete strangers. And so, while prayer is perhaps the most important aspect of how we seek the welfare of the city, we also need to look for opportunities to engage the culture. Engaging with culture is not just a suggestion, it’s a responsibility. And as young people, it’s an exciting responsibility! You have the energy, creativity, and passion to impact the world around you.

As you’ve been preparing for GGY you will know that we are highlighting three critical issues: euthanasia, pornography, and pre-born human rights. This doesn’t mean there aren’t other issues the ARPA Canada engages with, or thinks are important. It’s just that these three are ones that we’ve decided are most relevant at this moment in time, and we believe they present the best opportunity for finding common ground with those we engage with.  

Encouragement and challenge

In conclusion, I want to reiterate the importance of seeking the welfare of your city. This isn’t just an ancient command; it’s a vibrant call for you to be proactive in your witness to the city, province, and country where God has called you to live. It’s a call for you to grow in your understanding of the issues taking centre stage in society. And it’s a call for you to engage in your own advocacy efforts with the civil authorities that God has placed over you.

This is not easy, but it’s exciting to know that we have a God who has promised that He will give us courage and strength. The end of the book of Deuteronomy shares with us the story of Moses passing on the baton to Joshua. God’s people were about to be relocated to a new place, and even though it was the Promised Land that awaited, there was still anxiety, nervousness, and a sense of apprehension at making this big move from the familiar to the unknown.

While Joshua wasn’t as young as you are, the words of encouragement that Moses shared with him can be a source of great comfort and hope for people of all ages. Moses said to him, “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

As we “seek the welfare of the city” where God has placed us, we want to encourage and challenge you. You can be encouraged that God goes with you; he is near you; he will not leave or forsake you. That’s why God, right after commanding us to “seek the welfare of the city,” includes the words “that I have sent you.” His guiding hand directs all things. With him on your side you do not need to be afraid.

We also want to challenge you. We challenge you to accept and embrace the responsibility of engaging the culture. We know from firsthand experience that at times you might not want this responsibility. There will be times where it would so much easier, oh, so much easier, to pursue living a comfortable life, not getting involved in sensitive issues such as euthanasia, pornography, and abortion. But it’s precisely at those times – when you want to take the easy path – that you need to remind yourself, we all need to remind ourselves, that seeking the welfare of the city is not a suggestion from God, it’s a command.

As Christian youth you have the power to be agents of change in your communities. It is our hope that you use God & Government Youth as an opportunity to grow in your knowledge, grow in your excitement, and grow in your sense of responsibility towards your fellow Canadians, all so that your light can shine even brighter as you pray and work for the welfare of the city where you live.