Urban Impact

Reaching the World through Effective Urban Ministry

Thompson, Owens

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN: 9781621892137
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Half of the population of the world lives in cities of one million or more. If we don't reach and disciple from these masses, our future missionary and pastoral force will be diminished. The book Urban Impact is a trumpet call to muster our forces but also deals with the philosophy and practical principles that make any ministry in the city successful. Brandishing a practical writing style coupled with real life experiences, John Thompson helps the reader understand the problems, burdens, joys, and powerful impact cities have on the rest of society. Helping the city pastor or missionary develop an effective ministry, Thompson elaborates on seven critical principles necessary for an effective urban ministry. Following this discussion the book turns to two of the leading challenges of great cities. The first being how to reach the disenfranchised--those from minority groups, people who have substance abuse problems, and the homeless, to name but a few. The second challenge deals with one of the greatest foundational problems in our cities and in all of society: the plight of the Absent Father. Other chapters address urban discipleship as the most effective approach to promote life transformation, planting churches in the difficult urban environment, and a topic rarely discussed in urban books, raising a family in the city.

3

Principles of Urban Ministry, Part 1

Interpersonal Guidelines that Insure Success

On April 14, 1912, at 10:00 p.m., the Titanic crashed into an iceberg in the mid-Atlantic and four hours later sank. One woman in a lifeboat asked if she could go back to her room. She was given only three minutes to do so. She hurried down the corridors, already tilting dangerously, through the gambling room piled ankle-deep in money. In her room were her treasures waiting to be taken, but instead, she snatched up three oranges and hurried back to the boat. One hour before she would have naturally chosen diamonds over oranges, but in the face of death, what is of value is seen more clearly. Likewise, as we face death or perhaps after we experience a resurrected awareness of what is really important in life and ministry, we will see how important it is for our ministry to be rooted and filtered through a system of core values.

Values are often unwritten assumptions that guide our action. Values demonstrate our conviction and priorities and are confirmed by our actions, not just our words. Values are not a doctrinal statement but, rather, convictions that determine how our church operates. Values provide the foundation for formulating goals and setting the direction of the church’s ministry. Core values are statements that affirm what is distinctive about a church.

In this chapter I would like to elaborate on three essential core values or principles of urban ministry that are foundational, insuring that we are following “Interpersonal Guidelines That Insure Success for the Kingdom of God.”

Principle One:
Urban Ministry Must Be Incarnational

In John 20:21, at one of the resurrection appearances with the disciples, Jesus said “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” There is much that can be said about how the Father sent Jesus and how we are to go in a similar manner. God sent our Lord to preach, to be persecuted, to suffer, to make known his will, and to offer salvation to mankind. But the divine plan of the incarnation also carries significant information as to the mode in which God sent his son to the earth.

In John 1:14 the gospel writer tells how Jesus’ penetration into society serves as an example of true contextualization. He tells us, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” As Charles Lyons, Senior Pastor of Armitage Baptist Church in Chicago states it, “Jesus Christ moved into the neighborhood.” He literally became one with the people; born as a Jewish child, having grown up in the Galilean town of Nazareth, raised “on the other side of the tracks” as it were, a town of poor reputation, indicated by Nathaniel’s question to Philip: “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46).

It is astounding to think of the God of the universe invading earth and being incarnated as a helpless child, setting aside his divinity and becoming a baby. When he was hungry or when his diaper needed changing, his only recourse was to cry. He couldn’t even swat mosquitoes from his body. He became a helpless infant, part of the Middle Eastern culture. As he grew, he had to develop as all other children. Luke tells us, “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). He had to grow in wisdom because he emptied himself (Phil 2:6–7) of his knowledge of the Law and the Prophets. He had to learn as every other young Jewish boy. He had to grow in stature as his body grew physically, and he had to grow in favor with God and man. His growth “in favor with God” indicates a spiritual growth, not becoming sinless but seeking a deeper understanding, appreciation, and relationship with his Father. His growth “in favor with man” requires a social growth, which indicates that Jesus was well liked by those he knew. As a man he spoke the dialect of a Galilean, he ate the food that neighbors ate, he loved the customs that other Jewish men loved. He could have possessed another human body as demons do. He could have created a temporary body to indwell, a Christophany, as we see numerous times in the Old Testament. He didn’t choose these methods but instead incarnated and became a real man, immersing himself into the culture of that day.

There was no aerial banner proclaiming God’s plan of salvation. He didn’t drop gospel tracts from the sky or blitz the world with Scripture portions. He studied the language, people, and culture for thirty years before he began his ministry. There were no shouts from heaven: “I love you!” There were no weekend evangelistic trips to the hood to share the gospel. Jesus did not commute from heaven. “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). As Charles Lyons has said, “He came to the worst neighborhood in his universe, the neighborhood called Earth where his life would be taken.” Jesus became part of this culture, and he came for the long haul, which lasted for thirty-three years until his death.

How should the example of Jesus and his incarnation impact our ministry? Jesus said, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21 KJV). God expects us to incarnate, as it were, in our neighborhood of the city. Of course, we are not able to attain a literal incarnation, but we can, to the best of our ability, become part of the people we came to reach. That means several things:

First of all, that the missionary or pastor should move into the general area of the people he serves. In urban ministry we cannot commute.

For too long, men and women have lived in some comfortable neighborhood or suburb, commuting to the city or their target neighborhood for ministry. There may be some who make true salvation decisions as a result, but few of these converts will ever be discipled. Most will never attend a Bible-believing church and if they grow at all, it may take years before they get the very basics of how to be a follower of Jesus. Those that commute will not have a real sense of appreciation and understanding of the people they are serving, and they will not have the credibility they need to effectively reach and disciple them.

Second, to be incarnate means that we will become a part of the people, studying the culture and language of the inhabitants we are trying to reach. This culture may not only be different ethnically, but there is also the urban culture as well as social and economic elements that make each person unique. To truly understand the people one must rub shoulders day in and day out, to share in their culture, living where they live.

Third, being incarnate means that we will plant our roots and plan to stay for the long haul (more on longevity in the next chapter). By doing this we will develop love for the people, and the people will begin to love us as we grow “in favor” with the people we are serving.

Principle Two:
Urban Ministry Must Be Intentional

Jesus did everything with intentionality. His days began early and ended late. Everything he said had a divine purpose, and everywhere he went fit into the divine plan. Jesus intentionally chose twelve disciples, as written in Luke 6:13, after a full night of prayer. It was not by chance that he spent so much of his short ministry discipling these twelve men so they could follow his example. Jesus intentionally chose to go to a forbidden city in a forbidden region to demonstrate that the new order would be to cross all ethnic boundaries to reach the world. He chose not to bypass Samaria but to go directly through that region to establish a cross-cultural ministry there. After leading the woman at the well to himself in Sychar, he spent several days (John 4:40) with his disciples in that Samaritan city instructing the new believers and leading more people to himself. It was not by chance that his last words on earth were the command for his followers to make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19–20; Acts 1:8). It was not the luck of the draw that he died as prophesized, rose from the dead as predicted, ascended into heaven as planned, and that he will come back at the time appointed. Intentionality was the deliberate plan of everything Jesus did and is the approach of every effective ministry completed in his name. The key to intentional ministry is choosing the right things to be intentional about.

We must be intentional in our approach to Scriptures. We should teach all of God’s Word as the literal, inspired rule of faith and practice. Without dutiful compliance to God’s Word, ministry becomes aimless and may have no more eternal impact than a social club or benevolent charity.

In urban ministry we must be intentional as to our location. It would have been much easier for Armitage to purchase a building in the suburbs twenty-nine years ago instead of the building they bought in the heart of the inner city of Chicago. Real estate was cheaper, cost of living lower, the incomes of our parishioners would have been higher, and the social problems to deal with would have been less intense. Realtors brought appealing opportunities, but their conviction was to stay in the city facing the greatest need. To move to the suburbs meant that they would have had to abandon the people they were committed to reach.

We must be intentional about evangelism. A number of years ago I met with a major Christian relief agency and a number of inner city ministries. The agency wanted to pump a sizable amount of money into the city to augment their urban effort. For several hours each organization shared how they could use the money for their various ministries: food pantries, homeless shelters, job training programs, and so on. I asked the moderator where evangelism fit into these urban plans. The moderators quickly replied, “We assume evangelism is taking place.” If I have learned anything from my twenty-nine years of ministry, it is that evangelism doesn’t just happen. There must be a plan and relentless effort to make evangelism central to our ministries. The social tools listed above like food pantries, homeless shelters, and job training programs are important ministries but they must be tools or bridges to reach a higher purpose of introducing the patron to Jesus Christ who offers them eternal salvation.

There are millions of people in the city that need Christ. We have to intentionally train people and weave into our programs a methodology that fosters evangelism. One of the tools our church has adopted to encourage evangelism is our “Ten Most Wanted List.” We have printed cards with ten numbered lines under the “Ten Most Wanted” heading. We encouraged our people to keep a list of those they most want to see come to Christ. We ask them to pray over each person on a regular basis and then ask God for an opportunity to share Christ with them. We also encourage our people to list results on the prayer/praise portion of the Welcome Card in our pew racks. This effort is promoted for five or six months allowing for occasional testimonies and the sharing of results. After a time, we end the program so the effort will not become too old and mundane. We use this tool every three or four years and have found that efforts like this have yielded great results with many people coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Intentionality is also necessary for discipleship. As I emphasized in the chapter I titled “The Mother of All Challenges,” most churches across our nation are not doing a very good job in the area of discipleship because we intentionally run programs but do not offer biblical discipleship. This is indeed bizarre because discipleship is the commission of the church. No one will be discipled unless we intentionally disciple them. Just inviting them to church is not enough. You need a plan and you need to intentionally and persistently work the plan. In the city one of the most powerful and necessary ministries is one-on-one and small group discipleship. Because of the transient nature of the city, along with the wicked environment, we need to work with people with an in-depth intensity. Discipleship is the only truly effective method.

We must be intentional in church planting. We shouldn’t leave all the urban church planting to mission agencies. There is a great need for vibrant churches in cities all around the world. In this country there is a great need because of the vacuum created by so many believers who fled from the cities to the suburbs in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. So far Armitage has planted three congregations and has goals of launching many more churches in the upcoming years. If we believe that the church is God’s ordained institution for accomplishing his plan, we need to intentionally create and expand these initiatives in whatever way we can.

We must be intentional in training people for urban ministry. One of the great needs of urban ministry is for training centers where students can be trained on site. If you become a foreign missionary, you are trained in school and by the agency you serve under. Why is it that we think we can come to a large urban area that, in many respects, is a foreign mission field, without going through field training? In the city we work with multiple ethnic cultures and with unique pressures and problems. For years we have operated an internship program called our C.A.U.S.E. Program (Chicago Armitage Urban Study Experience). Through this program students can come for a three-month or a one-year internship. Our goal is to provide better understanding of urban ministry through a hands-on approach, improving the success rate of those entering an urban field. It takes intentionality to provide that kind of training.

We should intentionally provide a presence in the community. When Christ ministered on earth he didn’t stay in the temple. His time was spent with the people. At the church where I pastor, we intentionally try to minister outside of the four walls of our building. For example:

1. We plan Prayer Walks in the summer during our Wednesday Prayer Meeting. We send our members out in groups of twos or threes to walk through the neighborhood and pray for whatever needs they see.

2. When someone is shot in our part of the city we organize a rally in cooperation with the police department. These rallies are held at the location where the crime was committed, giving us an opportunity to show our support for the police department and urge participation of the neighbors to divulge any information that might help the apprehension of the guilty parties. We have, at times, even provided a financ...

Table of contents

• Urban Impact
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• The Mother of All Challenges
• A Place of Unparalleled Potential
• Principles of Urban Ministry, Part 1
• Principles of Urban Ministry, Part 2
• Calibrating Our Compass
• Turn the World Upside Down
• Reaching the Disenfranchised, Part 1
• Reaching the Disenfranchised, Part 2
• The Absent Father
• Living in the City
• Planting an Urban Church, Part 1
• Planting an Urban Church, Part 2
• Appendix
• Bibliography