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| April
11, 2003 "Things You Never Learned in Seminary" |
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| CityVoices newsletter:
April 11, 2003 Greetings with what would normally be our March edition, coming to you in mid-April. (We’ll work to get back on schedule by the end of this month.) In this edition, you’ll find a variety of good resources, whether you are a city pastor, educator, administrator; or simply a student of cities and the urban mission. We look for your comments, recommendations and contacts of new subscribers to send our way. Stay in touch from time to tell us how we are doing. Increasingly, CityVoices is becoming a healthy dialogue from which we can all benefit. Get a good look at the CityVoices website (www.cityvoices.com) to see more completely al that we’re about. Remember:
I’ll look to hear from you soon! Roger Johnson, Editor – CityVoices ******************** Urban Lessons You’ll Never Learn in Seminary By Roger Johnson, CityVoices editor John Esau’s upfront piece in the February 22nd edition of Christian Century is too good to not revisit, and revise, from an urban perspective. While Esau is retired, and his home, North Newton, Kansas, does not qualify as the essence of urban America, at least a few of his "ten points" are extremely relevant to ministry in our cities, and to city church leadership. Esau points out that pastors, even urban pastors, "are called to be priest and prophet with a little bit of king thrown in." He notes that we have little trouble with the prophet role, but much trouble with both the priest and king role. Priests inevitably get up close and personal, kings minister to the whole out of sense of care for that whole. How can city pastors have so much trouble being both kings and priests, while so many "secular" role models in the urban arena are so adept at either one or both tasks? We’re not reading the wrong Bible. Perhaps we’re reading our audiences the wrong way. Or, worse yet, we may not be reading our congregations at all. In what some may deem a controversial statement, Esau maintains that pastoral ministry is a political vocation. He goes on to explain that survival and success in any pastorate depends in some measure upon one’s ability to garner wide support of the people whom we are serving. The city pastor must have a more finely tuned sense of political judgment than someone serving in a sedate environment where comparatively little is at stake on a day-to-day basis. While we live by the power of God’s spirit, next year’s budget or even a pastoral call may depend upon our ability to understand our people in the highly charged urban environment. (Urban) pastors, John Esau points out, must create their own support groups outside the church that will work for them. Which is not to say that church members will not at times be able to understand, even feed and nourish you as the city church pastor. It is simply to say, "Don’t expect it to happen." Look to groups outside your church, perhaps even outside your own denominational structures to be those nourishing and understanding networks. If a pastor is to survive in the urban environment, she or he may have to become extremely creative at this network-building task. Invest some time and energy. It’s that important to your future health and survival. Urban church members do want to see their pastor succeed. Believe that one! Oftentimes, in environments of defeat and failure, the pastor is the only success model that lay people have. City congregations are desperate to see some measure of success played out before them, so long as it doesn’t end up in robbing them of the pastoral talent with which they have been blessed. The city church and the urban pastor are allies, though that may not always seem to be true. Enjoy that alliance and work with, rather than against the congregation. In closing, Esau maintains that "ministry is good:" urban ministry can tremendous. That ministry is a gift, not something you as minister give to the church, but more properly, that the city church gives to you. In recent years, city ministry seems like any other career – demanding more and more of us, with limited resources to rely upon. Viewed from the "careerism" angle, few urban ministers succeed well, most others just move around or don’t succeed by the careerism standards at all. Let’s start enjoying the gift that we’ve been given as we faithfully serve city congregations. It’s a change in outlook that will preserve and protect your service in the city. In concise fashion, John Esau covers a pageful of items best learned through a lifetime of ministry. Check out the Christian Century’s website at http://www.christiancentury.org/ to read his complete listing of ten important items. Contact: Roger Johnson, CityVoices, (773) 477-8163, roger@cityvoices.com ******************** Urban Ministry Conferences: Dividing Rather Than Conquering By Roger Johnson, CityVoices editor We’ve been through the heart of another season for mission and ministry conferences: hopefully helpful events to all those attending. Those of us intensely involved in urban and ethnic mission have not been immune from the same jammed-full three-day schedules of big meetings, small sessions, lots of brochures and cards to pick up, hundreds of people to meet, and desperate attempts to "float a new theme" (on why we’re all getting together in this nice hotel). As the last couple of months progressed, it seemed that city ministry types had the options of 1) convening with each other, 2) missing networking with each other while attending competing conferences, or 3) simply staying away from the entire scene. For better, or for worse, most people with the resources and the desire to attend an urban ministry conference, seemed to choose one of the two latter options. And you may ask, "What is the problem with options two or three? After all, tremendous amounts of effective city ministry is being done by urban leaders who are too busy serving people and raising up new leaders to bother with going to "time-wasting" meetings. Granted, such people may have an obligation to the larger community of Christ to share what they have learned and raise up even more leaders in the urban conference format. That discussion will continue indefinitely. But the difficulty of competing urban mission conferences remains: meetings which compete for the same market’s attention, at (or at nearly) the same days on the calendar, in various cities (or even the same city) remains with us. And the big reason for difficulty revolves around the purpose for most of such conferences – to help city ministers build resource networks outside and across natural geographic, denomination and traditional boundaries. Urban mission events have great potential that can be easily destroyed by conflict and competition. My own involvement this year has been in both planning and attending the SCUPE (Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education) Urban Congress in Chicago. While March 11-14 looked like good dates for the 2003 Urban Congress, it turned out that competing meetings: the Chicago Meeting of the President’s Faith-Based Initiative (March 15th at another downtown hotel), and Compassion’s Urban Youth Convention (March 20-22nd at a Chicago airport hotel) drew hundreds of city ministers (primarily evangelicals) who might otherwise have considered attending the SCUPE Urban Congress, held bi-annually since the late 1970s. The Seminary Consortium was born out of a collaboration among both evangelical and mainline seminaries committed to the notion of urban education for ministry in the city. Over the years SCUPE has added rich components of the African-American church as well as other ethnic churches to its sometimes unwieldy mix committed to urban analysis and education. In all, the urban church, its gifts, needs and future remain uppermost. That is why the SCUPE Urban Congresses, hold so much potential in training and networking for evangelicals, ethnics, Pentecostals, Catholics and mainline Protestant leaders in our cities. Past and future congresses provide forums to learn through our gifts and graces, our certainties and our differences. Don’t look for doctrinal unity, don’t even look for consistent patterns of truth. But do look to learn how to minister more effectively. Audio tapes from the 2003 Congress on Urban Ministry can be obtained by contacting the SCUPE office, 200 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 502, Chicago, IL 60601, Ph: (312) 726-1200, urbanmin@scupe.com. ******************** O Holy City, Seen of John Text by Walter Bowie (1882-1969), A graduate of Harvard University (BA, 1904; MA 1905), Bowie received a BD degree from the Virginia Theological Seminary in 1908. In 1909, he was ordained an Episcopal priest. He served as a hospital chaplain in France in World War I, and in 1939, became Professor of Practical Theology at Union Theological Seminary. The collection of American hymnody that drives and inspires us to advance the Christian mission is small, and often poor. While Walter Bowie’s 1909 hymn, written while serving as Rector at Emmanuel Protestant Episcopal Church in Greenwood, Virginia, may be of uneven quality, it does ring true with an early 20th century passion to see the glorious City of God built even in the worst urban slums of America. As you sort through his words, you’ll find a few classic truths still ringing correctly for our urban mission today. O holy city, seen of John, Hark, how from men whose
lives are held O shame to us who rest content Give us, O God, the strength
to build Already in the mind of God For music and texts of this and many other classic hymns, search at http://www.cyberhymnal.org. ******************** Books You Won’t Want to Miss: Just a few books, new, older and nearly hidden, which provide city pastors and students of cities with some of the best tools for gaining a grip on their communities. "Urban Christianity and Global Order: Theological Resources for an Urban Future," by Andrew Davey, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, MA, 2002. With this, his second major work in the field of urban theology and praxis, Londoner Andrew Davey, of the Church of England’s Board of Social Responsibility, provides readers with a solid framework for first of all understanding the constantly urbanizing world in which we live. Drawing from the work of both Saskia Sassen and Manuel Castells, Davey firmly throws the 21st century church into the global city, and then helps us understand what it may look like. Davey then moves on to the biblical urban experience and helps us see the cosmopolitan world in which Jesus lived. Lastly, the author offers several important models for the urban church in this new globally urban world. Andrew Davey does an excellent job in bringing our urban theology up-to-date for the first decade of this new century. He also helps urban Christians, of any part of the globe, to begin to view God’s entire urban world with greater degrees of both maturity and enthusiasm. "Urban Christianity and Global Order" is now available from CityVoices for $12.00 Call (773) 477-8163, or contact roger@cityvoices.com to place your order. "The Art of Revitalization: Improving Conditions in Distressed Inner-City Neighborhoods," by Sean Zielenbach, Garland Publishing, Inc., New York, 2000. Zielenbach’s work is essentially a study in the revitalization of two hard-hit Chicago neighborhoods: Englewood and North Lawndale. It is because both of these neighborhoods have a long history of African-American, Evangelical, Mainline and Catholic presence in their religious history that this rather technical study comes alive for the urban mission community. But beware, this is not an easy read for the pastor looking for some fast encouragement. It is a fairly technical work that ultimately does provide hope for anyone wondering if even a city’s worst looking communities can be revitalized. Nice historical and statistical documentation adds to this book’s effectiveness. "The Art of Revitalization" can be obtained at some bookstores, but most easily by going online to Amazon.com. Price may vary, look for a used copy to save money and still get great service. "At Home in the Loop: How Clout and Community Built Chicago’s Dearborn Park," by Lois Wille, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, IL, 1997. Another neighborhood-specific book, that essentially tells a multi-billion dollar success story in Chicago’s South Loop community generated nearly entirely by private investment. Lois Wille’s story is one that has taken place over the past 30 years, largely hidden from public view and scrutiny, even in city that examines its neighborhoods closely. Perhaps that is due to the fact that a new, big and beautiful city neighborhood of more than 100,000 people has been created where once stood ugly and unused rail yards benefiting nobody. Wille presents a fair story, bringing to light the controversies and mistakes that have happened along the way. Certainly, Dearborn Park has not been of much help to the city’s poor and unloved people. Some strongly questioned why a new, middle-class community should have any place at all. Perhaps a football stadium would have served the city better. But the resulting community keeps growing today, with new condo additions still being built. Pick this one up for an alternative view of urban community growth. "At Home in the Loop," can most easily be purchased by contacting Southern Illinois Press, (800) 346-2680, or http://www.siu.edu/~siupress/. Price is about $22. ******************** Thanks for reading CityVoices! Thanks for taking the time to discover more about the "Things You Never Learned in Seminary." E-mail any of your comments back to roger@cityvoices.com. Remember to take a good look at the CityVoices website: www.cityvoices.com and look at the many resources available within that site. Keep in mind:
** To place orders, call CityVoices
at (773) 477-8163, or email roger@cityvoices.com Thank You! Roger Johnson – Editor, CityVoices (Chicago) |
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