Urban Ministry Podcast

Jacob Boss is Affinity Leader for European Peoples with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Prior to his current role in London, he served two years as the Vice President of Global Training for Meridian University. At Meridian, he implemented simple, reproducible tools to develop healthy churches throughout the 10/40 window. In this episode, Jacob joins Timothy to discuss the unique dynamics sharing the gospel with diverse populations in urban contexts. For...

Michael Crane serves as a director of Radius Global Cities Network, a think tank for urban missions research. Passionate about church planting, he helped to launch a church planting network in Southeast Asia called Gospel City Network. Michael also serves on the faculty of two graduate schools. He has authored or co-authored several books, including Sowing Seeds of Change: Cultivating Transformation in the City (Urban Loft, 2015) and City Shaped Churches: Planting Churches in the Global Era...

Stephen Dinkins and his family moved to East Africa in 2013 to serve with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Stephen now serves as the Nairobi City Team Leader in Nairobi, Kenya. In this episode, Stephen and Timothy discuss the distinct dynamics of urban church planting in sub-Saharan Africa. For more information about the International Mission Board, please go to https://www.imb.org.

Thousands of churches in urban contexts are ripe for revitalization—but church revitalization isn’t easy! James Fields has spent nearly two years working with a congregation near Churchill Downs in Louisville, seeking to revitalize a once-thriving church. He joins Timothy Paul Jones to discuss what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what he’s learned. For more information about Sojourn Church Carlisle, please go to https://sojournchurch.com/carlisle/.

Brian Davis serves as a pastor at Risen Christ Fellowship in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He completed a church planting internship at Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, North Carolina as well as a pastoral internship at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Brian joins Timothy to discuss the distinct dynamics of planting a church in the inner city. For more information about Risen Christ Fellowship, please go to https://rcfphilly.com.

What is the role of the pastor’s wife? Amber Williams and Karen Cheong serve faithfully as members of Sojourn Church Midtown in inner-city Louisville, Kentucky, and they join Timothy Paul Jones to discuss the role that the pastor’s wife plays in the church. For more information about Sojourn Church Midtown, please go to http://www.sojournchurch.com/midtown/.

Raymond Johnson serves as senior pastor at Christ Church West Chester in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and he’s also the author of I See Dead People: The Function of the Resurrection of the Saints in Matthew 27:51–54 (P&R). Christ Church in West Chester has experienced a profound revitalization under Raymond’s leadership. In this episode, Raymond Johnson joins Timothy to share what God has taught him about church revitalization in urban contexts. For more information about Christ Church West...

Nathan Ivey is president and founder of Seed to Oaks, a non-profit organization that brings real and lasting change in communities through collaborations between local churches, businesses, and civic agencies, filling the space between the three. These initiatives are proven, strategic and straight forward to implement; designed as a sustainable means for community change that is real and measurable. For more information about Seed to Oaks, please go to https://seedtooaks.com/. This episode...

GUEST: John Barnett Thanksgiving! Christmas! New Year’s! When you hear those words, you probably think of family traditions and the fragrance of foods that your family enjoys. But what do refugees think about when they hear these words? Some refugees may think of traditions from their homelands that are very different from anything you might associate with these holidays. Others may see them as uniquely Western or American. Still others may never have heard of these holidays at all. So how...

GUEST: John Barnett More than 68 million individuals are currently displaced due to religious persecution, war, or other violence. Globally, one out of every 110 people is either seeking asylum, displaced within their own country, or a refugee. Many of these individuals seek refuge in cities throughout the United States. But how should Christians respond to refugees? How can we show compassion to them and seek justice for them? And, most importantly, how can we impact their lives with the...

God’s people are called to sing to one another! In the words of Paul to the Colossian church, “Let the word of Christ dwell among you richly, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with thankfulness in your hearts.” But how should our context shape the specific ways that we sing to one another? How should a church pursuing multiethnic and multicultural ministry select songs and styles of music? And how, specifically,...

GUEST: Jesse Eubanks Today, we want to provide you with a vision for the future of missions in your neighborhood. Love Thy Neighborhood is an urban ministry for young adults that seeks to make an impact for Christ in the areas of homelessness, the sex industry, crisis pregnancy, orphan care, healthcare, neighborhood renewal, and nonprofit leadership. Their goal is to equip and to mobilize the next generation of Christian leaders to work with the poor, the suffering, and the marginalized....

GUEST: Kevin Jones One of the most beautiful aspects of urban ministry is its diversity. Ethnic diversity! Racial diversity! Socioeconomic diversity! But this diversity can also be a challenge when it comes to evangelism and discipleship. The gospel and the Word of God are the tools that God uses to transform people’s lives, no matter what their background may be. And yet, the ways that we make these truths understandable change depending on our context. If you have a passion for seeing...

GUEST: Jamaal Williams There is in the New Testament a trajectory toward diversity. Jesus begins by calling together a group of Jewish males and then his circle of disciples expands to include women and Samaritans and then the risen Christ commissions his disciples to make disciples of all the nations. Throughout the book of Acts, people from an increasingly diverse range of colors and cultures gather together in local communities of faith in the name of Jesus Christ. And yet, despite this...

GUEST: Kevin Jones Urbanization! It’s happening all around us. In 2010, for the first time in human history, more than half of the people on this planet lived in urban contexts. In the past, many churches have taken a “rescue mission” approach to lower-income urban areas, providing charity for people in need. But there are other ways that believers in Jesus Christ can be present in urban areas! One of these ways is to teach in urban schools. In this episode of the Urban Ministry Podcast,...

GUEST: Jamaal Williams If you’re the pastor of an inner-city church, should you live in the same neighborhood as your church? And, if so, what are some of the unique challenges and opportunities of living in the inner city? That’s what we will be exploring today on the Urban Ministry Podcast. If you want to learn more about what it means to serve God in the city, then this episode is for you.

GUEST: Charles Shannon God did not create us as disembodied or decontextualized creatures. He created us as physical beings who live in particular places. And, in the beginning, he called Adam and Eve to cultivate their physical space and to create culture in the context where he had placed them. If you’re called to serve God in the city, how can you learn to love the context where God has placed you? That’s what I’ll discuss today with urban church planter Charles Shannon.

GUEST: Nick Nye and Charles Shannon What you do for God beyond your home will never typically be greater than what you practice with God within your home. Whether you’re single or married, with children or without, your family has a profound impact on your ministry. That’s why one of the qualifications that Paul gave for pastors was “to manage his own household well.” So how can you as a pastor or a church planter care for your family well? I have with me today two urban pastors to discuss...

Suppose God has called you to plant a church in the city. You’re struggling simply to gather a core group. When someone asks you about small groups, you wonder, “Do I really need to think about small groups? Why isn’t enough simply to have an outstanding Sunday morning worship experience and deal with groups later, after the church is growing?” Today, our guest is Brad House, the author of Community: Taking Your Small Group Off Life Support and the coauthor with Gregg Allison of the book...

There are more than 100 million single adults in the United States. In 2016, 53% of adults in the United States were unmarried, and 64% of these individuals had never been married. Since an overwhelming percentage of singles are moving into urban contexts, urban congregations must learn to minister effectively with single adults. In this episode of the Urban Ministry Podcast, Lilly Park—professor of biblical counseling at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary—joins Timothy Paul Jones to...