Serving God In Todays Cities

For the first time ever, more people now live in cities than outside them. Journey with veteran researcher and missiologist Patrick Johnstone and Dean Merrill as they explore the fastest growing cities and megacities in the world. Explore God's heart for the city and meet pastors, missionaries, and community workers who are addressing urbanization's key challenges.

For the first time ever, more people now live in cities than outside them. Journey with veteran researcher and missiologist Patrick Johnstone and Dean Merrill as they explore the fastest growing cities and megacities in the world. Explore God's heart for the city and meet pastors, missionaries, and community workers who are addressing urbanization's key challenges.

Millions are on the move in today's world, and Christians have a unique perspective on this migrant crisis: after all, Jesus was a refugee. Patrick Johnstone and Dean Merrill help us understand what's causing today's refugee crisis, explore Christian theology and tradition on migration, and show us how Christian workers around the globe are opening their hearts to embrace these modern outcasts.

From the explosive contexts of Nairobi, Mexico City, Los Angeles, and Madras burst fresh insights on the mission of the church for the city. Jude Tiersma and Charles Van Engen worked closely with an international team of experienced urban practitioners to explore the most urgent issues facing those who minister in today's cities. From each particular urban setting, a team member contributed a story from ministry in the city. Each story uniquely illustrates a different challenge of urban ministry in the face of injustice, marginalization, and urban structures. This book brings you these stories, then retells them in light of Scripture, introducing new hope to each one. From these stories emerge new ideas about the nature of cities and how to practice ministry in them. The new methodology employed by Van Engen and Tiersma's team leads us in the first steps toward a theology of mission for the city. God So Loves the City is a must for pastors, seminary students, missiologists, congregation members, and all who are concerned about urban ministry.

"In Taking Our Cities for God, you will explore dynamic and life-changing strategies to help you tear down the strongholds that have held your community back from its full spiritual potential"--Page 4 of cover.

Seminary is dangerous. Really dangerous. The hard truth is that many seminarians enter pastoral ministry feeling drained, disillusioned, and dissatisfied. But the problem isn't with the faculty or the material. Rather, the most perilous danger to the soul of the pastor-in-training is the sin residing deep within his own heart. Drawing on their years of pastoral ministry and seminary experience, David Mathis and Jonathan Parnell take a refreshingly honest look at this oft-neglected—yet all too common—experience, offering real-world advice for students eager to survive seminary with their faith intact. In seven short but challenging chapters, the authors remind readers of the foundational role of the gospel in the life of ministry, equipping them with the keys to grow in their faith while making the most of their education.

Do we have a positive theology of the city so that an urban spirituality can emerge from this place? We have for too long focused on quick fixes, pop up churches, and strategic solutions which have left us malnourished and emaciated, yet bloated from our over-consumption of these unsatisfying approaches. Spiritual formation is something that we need to pay closer attention to today. How do we live this kind of holy life in the city?

Empowers and equips urban ministry teams to live as disciples of Christ.

Description: Who might be the next to fall in love in Pine City and find a loving spouse so they can be married and serve God together in unity? Maybe somebody we haven’t met, because the ones we already know aren’t ready to start thinking in that direction yet, but give them time. As you read this third novel in the Sunshine Series, be looking for clues about the unmarried people in the Character list which is in the Addendum. Some will get married and some will decide to stay single. Either way, how much can the people in Pine City do for Jesus before he returns? You’ll get to notice how Jesus loves and leads some his followers to love and serve him in new or old ways. You might also get some ideas of places where you might like to travel. Maybe you’ve wondered what happened during the amount of time the author skipped at the end of the second novel in this series. This book fills in some of that interval. If you haven’t read the first two novels in the series, it would be most helpful for you to read “Everywhere There’s a Sunrise, Let’s Tell the Good News, and “Rejoice as the Sun Shines on Restorations,” before you read this one, “Gladly Serve God In Sunshine or Storms.” All three books are available to buy as printed copies from thebookpatch.com. Or you could get each of these books as eBooks or PDF files, free of charge and read them in the right order.