Conn, Urban Ministry

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Harvey Conn and Manuel Ortiz, Urban Ministry: The Kingdom, The City, and the People of God. InterVarsity Press, 2010.

Referenced in: Social Ministry Among the Urban Poor, Urban Ministry

LifeandLeadership.com Summary

Most social compassion/justice ministries center around the urban context, thus the importance of understanding the historical development of cities, the sociology of urban life, how God views cities, and the components of effective ministries in urban settings.

This book by respected missiologists Conn and Ortiz is an all-encompassing text on urban ministry. It is the best in-depth look at the subject both theologically and practically. A close second would be Greensway and Monsma, Cities.

The book is structured for students to work through sequentially to gain a complete understanding of urban ministry, but may also be used as a reference work where each chapter can be read by itself. It is divided into six sections. The first three sections – The City Past and Present, Biblical Perspectives, and Understanding the City – provide foundational history, theology, and sociology for a global view of urban development and a sense of how cities factor into what God is doing in the world. These chapters provide rich insight into a very complex ministry setting. Section Four, Developing Urban Church Growth Eyes, draws upon the early work of Donald McGavran and Peter Wagner on church planting and church growth, and helps practitioners utilize social science for preliminary field work to develop ethnotheologies and contextualized approaches. Section Four, Promoting Kingdom Signs in the Cities, addresses the process of Christian community development among the poor, including immigration, Shalom and social transformation, and spiritual warfare. Part Six, Leadership and Discipleship for the Urban Church, discusses the traits of successful urban leaders, recognizing stress points and preventing burnout, and then selecting, training, mentoring, and equipping urban leaders.

Like a good textbook, this volume exposes the reader to the full range of issues involved in urban ministry, which helps in the selection and appropriation of further resources. For example, most all materials on urban ministry discuss issues such as spiritual warfare and structural evil, topics not typically mentioned in resources that are addressed to established suburban or rural churches. The same can be said regarding the subjects of poverty and social transformation. Suburban or rural churches may have only isolated areas of economic need, but urban environments are thick with these realities. Conn and Ortiz provide an excellent overview of these and other issues. This is must reading for anyone who is serious about urban ministry.

From the Publisher

The city presents serious challenges that cry out for answers: poverty, racism, human exploitation and government corruption. How can the church move ahead in the midst of these demands with the gospel of hope?

Here, in one comprehensive volume, Harvie Conn and Manuel Ortiz, two noted scholars and proven practitioners of urban ministry, address the vital work of the church in the city. Their dual goal: to understand the city and God’s work in it.

Through four great waves of development, Conn and Ortiz trace the history of the city around the world. Then they tackle the critical issue of a biblical basis for urban mission. How does the Bible view the city? Are we closer to God in the country than the city? Does the Bible have an anti-urban bias? These questions are given a thorough analysis that unveils God’s urban mandate as reflected in both Old and New Testaments.

From this foundation the authors unpack the multifaceted nature of the city as place, as process, as center, as power, and as a place of change and stability. They move us beyond fragmented stereotypes to a new way of seeing that is holistic enough for a fully biblical ministry to develop.

In addition, Conn and Ortiz lay out what the social sciences have to offer urban mission, including ethnographic and demographic studies and they focus on the particular issues and needs of urban leadership, including a plan for developing and mentoring leaders while equipping the laity for ministry in the city.

This is the essential text for bringing God’s kingdom to the city through the people of God.

About the Authors

Harvie Conn was emeritus professor of missions at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before his death in 1999. He served as a missionary in Korea for twelve years and joined the faculty of Westminster in 1972. Conn was for ten years editor of Urban Mission. He also wrote Evangelism: Doing Justice and Preaching Grace and Eternal Word and Changing Worlds.

Ortiz (D.Min., Westminster) is professor of ministry and urban mission and director of the urban program at Westminster Theological Seminary. For fourteen years he ministered to Hispanics in Chicago, founding four churches, two elementary schools and an extension school for theological education. He has continued in community ministry by planting a multiethnic church in Philadelphia and by promoting urban and multiethnic ministry around the nation through his speaking and consulting efforts.

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