|
 |
 |
 |
|
Session 3: Sensing the Urban Call, cont.
|
V. To Do:
- Look for somebody (an individual or couple) who does not share your history, or ethnicity, or perhaps social class (the person could be poor or rich), or even religious orientation. Agree on an appointment, perhaps over lunch or coffee, in some neutral place, under the purpose of learning what you can about, and sharing what you can about the different journeys you have experienced.
- Why did they come to America, or to the city?
- Who did they come with? What did they come with?
- What did they experience when they came?
- What are the greatest challenges they have faced?
- What fears torment them?
- What points in common do you share with this person?
- What is God saying to you through this person about ministering in the City?
- Visit the website www.missionevangelism.org, where the International Church of the Nazarene presents its evangelism resources. Of special interest may be the personal assessment conferences, where candidates or those engaged in ministry undergo a several-day scrutiny of gifts, skills, and calling to determine potential contexts of service, including urban ministry. Rev. Jim Dorsey is the coordinator of this valuable opportunity.
VI. To Think:
Not everybody is called to minister in the city. People who live in the city obviously are, in that they are called to love and witness to their “neighbor.” And people who sense God’s calling to urban ministry, wherever they live, have a responsibility to obey. Yet the calling may not be to start a church, but to pray for the City, support ministries in the City just as though they were a foreign field, send work-and-witness teams to the City, or adopt a church or ministry project in the City. Think of other ways by which a person might “witness” in the City, without the old definitions of urban pastor, urban evangelist, or compassionate ministry director.
On the other hand, what might be the reasons why somebody might not be a good fit, or a “called” person to the City. What might “exempt” this person from that venue of ministry? Some reasons may be legitimate, others may be personal. How should we react when someone doesn’t feel called to ministry in the City?
Continue with Session 3
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|