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Session 6: Loving an Urban World, cont.
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III. To Hear:
Dr. Cheryl Sanders is the senior pastor of 3rd Street Church of God, an excellent example of a local church in Washington, D.C. This church has not only engaged the community in practical, loving service, but also, under its previous pastor, Rev. Samuel Hines, has been at the forefront of developing city-wide prayer meetings, and leading movements of racial reconciliation. In this presentation, given at the Urban Conference in Philadelphia (in mp3 format), she addressed the question of how the message of Holiness is practical and persuasive within the urban context.
IV. To Read:
- Read the concluding two chapters of the Bakke/Sharpe text beginning with chapter 12. Although you may not be interested in, or capable of convening city-wide consultations, you may bring together interested friends who feel some of the same passions for urban ministry you do, for creative, open-ended conversations. Don’t be afraid of inviting people who are “doing” it, as often they feel alone, and your conversations may be of encouragement to those engaged. You might want to design a single-day conference for your church, or network of interested friends. On the other hand, many of the 24 lessons learned from consultations in chapter 13 may serve as a discussion pointers for any developing urban ministry task force, beginning or re-orienting ministries in the city.
- Read the article “Love in Three Ventricles” (Tink). This article dissects love from a theological perspective, taking it out of the flabby, sentimental understanding and giving it some character.
- Read the outline on “False Loves” (Griffith and Tink). This article forces us to look at how our popular understandings of love are often deficient, misguided, or even dangerous.
- Read the article on “The Motivations of Compassion” (Tink), looking at worldly rationales for helping people, and comparing them with the biblical basis of compassion.
- Study Phillips’ “Twelve Steps for Creating a Compassionate Ministry Center” (CMC). Though it specifically addresses the CMC, many of the steps can apply to any form of ministry.
Continue with Session 6
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