The Urban Ministry Podcast

Professor and pastor Timothy Paul Jones interviews Dave Owens about church planting in urban contexts.

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 more information about the International Mission Board, please go to https://www.imb.org.

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 (Urban Loft, 2018). In this episode, Michael joins Timothy to discuss the importance of a sense of place in urban missions. For more information about Radius Global Cities Network, please go to https://radiusglobal.org.

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.

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/.

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/.

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 can Christians serve refugees during the holiday season? That’s the question that we will be exploring today on the Urban Ministry Podcast. Our guest is John Barnett, executive director of Refuge. If you are interested in sharing the gospel with immigrants and refugees, you will not want to miss this episode.

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. Here are some of the questions that we’ll be exploring today: How could your church begin to engage the poor, the suffering, and the marginalized? What might God do in your church, if this became part of your vision for the future? What is the first step that you could take toward gathering young adults to love your neighborhood. With us today is Jesse Eubanks, the founder and executive director of Love Thy Neighborhood. If neighborhood outreach is part of your church’s vision, you won’t want to miss this episode of Urban Ministry Podcast.

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 people’s lives transformed in urban contexts, this episode of the Urban Ministry Podcast is for you. Our guest is Kevin Jones, professor of education at Kentucky State University.