Analysis Of ' A City Is A Simple ' Concept Driven Book '

In the introductory chapters, she draws upon her own experiences overseas and comments on the mistakes she has made and how they can be prevented through best practice. Next, Butrin outlines methods for assessing communities through identifying the resources individuals possess, the needs of the community, and strategies for meeting those needs through meaningful partnerships with the local people. She asserts that our view of poverty directly relates to how we act in compassion and if we view it only as material deficit than our work will never truly alleviate poverty. The church should play a large role in this entire process because proclamation of the Gospel is a vital component of holistic ministry. Only God can bring true transformations to communities and people. If the message of salvation is absent from efforts towards justice than we have barely scratched the service and are responding to the external as opposed to addressing the root causes. The text concludes with decisive commentary on applying the principles of best practice to all

The aim of the I.S.I. The project addresses the socioeconomic and poverty mindset that permeates throughout urban communities. The statistics show that the vast majority of major urban cities [NY/NJ/PA] has a religious institution on every corner. However, these urban cities are blighted. Despite having large numbers of religious institutions available there is increased poverty that leads to: educational and employment inequities, crime, violence, dysfunctional families,

The core message of the Parable of the Sheep and Goats is that God’s people will love others (“Matthew, Chapter 25). The message is called to help those in need. Men and women cannot ignore the plight of human beings suffering from homelessness. People must work together in order to meet our own needs and also work in order to have something to give to those in need. The good works will result from our relationship to the shepherd (Harrington). The grace stucture, Coalition of Homelessness, is an example of this passage. It has developed and implemented effective solutions to New York’s homelessness crisis. Coalition for Homelessness has provided stable housing through shelter, moving them into permanent housing, and implementing assistance programs to keep them in their housing. The Coalition is following the message of the Last Judgment passage by helping those in need and working together in the community to give basic needs to other

Galindo analyzes that the fundamental “mission” of a congregation is the same as any other congregation that exists in any part of the world. He argues that though every congregation has a mission and a vision, at the same time, it shares a basic common mission. (43) This reminds me of my home church The First Church of Evanston and my Field Site, The Evanston Vineyard Church. Both churches have a common mission of welcoming people to the church, irrespective of their ethnic, cultural, racial, and economic and, gender backgrounds. The mission is to help people be received in the house of God with due and deserved Christian love so that they feel loved and welcomed. Both these churches encourage church attendees to attend the service and receive the Eucharist.

The Social Gospel is the idea of social problems being looked and fixed with a Christian point of view. The Gospel will always stay the same and we should refer the Social Gospel as living out the Gospel. The goal of the Social Gospel Movement was to tie salvation and good work together. They thought people should live the life of a Jesus Christ. Classes, counseling, job training and libraries were provided by churches to act according to the Social Gospel. The origins and issues of the Social Gospel Movement, how the Social Gospel related to a Progressive Era, the work of Walter Rauschenbusch, and how Social Gospel relates to the Gospel will be covered in this essay.

Limited Church: Unlimited Kingdom: Uniting Church and Family in the Great Commission addresses the challenge of how churches can centralize God’s call to parents to shepherd their children found in Deuteronomy chapter six. Rob Rienow founded Visionary Family Ministries with his wife Amy in 2004. In addition he is a pastor at Gospel Fellowship Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. He earned an MA in theology at Wheaton College, an Mdiv from Trinity International Divinity School, and a Doctor of Ministry in Christian Leadership from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. Rienow has authored many several books addressing family ministry including Visionary Parenting, Reclaiming the Sufficiency of Scripture, When They Turn Away: Drawing Your Adult Child Back to Christ and Five Reasons For Spiritual Apathy In Teen. In this work, Limited Church: Unlimited Kingdom, he not only argues that every

The consultant spoke of visiting churches like ours and found that people many times didn’t want change because “that’s the way we have always done it”!

“I have carefully and thoroughly read the entire book as assigned.” Throughout David Platt’s book, “Radical : Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream”, he encourages the reader to take a look at their life and see whether or not Christ is all they need to impact their life for Jesus in a radical way. He asks the reader to carefully examine their life, and see if there are areas that perhaps the Lord would desire for change to take place. Platt challenges the Church to step up and see the urgency in missions realizing that this is the way God designed the lost and dying world to hear the Good News of the Risen and Glorified Savior Jesus Christ.

In 1986, while walking down 42nd Street in New York City at midnight, Reverend Wilkerson's heart broke yet again for God to raise up a ministry in Times Square. He cried out to God to do something and at one o'clock that morning he sensed the Lord speaking to his heart, "You do something. You start a church. You know the city and you love

“Restoring At-Risk Communities,” written by John M. Perkins is a collaborative work of urban professionals in ministry, providing a blueprint for working in urban communities. It provides the personal expertise of so many to help fellow missionaries and those in ministry to develop a Christian community. In today’s culture, many of our cities are falling apart due to poverty, lack of education, lack of religion, and large amounts of people leaving for the suburbs. People who are being called to minister in the downtowns, or those who are already suffering in the trenches are struggling with how to reach the community for Christ. Perkins shares his personal experience of being on the frontlines of ministry, and the appropriate strategy to reaching those communities. He writes, “The desperate problems in America’s inner cities will not be resolved without strong commitment and risky action on the part of ordinary Christians with heroic faith” (Perkins, 1995).

Because mankind was made in God’s image, Christians aspire to follow the footsteps of Jesus as he leads the pathway to the Kingdom of God. So just as Jesus, “healed the leper, the paralyzed, the blind, the deaf, and many who suffer from many diseases,” followers of the gospel are called to “pass through this world doing good.” Not only did Jesus heal, but he turned it around and allowed the once sick to heal. They became “agents of healing and invited to be agents of their own destiny” (Saying and Showing, pg. 31). And as Christians, the gospel calls them to do the same, focusing their attention to the “most abandoned and mistreated” and help bring them to be a part of society.

Jesus Christ sought to improve the individual, the component of society, and as result, his teaching ideally aims to advance the well-being of society as a whole. The four Gospels and the book of Acts thoroughly demonstrate the extensive sociological knowledge that was present in Jesus’ teaching. His message facilitates personal reform, rather than change in the social structure alone. Although Jesus establishes the church as a social institution, he does so, only after a number of individuals become his followers.

A sentiment common to almost any organization is that the one fact that remains constant is change. As society changes, and human understanding grows, any organization that maintains a static posture, assures its demise. Churches and Christian organizations are no exception. The gospel may remain the same, but the method for communicating it must speak to the audience to assure understanding. The Christian leader must be prepared to meet this challenge by incorporating an effective model for change into his theology of leadership in order to keep the ministry relevant and effective. Searching for such a change agent can prove to be challenging as well. To aid in this search, four

Transforming a city is not easy as it sounds. You have to understand people's feeling, their cultures, and their comfort zone. When Casselberry entered the city he didn't know what he was getting into. He had less knowledge about city background; all he knew was that he wanted “to fall in love” (Casselberry, 30). In the city, Casselberry saw the ugly and the beautiful and he figured out what it meant to fall in love with the city. You have to see the beauty in ugly things by discovering where God is. There could be lots of situations in which God proves where and who he really is. We all are God’s children and, in His eyes, it does not matter where we live. In today's world we will feel different and need to show we are good Christians in a different

Furthermore, it is vitally crucial for the church leadership to clearly articulate its missional vision, which is to be embraced by the rest of the church’s community. The process of spiritual transformation starts from the invitation and continues through engagement and discipleship. This transformational process embodies the missional vision and the language for 'right now ' and 'here '. Surely, the church’s vision ought to be aligned with the missional attributes of the gospel itself, which are 'the good news is for everyone ' and 'belonging before believing '. Our witness should take place amidst relationship and listening. One principle that I consider to be exceptionally useful in my community is St. Patrick’s idea of Celtic Evangelism: establish community, engage in conversation, and invite commitment (2009, 101).