Episode 120: Urban ministry is coming to an exurb or suburb near you (Dr. Steve Cloer)

The Christian Chronicle Podcast

It is a fact that more people in the world live in cities than in rural areas. That means the Church of Christ, if it is to be faithful and obedient to Jesus the Christ, must get used to city life and loving its neighbors in the city.

But what we imagine to be "urban ministry" in the Church of Christ is outdated and perhaps was never quite right-headed in the first place. These days, affluent professionals are moving to the "inner city" in droves while the things that we once assumed characterize the inner city are becoming more common in exurbs and suburbs.

So, in a sense, "urban ministry" may now be just...ministry.

In this episode, Dr. Steve Cloer, associate professor of ministry at the Harding School of Theology and director of the Center for Church and City Engagement in Memphis, Tennessee, talks about how our assumptions about "urban ministry" reveal a lot about ourselves and what we imagine about God and the world God so loves. He also riffs on how the Church of Christ might follow God into a future of (city) ministry that may look nothing like what was normal in the mid- to late-20th century.

Link to Dr. Steve Cloer's Christian Chronicle column on the "changing face of urban ministry"

Link to the Center for Church and City Engagement

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Chapters

1. Episode 120: Urban ministry is coming to an exurb or suburb near you (Dr. Steve Cloer) (00:00:00)

2. Welcome to Christian Chronicle Podcast (00:01:41)

3. Detroit: A Case Study in Urban Change (00:02:00)

4. The Changing Definition of Urban Ministry (00:04:17)

5. Urban Ministry vs. City Engagement (00:07:42)

6. The Challenge of Outside Volunteers (00:14:26)

7. Shifting From Superiority to Reciprocity (00:22:22)

8. Mission Tensions: Means vs. Ends (00:29:47)

9. Holistic Ministry for the City (00:35:42)

10. Getting Involved and Episode Closing (00:43:47)