Comments on: The Challenges of Urban Ministry

By: Brett Mahlen

Brett Mahlen — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:54:03 +0000

Bill sure caught me off guard dropping my name on this episode. As funny as it is, the Spanish word for eschatology is a cognate: escatologÃa (es-cat-ol-o-GEE-ah).

By: Bill Snodgrass

Bill Snodgrass — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:14:31 +0000

Dear Benj:
I have not yet read the book. I looked at a review of it when you wrote what you did above. I have read some of Olasky’s essays in World mag. I will peek at the book. What did you want to say about it ?

By: Benj

Benj — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:51:22 +0000

I recently read Marvin Olasky's The Tragedy of American Compassion, which contains an excellent history of the church's urban mission in America beginning in the 19th century. I would be interested to know if any of the participants has come across this book and has an opinion of Dr. Olasky's work.

By: Bill Snodgrass

Bill Snodgrass — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:28:50 +0000

Well, let’s work toward making the ordinary common !

By: Camden Bucey

Camden Bucey — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:59:27 +0000

You don’t hear much about the ordinary means of grace in the city – let alone anywhere else!

By: Jeff Waddington

Jeff Waddington — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:55:09 +0000

Folks

This was a good discussion. As a former urban pastor (Albany, NY and NYC), I would love to continue the discussion about how to present an ordinary means of grace ministry in an urban setting often hostile to it.

We should have Bill on again. I know he and I have had helpful discussions about this (helpful to me at least!) and I think our listeners would benefit. If we believe that the Reformed faith is the most biblical expression of Christianity (a view we have each come to by God’s grace), then it fits in the urban context.

Jeff

By: Camden Bucey

Camden Bucey — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:39:31 +0000

Well said.

By: Bill Snodgrass

Bill Snodgrass — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:32:41 +0000

I have not heard one. I suppose what I am contending for is a robust spirituality of the church view that preserves the ministry of the Word and sacraments, while at the same time listening to what Jesus tells us in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. If a person cannot read, our own use of the means of grace and growth in Christ will drive us to find ways to assist that person. That is not a program. It is love. No efforts toward so-called justice in earthly terms will produce a heavenly life of love, life in Christ produced by the Spirit of Christ. That is the true Spirituality of the church.

By: Camden Bucey

Camden Bucey — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:14:46 +0000

That’s a great point. I am continually perplexed by how the term “justice” gets stretched and cast in so many different ways. If we’re going to use the biblical words for justice to justify whatever social program we would like to do, why doesn’t it ever get used in its “judgment” sense? Would social gospel advocates ever preach a message akin to Acts 17?

By: Bill Snodgrass

Bill Snodgrass — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:58:06 +0000

Take the example of tutoring someone who cannot read. You can arrange for them to get help, you can transport them, and you can teach them. Any option takes time. You don’t make a program out of it, but rather, you engage in it as part of the ongoing work of making disciples as it impacts given individual situations. That is the spirituality of the church applied to what could to some become a transformational or social gospel agenda, on my view.

By: Bill Snodgrass

Bill Snodgrass — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:39:49 +0000

Agreed, Camden ! Those are some of the many voices to which people are exposed, which we mentioned during the interview. By the way, I may offer my best effort at a Spanish word for eschatological: Siesta !

By: Camden Bucey

Camden Bucey — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:09:38 +0000

Another challenge comes from certain theologies within the reformed community. The tendency toward transformationalism or mild social gospels often arises in urban contexts.

By: Bill Snodgrass

Bill Snodgrass — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:40:18 +0000

To clarify a point concerning which I was unclear in the interview, Dr. Bob Emberger of the Whosoever Gospel Mission has a D. Min degree from Westminster Theological Seminary (1993). His M. Div is from Biblical Theological Seminary.