Top 10: Dr. Richard Gray and Urban Minisrty

Dr. Richard Gray, Ph.D., came to Asbury Seminary in the Fall of 1999 and helped establish the institution's Master of Arts in Christian Leadership, which he now oversees as department chair. Dr. Gray has received numerous community service awards, including an award from the United States Congress.

From the Garden to the City: Preparing the Sheep for the New Jerusalem

Among those who study and teach about ministering in an urban context, it is often stated, that, “what began in a garden will one day end in a grand and glorious city.”  This city will be like no other city on our planet because it will not be made with human hands.  Rather, this will be a Heavenly city delivered down to man, by God.  Until that happens, though, we all must exist here together as we are being shaped and our world is being prepared for that urban reality.

Evidence that the urbanization of our world is taking place is everywhere.  Consider:

   - An abundance of food and access to medical supplies has increased the human life span and helped people to reproduce at an exponential rate.  Most of these people are flocking to the cities of the world.

   - We are producing more and larger cities than have ever existed before on our planet.  Experts say that we are producing the equivalent of two cities the size of Chicago every month.

Perhaps that’s the reason that urban ministry has historically been associated with ministering in a city.  Today, however, we have come to realize that such a focus is insufficient.  Our word for cities flows from the Latin Civitas, which we associate with spatial density and large populations.  We’ve been conditioned to minister to a place.  Urban, however, flows from the Latin Urbane, which is associated with an attitude.  As our world becomes more and more urban, we find that we must minister to an attitude that finds unique expression in the cities of our planet.  For those interested in gaining a deeper understanding of urban ministry, let me recommend the following titles.

Dr. Gray’s Top Ten Picks: Books on Urban Ministry

Bakke, Ray and John Sharpe. Street Signs: New Directions in Urban Ministry. New Hope Publishers – Impact. 2006. pp 288. ISBN: 978-1596690042

Bakke, Ray. The Urban Christian: Effective Ministry in Today’s World. IVP Academic. 1987. pp. 202. ISBN: 978-0877845232

Claerbaut, David. Urban Ministry in a New Millennium. Authentic & World Vision. 2005. pp. 304. ISBN: 978-1932805352

Conn, Harvie. Urban Ministry: The Kingdom, the City & the People of God. InterVarsity Press.  2010. pp. 527. ISBN: 978-0830838707

Friedman, Thomas. The World is Flat 3. 0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. Picador.  2007. pp. 672. ISBN: 978-0312425074

Fuder, John and Noel Castellanos. A Heart for the Community: New Models for Urban and Suburban Ministry. Moody Press. 2009. pp. 495. ISBN: 978-0802491312

Fuder, John.  A Heart for the City: Effective Ministries to the Urban Community. Moody Press. 2005. pp. 528. ISBN: 978-0802491008

Herson, Lawrence J. R., and John Bolland.  The Urban Web: Politics, Policy and Theory.  Wadsworth Publishing. 1998.  pp. 550. ISBN:  978-0830414581

Tonna, Benjamin. Gospel for the Cities: A Socio-Theology of Urban Ministry. Wipf & Stock. 2004. pp. 224. ISBN: 978-1592449729

White, Randy. Encounter God in the City: Onramps to Personal and Community Transformation. InterVarsity Press. 2006. pp. 191. ISBN: 978-0830833894