This document discusses cities and urbanization. It provides information on what defines a city, the experience of living in a large city like Mumbai, India, and the diverse and complex nature of cities. Cities contain juxtapositions of wealth and poverty as well as ethnic and social diversity. The document also examines what is found in biblical cities and the challenges of urban ministry, noting that urban and rural areas are interdependent and ministry should focus on loving neighbors, not converting others.

1. 
URBAN MISSION
Power Point 1

2. WHAT IS A CITY?
http://youtu.be/WeNlqiogLFs

3. WHAT DOES “URBANIZATION” MEAN?

4. WHAT DOES IS THE EXPERIENCE OF LIVING IN A CITY?

5.  India’s largest city is exciting, chaotic
and overwhelming. Mumbai is where
the country’s future is being forged, and
gleaming towers and a new middle-
class co-exist with sprawling slums and
entrenched poverty. Living here means
not only surviving, but learning to
appreciate the daily tumult, epic traffic
and seasonal monsoons, while enjoying
life in the most cosmopolitan city on
the subcontinent.MUMBAI, India
BBC, 1/9/2012

6. Song: Empire State of Mind

7. UPTOWN
DOWNTOWN
Song: “Uptown Girl”

8. What makes a city
Dangerous?
http://youtu.be/LgA1YaKBLv8
Beautiful?
http://youtu.be/Bwkv7kByNQs
The nature of cities
Urban Realities

9.  Pluralistic / Diverse
 Juxtaposition of ethnic groupings
 Density
 Varying social norms
 Heterogeneity of thought and ideas
 “Uptown” / “Downtown”
 Dreams meet hard realities
 Contested Space
 The future?
 http://on.ted.com/Steffen11
The nature of cities
Urban Realities

10. Alienation
Fear
Violence
The nature of cities
Urban Realities

11. What happens in “Biblical” cities?
 Genesis 4:17-26
 Genesis 10:6-14
 Genesis 11:1-9
 Genesis 18:16-19:29
 Nahum 3
 Amos 6

12.  Alienation
 Reconciliation
 Fear
 Love
 Violence
 Justice
What must we be?
The Challenge of
Urban Ministry

13.  False perceptions of Urban Ministry:
people in the city are somehow
irreconcilably “different”
 Treating Urban and Rural areas as
separate spheres that are not
interdependent
 Emphasis on “converting” the” city-
heathen” as opposed to “loving your
neighbor.”
 “Urban” as a code word for ethnic or
racial stereotypes rather than
considering “urban” as an expression of
theological possibilities
Bridges to be made
Urban Ministry

14. Family /
Religious Life
Educational
Systems
Public Health
Environmental
Context
Restorative
Justice
Economic Life
Ethnic/Racial
Relations

15. Analysis Matrix: Understanding Social Spaces in
Urban and Rural Settings
Legal
Institutional
Political / Policy
Economic
Culture
Social
Gender
Narrative
Psychological
Material
Perceptual
Spiritual
Historical
Epistemic
Environmental
1
2
3
4

16. 
And yet….the experience of poverty
http://youtu.be/prklA6PcirE