A Heart for the Community

New Models for Urban and Suburban Ministry
General Editors John Fuder & Noel Castellanos

Issues that have traditionally been urban - changing populations, safety, poverty, gentrification, and others - no longer exist primarily in cities but are also found in surrounding communities and suburbs.

The Christian community is responding to this reality. Churches and parachurch ministries are actively working to transform lives and restore communities throughout the city and suburbs, working with the under-resourced in such diverse arenas as creative church planting, the growing Hispanic and Muslim populations, children and teen outreach, racially changing communities, house churches, economic development, and more.

"The brisk Saturday morning betrayed our senses. A group of about twenty unsuspecting passengers boarded a bus for a leisurely Saturday tour of Chicago's so-called inner-city ministries. Our host, Dr. John Fuder - looking more like a professional backpacker and mountain climber than a professor - greeted us with furtive smile and restrained energy.

Once on the bus, John solemnly and passionately prayed for our time. He set a tone that was to be a defining moment for most on that tour.

John paints a picture of the city with his hands. He gestures widely with enthusiasm about the legacy of Dwight L. Moody and his longing for those who live in the brownstones, under the el, in cardboard boxes, in hovels and holes. It doesn't take long before you see that D.L. Moody infected John. Or at least they caught the same bug...

Take a tour. Step off the bus. Move in and around to see these people's lives. Ask God to shake you up and toss you out - out into a reality where most humanity lives. Our city - Chicago - desperately needs Christ. Your does too. How aobut getting on the bus?" From the preface by Dr. Michael Easley, President Emeritus, Moody Bible Institute

Publisher: Moody Publishers
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 495