2008 Congress on Urban Ministry

SCUPE’s CityVoices

Plans Race Ahead for
2008 Congress on Urban Ministry

Make your plans now to attend SCUPE’s 2008 Congress on Urban Ministry – April 15-18, 2008 at Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Church. This biennial event will bring hundreds of urban leaders together around the purposes of creating redemptive communities and instilling prophetic imagination in their work.

Co-chairs of the Congress are Dr. John Kinney, Dean of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University and Dr. Mary Nelson, Founding Director of Bethel New Life in Chicago. John Kinney brings a prophetic presence as well as preaching expertise to the Congress. Mary Nelson brings her own brand of energy developed through years of community organizing and development.

Other plenary speakers for the Congress include:

• Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, Executive Director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) in Los Angeles
• Dr. Anthony Weston, Professor at Elon University in North Carolina, and author of “How to Re-imagine the World”
• Dr. Grace Lee Boggs, Detroit activist, writer and speaker
• Rev. Young Lee Hertig, Southern California Regional Director, Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity (ISAAC)
• Dr. David Frenchak, President, Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE)

An added feature for the 2008 Congress will be the Community Transformation Research Summit, meeting in conjunction with the Congress on Urban Ministry. The Community Transformation Research Summit is spearheaded by a steering committee including Michael Mata of World Vision and Heidi Unruh of Evangelicals for Social Action. The purpose of the summit is to bring together urban practitioners and researchers to learn how to assess and improve the impact of Christian community ministries through participatory research. For further information on the Community Transformation Research Summit, contact Michael Mata(mmata@worldvision.org) or Marge Berman(mpbermann@earthlink.net) at World Vision, 3055 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1030, Los Angeles, CA 90010, Ph: (213)351-1320.

General registration for the Congress on Urban Ministry will begin in mid-January. You’ll be able to register both online at the SCUPE website (www.scupe.com) or through a printed registration brochure that will be sent to you next month.

For further information about SCUPE, or CityVoices newsletter, contact:
SCUPE’s CityVoices
200 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 502, Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 726-1200 phone / (312) 726-0425 fax
roger@scupe.com
Copyright 2007 SCUPE, Chicago, Illinois

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Lake County ~ 72 Congregations / 51 Senior Pastors

Nearly 400 of us gathered "around the bonfire" two weeks ago at our fourth annual Catalyst Forum at Trinity University in Deerfield. It was an incredible time to "warm our hands", cast vision for unity, and tell stories of God's goodness as we take steps together. [Listen to the Audio] 72 churches, 51 senior pastors, over 200 church staff, and dozens of local community leaders gathered with the common understanding that we can do so much more together than we can do individually. [Online Photo Album]

As we approach the close of 2007, I urge you to prayerfully consider how you and/or your church can actively partner with fellow "revolutionaries" in 2008. Strategically decide right now to be a part of one or more Catalyst initiatives - not merely as "add on" events to your churches calendar, but focused efforts that help you move with God as He moves us.

Here are several key ways to do that:

• Attend your District Gathering this week
• Bring your whole staff and leadership team to pray with and for the county at the January When We Pray Gathering in Lake Zurich. WWP is our corporate time of dependence on God.
• Decide now to be a ShareFest 2008 church - email byaccino@catalystweb.org
• Mark your calendar for February 15th when Pastor James Meeks from Salem Baptist Church in Chicago will be with us at our next Catalyst All-County "Bonfire" Gathering.

One additional request would be for you to prayerfully consider becoming financial partners with us. We long to become more helpful to churches in our community and your gift(s) will be used to brag on God's goodness through the Church of Northern Chicagoland!

Serving Together,

Bill Yaccino, Executive Director, Catalyst

www.catalystweb.org

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reStart ~ A New Strategy in Chicago Church Planting

...An amazing story of New Life Community, Pastor Mark Jobe and what their church has done to partner with dying churches in urban Chicago. I’m inspired and excited…..this needs to be what is happening in all of our city centers. Mark had this video produced because he gets contacted weekly by churches in Chicago who are calling to find out if he’ll come and share this vision with their deacons and elder boards. AMAZING!!!!

http://sundaytown.com/media/restart/

Kyle Thompson
www.SermonCinema.org
www.ResonateFilms.com

o.918.695.8055 / c.405.513.1178

>• Type keywords in the "Search This Blog" box above
> Check out http://www.BlessYourBlock.org for a creative strategy to get your congregation out of their seats and into the streets ...
>• Receive periodic updates on new One Great City postings: Email phil@nppn.org / Subject: OGC Updates