Urban Leadership Foundation

The Wanganui Story^[60]

The Wanganui story is built on the foundation of almost 160 years of mission enterprise and church establishment.  A significant revival of God among the Maori people occurred from 1830-1850, with thousands knowing and worshipping the Lord.  In recent years the Wanganui council of churches, comprising lay Leadership and pastors, sought to develop inter-church cooperation, but it has now lapsed.

In the late 1980's a group of like minded pastors met weekly for prayer.  The "Rise Up" movement some 5-6 years ago catalyzed City Intercessors, an interdenominational group of prayer warriors, who met weekly.  This group has identified spiritual principalities, local historical areas of conflict, and current needs.  They have a mobile and powerful ministry of breaking down demonic strongholds, cleansing through repentance, spiritual authority and anointing,  They continue to be a significant and powerful prophetic group.

In 1990 it became obvious that a closer relationship was needed between pastors and churches for Kingdom advance - the goal being to take the city.  Stages in this strategy have been as follows:

A cluster of like minded churches meeting together for Christian celebration.  This continues.  Some events have been; Palm Sunday celebrations, Marches for Jesus; public witness at local AMP shows; SPUC street witness and so on.

Recognizing the need for shared vision based on closer personal relations and trust, the pastors have met together in the form of retreat.  Phase one involved an initial prayer breakfast, followed by a series of three afternoons during the first year when:

·        each pastor shared their own spiritual journey and thankfully affirmed the evidences that God was building in their local church (Matt 16:18).

·                    the second meeting isolated areas of concern and division in our corporate work. Confession and prayer followed.

·                    the third event asked how the command of blessing in Ps.133 could become a reality, this resulted in the covenant of cooperation, which every pastor has been encouraged to sign.

 To continue to foster Kingdom advance an Annual Retreat is held.  Gordan Miller, of World Vision, in the first event highlighted the possibilities.

The second meeting isolated and confirmed the characteristics of inter-church cooperation which were defined as follows:

·              The breaking down of prejudice.  We need to be verbalizing trust and dealing with issues that divide us (Psa. 133).

·              Entering into partnership with each other in mission strategy and striving to maintain unity.

·              Documenting the prophetic journey.  This involves gathering and recording the Prophetic words, explaining to newcomers what God has done so far, and enrolling them in the cause.

·              Foster emerging city eldership, the need to recognize godly men and women.

·              The development of intercession e.g. City intercession and prayer concerts.  As we learn to intercede together for the city, God will bless and give direction.

·              Discover the profile of the city at all levels and discern how best to advance the Kingdom, commissioning a Church Growth and City Survey. 

·              Deliberate networking of ministries. Let us play to each others strengths rather than compete.

·              Continue to cooperate in major events.

At the same time Youth Pastors and leaders have been meeting regularly to share and pray.  Compile a statement of cooperation and isolate areas and strategies to penetrate the youth culture.

The challenge before us is to develop a Christian strategy to penetrate the city for the Kingdom of God.  The following are some components to be addressed:

·                               A closer relationship, partnership and trust between pastoral Leadership.

·                    The development of a second phase of lay Leadership, sharing the same vision.

·                    The discovery of strategy for the bicultural nature of our society.

·                    A particular strategy to develop a saturation of the whole city at every level with the gospel (Acts 19:10).

·                    An understanding of the current state of the Christian church in this city and how local congregations can complement this ministry.

An evident stirring among Christians for combined mission venture is an indication that the Spirit of God is moving amongst us.  We are grateful and are believing God for the conversion of key leaders in all levels of society.  It is evident that:

·                    We must discover and reach hidden peoples, we are now a mission field context.

·                    We must rediscover pioneer principles.

·                    Recognize we are entering a post-denominational era where Christian city events and the strategy and fellowship of nearby Christians becomes more significant in mission than our individual denominational activities.  Functional unity seems to be a priority.

We must understand the dynamics of spiritual warfare on a city-wide scale and through repentance, servanthood, intercession and cooperation challenge the enemy on every front.  We are at War!

 As this was written, a major confrontation occurred between the two main ethnic groups that live in New Zealand, the Maori and the Pakeha (descendants of the British), as a group of Maori took possession of a public garden to protest violation of a treaty concerning their land.  The night before the intercessors had been praying for this land.  As the protest continued, the pastors were deeply involved as advisors and intercessors to leaders on both sides of the dispute, the reconcilers of the city.  At a combined church service of some 25 churches, 800 Christians stood to commit themselves to a ministry of reconciliation in a divided city.

Mexico City  - Vela     
    Unity and Strategy Based on Research

 

        The Urban Ministry
       Center Of Bombay
       A Centre as  Source of Unity

In 1985 Rev. Viju Abraham covenanted to pray regularly with three other Bombay pastors for their church and city.  These four had seen that the church in their city faced two massive problems.  (1) How to reach all the ethnic groups of their city with the gospel of God's grace in Christ.  (2) How to demonstrate the love of Jesus to those in need by both word and deed.  In a City that includes a vast array of people groups and whose population is predicted to reach 17 million (70% of which will be shanty town dwellers) by the year 2000, these problems will have no easy solutions.  As the prayer meetings progressed the number of participants grew from 4 to 60 and a plan of action presented itself in the form of the Urban Ministry Center.

Training, Research and Networking.

The goal of the Urban Ministry Center is to stimulate and assist the churches of Bombay to carry out their evangelistic mandate.  This assistance is a stool which rests upon three legs.

First there is training, which is done through seminars and school courses in local churches.  A video about Bombay entitled "City from the Sea" has been prepared by the Center and is used in these seminars to help the residents of Bombay feel good about their city and Christian ministry within it.

Secondly there is research done on the city and the people within it by the Urban Ministry Center, sometimes with outside help.  Information generated by the research is kept by the Center for use by the Christian community.

Finally, the Center encourages networking among churches and agencies presently at work in Bombay with a view to encouraging the spiritual and the numerical growth of the Church in Bombay.

It is to be hoped that ministry centers such as this could begin in each of the major cities of India, and that such metropolitan study centers throughout Asia and the world could link up for mutual instruction and cooperation.  Although this dream is yet to eventuate, it is certainly an idea whose time has come.

Project Brussels '91    
    A unified Evangelistic Strategy

Johan Lukasse^[61] was used to praying 'Lord, Bless Brussels'.  But he was shocked when God answered ... "I am willing to bless Brussels.  When are you going to start?"  Suddenly he realized how complex, confused and how large a place Brussels really was.  But, God had spoken.  He began to visit colleagues, pastors in the city, leaders of churches of different denominations, and discovered that they all felt that yes, this was God's time for Brussels.  They decided they must reach the city before '92 - when Western Europe was scheduled to open its internal borders and move toward unity.

Beginning to work together

In 1989, a small group met together and agreed that it was God's initiative to make a strong, united effort to reach everyone in the city with a clear presentation of the gospel, but that no one church / parachurch organization could accomplish this.  Together they began to see Brussels as God sees it.  They were moved with compassion and a willingness to work together.  Eventually a set of guidelines was worked out so that everyone would feel safe in cooperating.  "Cooperation in Project Brussels '91 meant that;

·                    Each church or organization was to keep its identity. 

·                    Each church or organization was to respect the other's identity.

·                    Collaboration was to be limited in time and substance to the goals of Project Brussels '91.

·                    By coordinating efforts they would have an impact on all levels of the population."

After their initial meeting they chose a group of 11 people - called the Coordinating Committee - from both churches and parachurch organizations.  A monthly prayer meeting and a Friday morning meeting started, open to all the churches.  Particularly in the Friday meeting, "God started to move among us.  He gave us love, and soon a number of reconciliation's occurred."

A Statement of purpose

As more churches and organizations accepted the vision as their own, a clearer statement of purpose was seen to be needed.  This is what was developed.  "Through Project Brussels '91 we expect to reach the following goals: 

·                    to reach each inhabitant of Brussels with the presentation of the gospel given in their own language and appropriate to their own background; 

·                    to bring together individuals, churches, and parachurch organizations;

·                    to advance church growth and mobilize members; 

·                    to have a home bible study in every neighborhood of Brussels by January 1992." 

Along with this, there was a general realization of responsibilities to the poor, and that it would be impossible to preach Christ to them unless mercy was also showed them.

 3 Point plan to reach the city

The next struggle was how to reach the city.  Eventually a plan with three prongs emerged:

·                    An inventory was made of what churches wanted to do in evangelism in '91.  The Project Brussels team would encourage and motivate them and ask them to carry out their plans under the collective, 'Project Brussels '91' banner, using the same logo and similar presentations in advertisements, invitations and publicity.  In this way there would be a greater collective impact.

·                    Hand out attractive, well presented packages to everyone in Brussels.  Each pack would contain one of the gospels, a brochure explaining the gospel, several challenging articles geared to a secular, philosophical, scientific mind-set.  There was a simple presentation for children, a response-card with different options and the first lesson of a Bible Correspondence Course.  The material was in a variety of different languages.  They were presented as a gift from the evangelical Christians of Brussels.  They were well received, even by Moslems.

·                    The third principle was labeled specific activities.  During 7 months of Project Brussels more than 100 concerts and 200 open air meetings were organized.  There was great variety; preaching, drama, children's activities, sports, youth rallies, barbecues, and rock concerts.  Each organization contributed something out of its own expense.

 

As the year progressed, the people of Brussels became aware of what was happening and started talking about it.

 

Research

To discover how to reach Brussels more effectively, some research was done on the 'mission force' and the 'mission field'.  The results strongly indicated that not everybody could be reached using the same gospel presentation.  So different task forces were organized to plan different approaches for the various groups identified.  The group studying how to reach the poor discovered that there are many kinds of poverty, so they formed even smaller task forces - one to reach prostitutes, one to reach refugees, one to reach the homeless.  Another task force wrestled with the problem of approaching politicians.   Members organized dinners and made cultural presentations.  They invited chamber music groups to play in the homes of some ambassadors.  "It was a remarkable experience seeing God provide our needs with people from different churches and organizations.  Our multiple presentations of the gospel almost matched the cultural, racial and religious diversity in Brussels."

 

Follow Up Work

Churches were asked to claim a part of Brussels where they would be responsible for the ongoing presentation of the gospel to those who had shown some interest.  It was suggested that interested people be invited to home Bible studies called discovery groups.  These became halfway houses leading to the church where people could feel at home, ask questions and express  doubts and reasons for what they believed.

Evaluation

·                    The unity that was achieved has to be considered a success, given the all prevailing anti-God, anti-Christian mentality of Brussels.

·                    At least 40 people appear to have made genuine commitments, with 100 indicating some kind of decision.

·                    37 discovery groups got going, some with 15-20 people, some with 2-3.

·                    Despite well planned follow-up, many churches and individual Christians were too slow to pick up on peoples interest.

·                    Research from the churches was too slow in arriving, at least while mutual trust was building.  When the information arrived it was too late to use as Project Brussels was in full swing.

·                    Overall, the outcome was considered positive.  Each home received a literature package.  670 people wrote in some kind of response, 45 people completed a quiz and received a Bible or New Testament.  Phone calls came in - most positive.

·                    A number of new ministries sprang up.

·                    Moslems responded much more positively than was dreamed possible.  After a second visit, 40 of them invited people back to their homes to discuss the Bible or to compare the Bible to the Koran.  Some became Christians.

Christian Love Link
      A Network of City Churches Helping The  Needy

 Jeannie Hay, wife of the then Mayor of Mt. Roskill,  wanted to initiate some work for the poor in her city.  From ringing the World Vision office she found out about Love Inc., that operates in U.S.A.  Using this idea she set about establishing Love Link among the churches in Mt. Roskill, Auckland. In the five years since it was set up, it has expanded to 24 Affiliates throughout New Zealand, involving almost 400 churches.

What Is Christian Love Link?

Love Link does not in itself provide direct services to people in need.  Rather, it links people willing to help with those who are in need.  Needs are referred to Love Link by pastors, community agencies and by direct client contact.  Next Love Link analyzes the nature and extent of the need, and whether it is legitimate.  It then identifies the helping resources.  These helping resources do not just include the churches.  Love Link is aware that there are already many agencies operating for specific needs, such as the Department of Social Welfare, Meals On Wheels, church foodbanks, legal, medical, psychiatric and spouse/child abuse agencies.  So rather than doubling up on services, they use them.

Church Involvement

Help that can be provided by church members is passed on to a church coordinator in the vicinity of the person in need.  The coordinator then allots one of the members to help the person.  Church members find the tasks they are called on to do are -

·                    Specific - the helper knows exactly what s/he is being asked to do;

·                    Manageable - the helper knows s/he is able to do it;

·                    Genuine - the helper knows the need has been verified;

·                    Local - the person in need lives in the church neighborhood.

e.g. 1) A family rang needing two comfortable single beds as sore backs were a real problem in the household.  Almost immediately, someone living in very close proximity to the needy family rang in donating two single beds.

e.g. 2) When a missionary family moved base back to N.Z. they were in dire need of household furniture.   Love Link swiftly provided much of what they needed (including a T.V. which Love Link subsequently provided someone to fix when it broke down!).

In this way, Christian Love Link mobilizes the Body of Christ to help those in need in their neighborhood.  In the secular context of New Zealand, this gives a major opportunity to break through social barriers which are the biggest hindrance to effective communication of the gospel.

Colorado Springs  
    The Mega Church and Evangelism in the City

When Ted Haggard arrived in Colorado Springs in 1985,  it was a city known as being a pastors graveyard.  Ten years later, Colorado Springs is known as "The Evangelical Vatican," home of 80 Christian ministries and hundreds of life giving churches.  What caused the change?  In his book Primary Purpose, Ted Haggard outlines some principles he uncovered during this city's transformation.

Prayer and Fasting

Prayer and fasting was soon a feature in his initial church of 25.  Through prayer God gave them a vision for their city, he led them to pray that:

·        the resources of their city would be used for global evangelism

·                    their city be a place of refuge for Christian families

·        people would be exposed to an understandable presentation of the gospel

·                    churches would continue Biblical understanding with a fresh flow of the Holy Spirit.

They soon realized that God's plan for their city was bigger than what one church or pastor could do, and that their church was to be a catalyst for a larger vision.

 Their prayers were not passive:

·        A group experienced in prayer warfare confronted the spiritual powers of the city.

·        Each week every church member was given 5 names, from the phone book - and prayed for them.

·        Prayer was offered for businesses (that they prosper and be blessed) and for other churches (that they be growing life-giving churches).

·        Government workers and the police were prayed over.

·        Church members would go to places where people congregated and pray silently for those they saw.

Prayer and the Primary Purpose - Evangelism

Christian prayer always diminishes the influence of demonic powers - over individuals and over the city, and it stimulates the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  When the spiritual climate of the city is changed, the Kingdom of God can be manifested with greater effectiveness leaving the way open for mass conversion and life giving church growth.

When Colorado Springs churches distributed the JESUS video door to door throughout the city,  70% of the homes accepted the tape - as compared to a national average of 30%.   Several churches made a practice of having 30 second television and radio advertisements over Christmas to encourage people to Christ.   Methodist, Nazarene, Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran and Pentecostal counselors all manned the response phones.  In 1986, 4,932 people called with approximately 700 making first time commitments to Jesus.

Healthy attitudes prevail in the Midst of Evangelism

With adequate prayer evangelistic efforts became very effective, and in the midst of prayer and evangelism believers automatically focus on their primary purpose, and mutual respect in the body of Christ increases.  So evangelicals, charismatics and Bible-believing liberals all respect each other, leaders of churches genuinely enjoy one another, strained relationships heal and long-term friendships develop.

Principles for Partnership With Other Churches

·                    Focus on the Absolutes of Scripture.  All Christians embrace the core absolutes -- that Jesus Christ is the truth, and that the Bible is the written expression of absolutes.  But we differ widely on our interpretations of scripture and even more widely on the deductions we make from passages.  We must not confuse the absolutes with our interpretations or deductions.  Inside each church there should be the full practice of what they believe, but outside the walls there must be a focus on absolutes.

 ·                    Promoting the Ministry of Christ and His Word Above Our Own Method or Mission.  Churches must not promote themselves and their method of doing things above other churches (e.g.. Best Bible teaching, best choir, etc...)  Their aim must be to breach the cultural wall between church and world, always promoting Jesus above themselves.  If the efforts of one church cause the number of converts to rise in another church as well this is to be greeted with joy.

·        Pray to Raise the "Water Level" of the Holy Spirit's Activity in Your City.  The water level is the percentage of a city's population in life giving churches on a Sunday morning.  If a church concentrates on their own growth only, they must be careful not to focus on transfer growth but on conversion growth.  A mega church will be unable to sustain its own hugeness if there is not a rising level of church attendance throughout the whole city.  When churches pour their evangelistic resources into a defined geographical area it is possible for them to see the rising "water level."  This benefits all the churches within that

" When we start to pray in terms of raising the water level, it confuses demonic resistance and opens the door to greater manifestations of God's Kingdom.  It also helps us realize that other peoples successes are not a threat because as the water level increases in the region, our own ministries will increase as well.  It's obviously a win-win situation."

·        Appreciate One Another's Respective Interpretations of Scripture.  Churches have the same primary message but they differ greatly in style.  The differences should be celebrated.  People will always prefer the style of one church above another.  The primary purpose does not require every church to reach every person, instead God requires churches to reach specific groups effectively. 

 ·                    Practice Supportive Speech and Actions Toward Others.  This includes respecting those in spiritual authority, being prepared to like those you disagree with and always looking for the good you can do to other churches.  It is important to be servant-minded bearing in mind that the Christian leader is called to serve their congregation not Lord it over them (see Phil 2).

Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation
Institutional Transformation

 Vision, Mission and Goal

Vision: That one day Pittsburgh would be known as "A City for God"

Mission:  To make the vision a reality, the PLF's mission is to encourage the whole church to take the whole Gospel to the whole city.

Goal:  To mobilize the collective body of Christ to take the Good News of forgiveness, reconciliation, healing and hope to all the people of South-western Pennsylvania, focusing particularly on the poor, vulnerable and broken.

 History

The PLF had its roots in the 1950's with a Christian ministry to business people.  This combined with 'Young Life" a ministry to youth, in the 60's.  Towards the end of the 60's several other leaders began to catch a vision for making Pittsburgh a "City for God."  They combined to found the "Pittsburgh Offensive," the name being a reference to the major battles that needed to be waged against poverty, loneliness, brokeness and sin in all its forms.  Several new ministries developed but eventually it was decided that the vision and  movement needed an instrument... one that could develop financial and human resources to empower and serve the people of Pittsburgh - the Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation.

Today

The PLF listens to the "cries of the city" and envisions and develops resources needing to claim Pittsburgh as a "City of God."  From this standpoint they have developed a clear sense of the principal areas of need in the city and are able to act as catalysts to energise organisations and individuals to bring positive changes to Pittsburgh, its institutions and people.  They are particularly committed to:

·        empowering and being empowered by the church

·        supporting para-church organisations

·        working with other organizations

·        offering proactive Leadership

·        implementing initiatives of national organisation

·        networking with other cities

and have a special focus on children and youth, the poor,  others who are vulnerable, at risk or marginal in our society.

Projects

The PLF has direct responsibility for fund-raising, administration, supervision, accountability and legal aspects for its projects.  These projects include:

·        Coalition for Addictive Diseases.  The coalition includes more than 100 organisations who represent a broad section of the community's health, religions, social services, business, labour, education and communication sectors.  The coalition has created and implemented a chemical dependency unit for adolescents, had a major media/outreach campaigns and sponsored major conferences and training events on chemical dependency.

·        Church Leadership Development.  It's goal is to provide services necessary to improve its creative and operational effectiveness of churhes.

·        Labor-Management Prayer Breakfast.

·         Pittsburgh Jubilee.  A holistic community development program which provides Leadership to uplift Pittsburgh's poor by improving their accessibility to quality housing, healthcare, employment, child and family development.  Jubilee is not a charity but an investment in restoring wholeness to people with broken lives.

·        Pittsburgh Youth Network.  This is a coalition of more than 300 churches and youth-serving agencies.  It provides Leadership, training, education, mentoring, camping, special events and service opportunities for thousands of young people each year.  The result of the activities is the nurturing of young people to a deeper personal faith and commitment to Jesus Christ, to active membership in the church and to obedient service in the world.

·                    Prayer Ministry.  The purpose is to encourage people to continue in steadfast prayer for the ministries and people of the region.

Affiliates - No separate legal standing

·                    Dale Craig Ministries.  An Outreach effort to Young People

·                    New Hope.  New Hope deals with the many issues regarding AIDS, including reaching out with compassion to those with AIDS/HIV and facilitating understanding in the church and general public and creating networks to pray for AIDS related issues.

Membership Organisations - Began by P L F but now they have separate boards and legal standing

·        Pittsburgh Coalition Against Pornography.  Founded to protect human dignity and oppose those who would victimise men, women and children through pornography.  Its primary goals are to:

o       call for enforcement of existing obscenity laws

o       raise public awareness about the  effects of hard-core pornography

o       facilitate the passage of new obscenity legislation when necessary

·        Pittsburgh Leadership Endowment Fund.  Responsible for generating planned gifts to assure the continuation and expansion of PLF ministries. 

Associates

These were begun by P LF, but it now serves in an advisory, supportive and servant-oriented role

·                    Centre for Urban Biblical Ministry.  Serves the church in the minority and low-income communities by equipping urban leaders for more effective ministry.

·                    East Liberty Family Health Care Centre.  Serves inner-city neighbourhoods with whole person primary health care.

·                    Family Ministries.  Providing education and counselling for couples before and during their marriages with the purpose of creating strong relationships within the family unit.

·                    Lydia's Place.  A neighborhood-based aftercare program for women released from prison.

·                    Salt Works.  A non-profit professional arts organisation that is committed to creating and producing theatre programs that address the physical, social, spiritual and emotional needs of youth in America today.

·                    Urban Partners.  An integrated urban youth ministry that provides approximately 60 young people each year with a Christian opportunity for growth and development.