I want to use this space to begin talking about my experiences and lessons learned in planting a church in a highly urban setting
How do you know you are an urban ministry…
- Only 25% of your crowd own vehicles. When the majority of your congregation relies on public transit to get around it has a significant impact on how and where you do ministry. Ministry locations are determined based on transit access. One of the challenges with this is those who own vehicles often become taxi drivers for others.
- Geography matters. People live, work, shop and play in smaller areas of the city, and they rarely venture beyond their neighbourhood except perhaps to work if they must. If possible, everything they need is within walking distance from their door. It could be a day trip to travel 10 miles.
- Spaces are small. Multi-family dwellings may be 400-600 sq ft, so small group gatherings tend to be small too when people may not have much seating. If a couple of people can’t make a small group meeting there may not be many people there at all then.
- Security is tight. People are very aware of where they are and concerned about who is around them. If things are not locked up, chained down, barred over it is likely to disappear.
- Everyone is a stranger. You are surrounded by lots of people you do not know and you learn to look beyond people and not “see” others. If someone does not look you in the eye, you don’t exist to them. Many people tend to be lonely even though they are surrounded by people.
church planting notebook 