Urban Ministry and Social Networks

CONTENTS

Foreword vii
Acknowledgements ix
Preface xiii
Introduction 1

THEME 1: URBAN LIFE
CONNECTING AND DISCONNECTING WITH STRANGERS
1. Connecting with Strangers 5
2. They Are Well Connected: Bridge or Egoist? 35

THEME 2: URBAN GROUPS
NEW FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS ARE COMING
3. Connected People Become Groups 53
4. Is the Old Wineskin Enough to Change Urban Groups? 73

THEME 3: URBAN SPACE AND TIME
STEPPING INTO UNFAMILIAR PLACES FOR RECONCILIATION
5. Re-Read the Urban Narratives 91
6. Crossing Over Your Boundary for Reconciliation 115

THEME 4: URBAN FLOWS
GOOD NEIGHBOURS TRANSFORM THE CITY
7. Promotion or Failure? Flows to Get Urbanites Moving 141
8. A Good Samaritan on Wall Street:
In-Betweenness at the Flow Channels 163
Closing Reflection to Missional Challenges and Opportunities 181

Bibliography 191
Index 205

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Enoch Jinsik Kim earned his PhD at Fuller Theological Seminary. He worked with Muslims in China for 16 years. He is currently full-time Associate Professor of Communication and Mission Studies and Chairperson of the Korean Doctor of Global Leadership Program and the PhD-Intercultural Theology Program at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is a member of HOPE mission and serves as an associate pastor in ANC Onnuri church. Selected publications include Mission Strategy in the City (Pickwick) and Receptor-Oriented Communication for Hui Muslims in China (ASM Monograph Series).

To understand God’s concerns in our cities, this book examines four social anthropological themes: urban people, urban groups, urban time and space, and urban flows. All four of these themes are both causes and effects of changes in social networks. Changes in social networks have brought about tremendous changes in urban society and in the lives of urban people and their communities. The social network approach helps believers discover what God expects of the urban church and how urban Christians should live to fulfill that expectation, recognising the new opportunities that the God of Missio Dei has already provided around us for urban ministry. In addition, this work provides a theoretical foundation for reading the threats and challenges that changes in social networks pose to the urban church.

Christians struggle for guidance on how best to minister to their urban neighbors and Enoch J. Kim addresses this by providing some deep insights for understanding social structures and networks within the city, reminding us that the Gospel flows through people and their relationships. This is a timely and strategic book. May it be put to good use.
Grace R Dyrness, DPDS, Chair of the Oxford Center for Mission Studies, USA Board

This book is bubbling over with urban sociological and urban anthropological insights that will press missiologists, missionaries, churches, and Christ-followers to better understand, love, and bear witness to their cities to and from the ends of the Earth in anticipation of the coming reign of God.
Amos Yong, Professor of Theology & Mission, Fuller Seminary

In his latest work, Dr. Enoch J. Kim once again shows his deep understanding of the urban landscape, born of years of mission experience. His analysis and examples provide a roadmap for other urban evangelists and church planters. Moreover, his framing of mission as "re-connecting the disconnected" offers a new paradigm for mission today.
Kirsteen Kim, PhD, Paul E. Pierson Professor of World Christianity, Associate Dean for the Center for Missiological Research, Fuller Seminary