Church Planting Among the Urban Poor by Efrem Smith

It seems that you can go to just about any inner city in the United States of America and find the same interesting dynamic. Many cities have communities that are considered the most afflicted when it comes to crime, poverty, education, and other areas. These communities tend to be close to the downtown of the cities, which in many cases is at some point on the journey of gentrification. At the same time these communities tend to be filled with churches.

Some of the worst communities in our American cities have churches on every corner. There are all sorts of churches from Black Churches to Korean Churches, and from Pentecostal Churches to Catholic Churches. If you want a lesson on the history, diversity, beauty, and challenges of the American Church come to the inner-city of a major metropolis and get your Church lessons. The suburbs are not the central context for understanding the history, present state, and future of the Church in the United States, the city is.

After the Church had a significant exodus from the city in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, it's now become the cool, missional thing to return to the city. Evangelicals are now coming into the city the way they were venturing into the wilderness to build camps in the 1940s. I'm actually glad they're coming in general, but will it change anything in a major way?

We already have churches on every corner and multiple churches on the same block. Do we really need more urban churches? Yes, if we embrace the need for urban church planting that is committed to Kingdom advancement among the urban poor in a way that leads to indigenous ministry leadership development. Keep reading