Urban Ministry Program

Making Disciples who Make Disciples in the Urban Context

The Urban Ministry Program is a training program to equip people to make disciples who make disciples in the urban context. Urban communities vary from council estates, to cities, and increasingly consist of a variety of classes and ethnicities.

People want to be better equipped for making disciples in urban areas, but are often met with the following challenges:

Most courses in the UK are written from a white middle class perspective. These don’t always translate well in our urban communities, where white middle class is not the majority culture.
A lot of us involved in urban ministry cannot afford training.
Going away to seminary, removes us from our neighbourhoods and churches, and often even changes our culture, in a way that makes it harder to reach our communities (we lose missionary power).

The UMP is designed to be affordable, local, and specifically tailored for urban ministry. There are 4 levels to the program:

Level 1: Free online Legacy (2013) training videos (with optional paid for hard copy workbooks).
Level 2: Facebook group for discussing ideas learned on course.
Level 3: Webinar Courses - Specific topics taught in interactive webinars, where people all over the country can learn together, and from each other. In September 2022 we are running two courses:
1. UMP Lite, which is a cut down version of the Legacy (2013) Urban Ministry Program, and
2. Studying & Teaching the Bible in the Urban Context (which is a new & improved version of our legacy modules ‘Exegesis’ & ‘Teaching the Bible’).
Level 4: Coaching/Consultancy - One to one zoom coaching in preaching or consultancy/supervision sessions.

Class of 2013

What kind of training do you need for Urban Ministry?

Gospel centered,
Bible focused,
theologically rigorous,
culturally aware,
church based,
contextualized training,
in an urban environment.

Level 1: Free online Legacy (2013) training videos

Biblical Theology Systematic Theology/Discipleship Exegesis
Teaching the Bible Urban Mission Greek for the Street

UMP Workbooks as well as Discipleship, Music and Worship resources can be ordered online via our Order page

Level 2: Facebook group

This is a closed group, which is open to anyone who has ordered and used Urban Ministries resources. Here we discuss anything to do with urban mission, particularly how to apply what we have learned on the Urban Ministry Program. If you haven’t yet received an invitation to join this group, but have used UM resources before, please contact us.

Level 3: Webinar Courses

In September 2022, we are starting two different webinar courses, 1) UMP Lite & 2) Studying & Teaching the Bible in the Urban Context.

UMP Lite:
This is an updated, but also a cut down version of the Legacy (2013) Urban Mission module. The course is one evening a month. Each month, you are sent a 30 min video to watch, and a workbook section to fill out. We then meet up on zoom for one evening to discuss the topic in a group. There is a total of 7 sessions which cover:

Multi-class/ethnic church,
How the Gospel Spreads across cultures,
Ethnocentrism & how different cultures think,
Self-Theologising,
Contextualizing the church,
Preaching to multiple cultures,
Urban Discipleship.

We have now run 3 cohorts of the UMP Lite and found that it benefits a wide variety of people of various academic ability (from those without any formal qualifications to those with doctorates), so everyone should feel comfortable on this course. Please contact us if you are interested in this course.

STUDYING & TEACHING THE BIBLE IN THE URBAN CONTEXT:
This a new & improved version of our legacy modules ‘Exegesis’ & ‘Teaching the Bible’. As well as updating the content with new insights, and producing higher quality videos, we are using a new exciting format of learning: The course is one evening a week (taking 1-2hrs work each week). The weeks alternate between a) homework consisting of watching a video and doing exercises, and b) having a zoom discussion with Duncan and the rest of the class. Students will choose a passage of Scripture to study and teach. Duncan will give feedback on their exegesis, as well as through the different stages of sermon writing and delivery. Along the way, there will be particular sensitivity to the issues that arise in the urban context, as well as an emphasis on preaching to the heart. By the end of this course, students will be able to study and preach a Bible passage with minimal notes.

This course consists of 2 modules:
Exegesis module Tues 7:30-8:30pm 6th Sep – 20th Dec 2022 (25th Oct = Half Term); and
‘Urban Preaching to the Heart’ Tues 7:30-8:30pm 10th Jan – 27th June 2023 (Holidays on 14th Feb, 4th March, 11th March, 30th May).
Please contact us if you are interested in this course.