Welcome to "Discipling the Urban Harvest"

By S. Crawley

Photo by Pat Whelen on Unsplash

Welcome to "Discipling the Urban Harvest"!

At Urban Wheat Singapore (formerly Praxeis Singapore), we are part of a global learning community that believes God wants to work in our cities in new and profound ways.

We hope this series of articles will empower and inspire urban harvest workers and their teams across the region and globally. 

Each post will introduce an idea, a tool, a Scripture or a mental model that has proven helpful for harvest workers, leaders and catalysts we have trained and coached. We will also include reflection questions to help you and your team draw practical value and application towards your own context.

This post introduces our vision, the people we serve, some key concepts that undergird our thinking and practice, and the objectives we have in writing this blog.

This post sets the scene. We’re not completely sure where this will go, but future posts will be oriented towards practitioners who desire to actively and continuously apply and grow.

Our Vision

God's ultimate plan is to heal and restore Creation under His loving authority. Everything He does works towards this purpose. 

He invites each of us to take our place in His family as beloved children and accept His invitation to join Him in the things He is doing within our hearts, families, neighbourhoods, and cities. 

Methods, roles, and giftings are diverse, but God's vision is clear, profound and way bigger than any of us.

"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea."

- Habakkuk 2:14 (ESV)

We believe that God invites us into a relationship with Him that will express itself in at least three ways:

- An ongoing journey of personal growth and trusting obedience as children of the Father

- Serving the community (or communities) He has called us to and placed us in

- Discipling others who are hungry to have their own relationship with God - helping them grow in 'listening' to Him, trusting Him and obeying Him.

Who We Serve

These articles are intended to serve three distinct, but overlapping audiences.

1. Followers of Jesus with a burden for the brokenness and the harvest field they see around them. They may carry a (holy) dissatisfaction with the status quo. They believe God wants to do more in and around them than they currently see. They want to be involved in discipleship and reaching out to others - helping them experience a dynamic and vibrant walk with God.

2. Leaders and Servants with a burden for the broader harvest around them. They want to see the knowledge of God’s glory cover their cities like waters cover the seas, and disciple others so they, too, can disciple others. They know they can’t do it by themselves and are mobilising, serving and empowering others who share their conviction.

3. Those wrestling with the Urban Challenge. They recognise the unique social and spiritual challenges posed by cities as we seek to love God, join Him in His work, and love our neighbours. They recognise that current approaches are insufficient for bridging the gap between our current reality and what God has said He wants to do. They are looking for conversation partners as they wrestle with Word, Spirit and their context.

Key Concepts

In "Discipling the Urban Harvest," we expect our discussions will revolve around concepts such as:

- Replicable Discipleship - can grow and spread wherever it is planted. It is discipleship with depth, substance, and endurance that does not depend on specialised resources, places, or people.

- Transparent and Authentic Spirituality - a walk with God that is solidly genuine and naturally visible.

- Urban Dynamics - cities pose unique challenges as we walk out our discipleship journey and help others engage with God.

- Urban Villages - cities are not monolithic. Within them are distinct social networks — communities bound by shared background, vocation, culture or experience. Learning to identify, understand and engage these 'villages' is central to effective urban mission.

- DMM (Disciple-Making Movement) is a wineskin that has been effective at helping natural social groups begin and maintain their discipleship journey. This wineskin is not a formula or a blueprint, but a helpful reference point for discerning how God is working in our own contexts. Practitioners in diverse urban settings are finding it useful as they wrestle with how to grow the Kingdom and empower discipleship in cities.

- Outreach and Evangelism - bringing good news to those most hungry for it.

- Integral Mission - God created and engages with the whole person and community. The work He invites us into is holistic and integrates every area of life.

- Movement Dynamics - Western individualism separates people from their social contexts. Jesus and Paul valued individuals but thought in terms of families and groups. We need to do the same!

- Coaching and Peer Learning - effective urban mission is not produced by experts dispensing knowledge from the top down. It grows through inside leaders being empowered, through teams asking better questions together, and through practitioners in different cities learning from each other's living laboratories.

Our Commitment

In "Discipling the Urban Harvest," we are committed to:

- Providing Practical Insights: Offering actionable tools, suggestions and strategies to help you navigate your spiritual journey and ministry.

- Encouraging Growth: Inspiring you to grow deeper in your relationship with God and become a disciple worth imitating.

- Supporting Community Engagement: Equipping you to effectively serve the needs and brokenness of whichever urban spaces and groups God has called you to.

- Replicating Discipleship: Helping you disciple others in a way that empowers them to disciple others, multiplying the impact of God's kingdom.

Join Us on This Journey

We invite you to join us on the journey! The goal of this article series is to stimulate discussion, innovation and breakthroughs for and with practitioners engaged in the urban harvest internationally. Our intention is to facilitate learning together, as peers, from what God is doing in different contexts. Reach out to us if that vision resonates with you!