Urban Discipleship Articles
Practical, field-tested thinking and experience on discipleship, mission, and what it means to partner with God in the city. Written by practitioners from across the global learning community focussed on the unique challenges of the urban harvest field.
Why One Big Church Isn't the Goal (And Neither Is Being the Expert)
Many assume a movement needs two things: a congregation that keeps getting bigger, and a leader sharp enough to answer every question. What if both are getting in the way?
Drawing on years of seeing faith communities multiply across West Africa, Younoussa Djao asks what it would look like to measure fruit in generations rather than size, and to trust ordinary people’s stories over our best arguments.
I Thought This Wouldn't Work Here
A movement leader and catalyst confesses how he initially dismissed movement principles that he felt would not work in his context, and how God proved him wrong.
He then shares a key principle - how asking for help can open the door to disciple-making - and how Jesus’ choices at a well in Samaria reshaped how he approaches the harvest.
The Low-Hanging Goal: Cultivating a Culture of Mutual Blessing
Everyone loves the idea of unity, but the devil is often in the details.
Ryan suggests some ‘low hanging’ ways to move toward existing churches and harvest movements as teammates, each carrying a different part of the same assignment in our cities.
Perhaps living out unity can be simple.
The Fields Are Dead Because We Stopped Planting
A young man stranded in Kabul told the missionary who'd spent weeks with him: "I really like your Jesus, but I can't stand you."
That line has stayed with Marko for years — and it gets at a potentially uncomfortable reality. The lack of harvest in our cities may not be from a lack of care or vision. It may be because we never stopped to ask what we needed to become.
What If You Don't Need to Start Something New?
I need to tell you about something that shook me during our last gathering in our city.
What shook me was not someone sharing a revolutionary new strategy, but because I finally saw what was already there.
Who Is Qualified? An Ordinary Person's Guide To Kingdom Impact
God has an army. The army is not made up of pastors, professors or theologians, but it is filled with ordinary people … like every single one of us.