Urban Ministry Cohort | Fuller Seminary

Urban Ministry

Winter 2028
Application Due: October 1, 2027

Overview

The complexity of the urban context requires theological depth and the ability to formulate and contextually apply a relevant and robust urban biblical theology. In this cohort, we will seek to gain experience in engaging in a social cultural analysis to understand the nature and context of urban ministry.

Analysis of the social context will move us towards the formation of a relevant urban theology. Through biblical analysis, spiritual reflection, and communal discernment we will move toward a theology of urban ministry that will provide the foundation for impactful engagement with complex urban systems. We will study how the practice of an urban pastoral theology is a fulfillment of the pastoral office and the ongoing work of the urban church. We will affirm that contextualized urban ministry transforms both the congregation and its community, and therefore requires informed, intentional leadership.

Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate an understanding of the social-historical development of cities and the relationship between the church and the urban context.
Identify skills necessary to engage with methods and practices of social-cultural analysis leading to contextualized theological reflection.
Develop a biblical theology for urban ministry.
Apply an ethical framework to assess the role of the church on issues in the urban context.
Understand why and how healthy urban ministry and congregational leadership is accomplished through communal discernment and spiritual reflection.

Schedule

Year One: Race and Ethnicity in the African American Context (16 units)

Winter 2028: Reading and Seminar Course (Jan–Mar); In-Person Seminar (6 units, online with in-person intensive in Pasadena, Jan 31 - Feb 4, 2028
Spring 2028: Academic Research and Writing Course (Mar–June; 4 units, online)
Summer 2028: Integration (June–Sept; 6 units, online)

The landscape of American society and American cities is rapidly changing. With the changing face of American cities, there is an increased need for awareness and sensitivity toward the issue of race and racial reconciliation within church and community leadership. This course explores the history and current reality of the American church through the lenses of race, ethnicity, and culture, paying particular attention to the obstacles and gaps present in much of the evangelical landscape. We will examine the role of the theological imagination in the formation of the race question. We will explore the necessity of a renewed theological imagination to bring reconciliation and justice into the urban context.

Year Two: Toward a Theology of Urban Ministry (16 units)

Winter 2029: Reading and Seminar Course (Jan–Mar); In-Person Seminar (6 units, online with in-person intensive in Pasadena, Jan 29 - Feb 2, 2029
Spring 2029: Doctoral Project Proposal Course (Mar–June; 4 units, online)
Summer 2029: Integration (June–Sept; 6 units, online)

The complexity of the urban context requires theological depth and the ability to formulate and contextually apply a relevant and robust urban biblical theology. In this course, we will seek to gain experience in engaging in a social cultural analysis to understand the nature and context of urban ministry. Analysis of the social context will move us towards the formation of a relevant urban theology. Through biblical analysis, spiritual reflection, and communal discernment we will move toward a theology of urban ministry that will provide the foundation for impactful engagement with complex urban systems. We will study how the practice of an urban pastoral theology is a fulfillment of the pastoral office and the ongoing work of the urban church. We will affirm that contextualized urban ministry transforms both the congregation and its community, and therefore requires informed, intentional leadership.

Year Three: The Practice of Urban Ministry (16 units)

Winter 2030: Reading and Seminar Course (Jan–Mar); In-Person Seminar (6 units, online with in-person intensive in Pasadena, Jan 28 - Feb 1, 2030
Spring 2030: Integration Course (Mar–June; 6 units, online)
Summer 2030: Doctoral Project (June–Sept; 4 units, online)

We will explore the relationship of ethics and theology to community building and transformation in the urban context. We will discuss a systems approach to address the structural complexities of cities, particularly as pastoral leaders in the urban context. We will emphasize practical ministry skills that reflect social, cultural, and historical analysis, as well as thoughtful biblical and theological reflection. We will give particular attention to the practices of faith-based community development, community organizing, and the development of beloved communities of faith as approaches to the church’s role in the spiritual and social transformation of the urban context. We will examine how a leader’s own cultural, ethnic, gendered, and economic lenses impact both spiritual and community leadership. We will also assess how leaders can keep themselves spiritually formed, connected in community, wise in relation to systems and power active around them, and healthy in order to avoid burnout and to sustain their ministries for the long haul.

Instructor

Soong-Chan Rah joined Fuller’s faculty in 2021 as the Robert Boyd Munger Professor of Evangelism. Prior to his appointment at Fuller, Dr. Rah served as the Milton B. Engebretson Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary.

He holds a ThD from Duke Divinity School, with a primary field of study in theology and ethics and a secondary field of study in American evangelical history. He also holds an MDiv and a DMin, with a concentration in urban ministry leadership, from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, as well as a ThM from Harvard University, with a thesis on the immigrant church.

Rah has authored or coauthored over a half dozen, and many award-winning, books including The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity, Many Colors: Cultural Intelligence for a Changing Church, Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times, Return to Justice: Six Movements that Reignited Our Contemporary Evangelical Conscience, Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery, and Forgive Us: Confessions of a Compromised Faith.

He is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church, and a member of the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education, American Academy of Religion, and American Society of Missiology. He has spoken widely on the topics of the witness of the church, cross-cultural ministry, and social justice at academic conferences, seminaries, Christian colleges, local churches, denominational gatherings, and ministry conferences on both the domestic and global level