Foundations for Christian Mission, Mentor's Guide, MG04

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F O U N D A T I O N S F O R C H R I S T I A N M I S S I O N

The following questions were designed to help you review the material in the second video segment. In this section we considered three claims about the city’s importance in mission in the 21st millennium. First, cities are the seats of influence, power, and spiritual activity in the world today; through urbanization and immigration, they are also becoming the magnets for the world’s oppressed, broken, and poor populations. Lastly, the Scriptures make plain that the city is the definitive and final picture and symbol of our spiritual destiny and inheritance. These reasons provide a clear rationale for a concentrated and strategic outreach to the cities of the world. Review the central ideas surrounding these reasons through the questions below. 1. List out the three reasons to show why urban mission must be a priority for all mission activity today. Of the three, which one do you believe is the most compelling reason ? Explain your answer. 2. What part did the city play in the ministries of Jesus and the apostles? What role did Jerusalem play in their Kingdom advancing work? How did the Christian message spread through the Roman empire, how was this illustrated especially in the journeys of Paul? 3. What part did the following great centers of the Roman empire play in the advance of the Gospel in the early Church (e.g., Damascus, Antioch, Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, and Rome itself)? 4. How do the problems encountered in the ancient cities of old compare with the opportunities and problems we encounter today in the modern cities? How do cities today vary in size, scope, influence, and population? In what sense can we say that the modern cities “serve as the national and world centers of government, education, health-care, information, entertainment, trade, commerce, business, industry, jurisprudence, the military, and religion?” 5. List out the various categories that anthropologists use today to identify cities. List the characteristics of the following categories, with definitions and examples of each: cultural cities, political and administrative cities, industrial cities, commercial cities, symbolic cities and primary cities . 6. In the modern world what is causing such great numbers of the oppressed, the broken, and the poor to migrate to urban areas? In what sense can we say that urbanization represents “the most powerful characteristic of modern times?”

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Student Questions and Response

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