The Evangel Dean Basic Training Resource Handbook

A PPENDIX • 143

The History of The Urban Ministry Institute

Reaching the cities of the world is among the greatest missionary challenges facing the Church today. Cities are growing rapidly, becoming more diverse, more divided, and increasingly unreached by the Gospel. • The number of city dwellers has grown rapidly, from 13% of all people in 1900 to 50% of all people today. • Ethnics in America communicate in 157 distinct languages. Numbering over 60 million (25% of the population), they are increasingly drawn to the city. • Of the more than 60 million people who live in America’s inner cities, 16 million are in poverty and over 90% are unchurched. • Traditional theological education is often inaccessible to emerging urban Christian leaders because it is: ~ Too expensive ~ Unavailable to leaders who have not completed high school or college ~ Irrelevant to the cultural experience of many inner-city churches World Impact has been sharing the Gospel in the inner cities of America since 1971. As a Christian missions organization, World Impact evangelizes and disciples the unreached urban poor, helping them form dynamic congregations which minister Christ’s love in the city. The Urban Ministry Institute is an important part of the way in which leaders from these and other churches can receive quality biblical training and be equipped for the task of ministry. The Urban Ministry Institute is led by experienced faculty who combine many years of missionary field experience with formal theological credentialing. Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis (B.A., Wheaton College; M.A., Wheaton Graduate School; Ph.D., University of Iowa) is the Director of The Urban Ministry Institute.

The Urban Ministry Institute is a non- denominational, evangelical training center devoted to equipping servant leadership for the urban church, especially among the poor.

Bob Stevenson (A.A., Pasadena City College; B.A., San Diego State University) is the Satellite Director of The Urban Ministry Institute.

In the summer of 1995, Don Davis and his family moved to Wichita, Kansas to start The Urban Ministry Institute. The Institute opened in