Global City Mission Podcast: Recent Episodes
Global City Mission Initiative
Regular reflections and conversations about the obstacles and emerging best practices of cross-cultural urban ministry. Visit our website to find out more at http://www.globalcitymission.org/
Joey and Chris talk about the 2022 International Conference On Mission (ICOM) and Why Cities Matter.
Join us as Chris and Joey unpack the previous episode on Cross-cultural Missional Inroads and continue the conversation about how to reach out missionaly in your community.
Join us as we look back to season one for another perspective on ethnography and reaching out cross-culturally in your city. This question of where and how to begin is one of the most asked questions we get.
Chris is joined by GCMI Executive Director Jared Looney to talk about Contextualization in ministry, how it shapes what we do at GCMI and how it can apply to other ministry contexts both in North America and around the World.
Chris and Joey continue the conversation about mobilization as we reflect on Joey's first year on the team and our first year of having an official mobilization team member.
Chris and Joey discuss what it takes to mobilize college students in 2022 for both full-time missions work and for ministry in general. This is a conversation about where we are at... feel free to join the discussion. You can email Joey or Chris to jump into the conversation. joeydurmire@globalcitymission.org or chrismarsden@globalcitymission.org
Check out the episode on Mobilization at https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/globalcitymission/episodes/2022-03-23T05_00_00-07_00
Join us this week as Joey and Chris talk about the word mission, what it means, what GCMI means when we use it, and why we do mission the way we do.
We're back from a summer of conferences, camps, and time with the family. In this episode, Joey and Chris catch us up on all the busyness and talk a bit about campus ministry, diversity in missions, mobilizing Gen Z and a new season of ministry and the podcast.
This week we talk to Gabe and Sarah Brazle about living in a global city and the challenges and joys they've had as a young married couple, parent to 3 children, and cross-cultural missionaries in the city.
Join us this week as Joey and Chris talk with Gabe Brazle about his experiences with GCMI in cross cultural ministry and his move to Philadelphia in 2019. This is part 1 or 2 with Gabe. Next time we are joined by his wife Sarah to talk about married life and parenting while learning how to be missionaries in New York and Philly. We are switching to a twice per month publishing schedule, so look for that next episode on June 15th.
Join Chris and Joey as they talk to John Lancaster, Senior Minister at Huntsville Christian Church, about his experiences with GCMI and seeing his city through the eyes of Jesus.
In this week's episode, we are introduced to Dave Smith. Dave is a member of our team in Phoenix. He has served associate pastor of Global Missions, Church planter, professor and now missionary. Dave shares a little of his story, gives us an update on what is happening in Phoenix, and offers his thoughts on how the local church and missionaries can support each other.
If you are interested in any of the resources that GCMI offers, please check us out at globalcitymission.org
Join us this week as Chris and Joey talk about getting equipped for mission and ministry.
Join us as we talking about missions training with a throwback to season 1, talking about making spiritual statements.
In this week's episode we are joined by GCMI partner and Director of Global Frontier Missions, Grant Haynes. Grant shares with us their mission training program, how ministries like GCMI partners with with them as well as offers advice for both missionaries and pastors to better work together. Learn more about Global Frontier Mission by going to globalfrontiermissions.org .
In this episode, Chris and Joey discuss what it means to engage in Catalytic Ministry work, what the word Catalyst means, and why that matters. Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LckhUpLadcc to see the YouTube video referenced in the episode.
In today's episode, Chris talks with GCMI Executive Director, Jared Looney, about Diaspora Missions. What does it mean, why does it matter, and what gets us excited about it?
In today's episode, Joey and Chris discuss the city of Orlando, Chris's history there, joining the GCMI team, and how to begin the process of opening your eyes to the diversity around you.
Chris is joined by GCMI Executive Director, Jared Looney, to talk about urbanization, global trends, and the impact on both GCMI and ministry around the world.
In this weeks episode Joey and Chris talk about Mobilization and why it matters, not only to GCMI, but to churches and ministries in your community.
In this Episode, Chris and Joey discuss Joey's new role with GCMI and how God opened his eyes to see his city as the mission field.
Welcome back to the Global City Mission Podcast. We talk about a new season of the podcast, a new season of ministry, and what we've been up to at Global City Mission over the last couple of years.
A new season of episodes are coming, March 9th!! New episodes will be out every Wednesday!!
Cross-cultural youth minister, Manny Dominguez, joins us again on the podcast to discuss what he wishes he had known starting out in ministry. Specifically he discusses the difficulty of metrics in ministry and the need to find and establish mentors.
Manny Dominguez joins us on this episode to talk about working cross-culturally as a Latino minister at a historically white congregation. He discusses his and his wife's experience of moving from their Dominican community of origin in NYC to Fort Worth, Texas and the important lessons about transition and church life that have accompanied their time working there.
Minister from Missions Resource Network, Andy Johnson, joins us again on the podcast to discuss lessons learned from 13 years working in Burkina Faso and through his families' transition back to the US. Specifically, he talks about learning how to manage expectations and transition both going to the field to make disciples and when returning home.
Longtime missionary to Burkina Faso, Andy Johnson, joins on this episode to discuss their team's work in participating in a church planting movement. Specifically, he addresses the lessons learned from developing leaders across cultural boundaries for a network of hundreds of churches planted through their efforts in West Africa.
Kyle Mills from Forefront Experience and Cory Ozbun of KC Underground speak in this episode about the most important principles and areas of emphasis when forming people for making disciples in long-term ministry. Specifically they speak about getting beyond training tactics and about healthy ways to set metrics when developing disciple-makers.
We are joined in today's episode (via phone recording) by Joe Reed of Exponent Group and Cory Ozbun of KC Underground to address the question "What is a Person of Peace?" And, more specifically, to discuss what this looks like in a North American context.
Today on the podcast we're joined by Courtney Schuler and Tyler Brittain, two of our summer interns in NYC. They discuss their experience of working for 8 weeks as cross-cultural evangelists in Queens and the learning they bring home from that ministry.
In this episode of the Global City Mission Podcast, therapist and friend of GCMI Missy Gray (LPC & LPA) joins us to discuss the topic of mental health in the mission field. She talks about both the emotional well being of missionary workers as well as how to know when we're out of our depth in a ministry relationship and when to make a judgment call about referring others to a mental health professional.
Theologian and spiritual director, Randy Harris, joins us again on the Global City Mission Podcast in this episode to discuss what he wishes he knew if he were to start over again in ministry. Specifically, he discusses how we might go about knowing which relationships to prioritize and how to evaluate one's own "success" as a minister or missionary.
Spiritual director and theologian Randy Harris joins us in this episode of the Global City Mission Podcast to discuss spiritual direction and formation for missionaries and ministers. He discusses major needs and obstacles in our prayer lives as well as how to begin establishing a contemplative practice for those who have no previous experience or guidance in that tradition.
Ben Langford - long-term African Missionary and now a professor of Missions at Oklahoma Christian - joins us again on the Global City Mission Podcast to discuss the priorities and challenges of teaching students who are preparing to enter the field as missionaries. Specifically, we discuss the importance of joining theology with methodology: which leads us to ask the question of not just "What works?" but "How do our beliefs about God shape us and our work?"
In this episode of the Global City Mission Podcast, teacher of missions and former African missionary Ben Langford joins us to discuss things he wishes he had known when he was starting out. Specifically, he discusses wishing he had better understood the difference between "the plan" for ministry and the unexpected moments open to embodying the gospel that - without the experience to see otherwise - can seem less "productive."
Following up on our last episode, today we are addressing the line between good contextualization - in which we adapt ourselves and our message cross-culturally in a way that clarifies what we mean to say about the gospel - with syncretism: a practice in which we blur the lines between what Jesus calls us to and a cultural element at odds with that message. We first work to define the difference between these two activities and then visit a number of practical examples GCMI's NYC team has experienced, all while asking the question, "Is this good contextualization or syncretism?"
When we are seeking to share the gospel, we never escape the issue of culture. Whether it is our own tradition and experience, or that of our neighbor, communication and relationship always occur through the medium of culture: so how we make decisions about our methods of proclaiming the gospel inherently involves discernment about contextualization. In today's episode we discuss some important questions to consider before we try and communicate Kingdom cross-culturally and some pitfalls missionaries fall into when thinking about contextualizing evangelism in urban ministry.
The missionary life is full of transition and change, and that can be emotionally taxing on workers and their families. In today's episode, we discuss a tool we call the RAFT, which can help missionaries reflect on and prepare for the change of moving contexts and more readily adapt to their next location- whether that be coming to/leaving the field, or transitioning to a new city to continue the same disciple-making work.
When we are developing others for ministry, especially in pursuing a disciple-making movement (DMM) strategy as we do at GCMI, it is critical that we form in both ourselves and others a reflectiveness and capacity for empathy. In today's episode, we discuss the tool, SASHET, that our team uses to help form this type of emotional intelligence among those we disciple in global cities.
Long-term missionary, ministry-team coach, and former president of World Team, Steve Miller, talks about things he wishes he had known if he were starting over in missions today. Specifically, he discusses the need to take a long-term perspective about field placement and personal development as well as the importance of developing one's own philosophy of ministry before choosing a team or work to join with on mission.
Long-term missionary and former World Team President, Steve Miller, joins us on the podcast today to discuss mentoring and coaching missionaries for the contemporary field. He shares about the ways that mentoring workers has changed with the newer generations of workers, and about helping missionaries learn to see the different placements and transitions in their work as stages of a life long journey on mission with God.
President of Missions Resource Network, Dan Bouchelle, discusses the things he wishes he had known starting out partnering with missions as a domestic church leader. Specifically, he talks about the need to develop leaders to take over the work of supported missionaries, and the need to be guided less by big picture structures and strategies than returning to the question "what does it mean to make disciples in this culture?"
Dan Bouchelle from Mission Resource Network joins us in this episode to discuss how the changing landscape of missions - due to forces like urbanization, globalization, and increased communication through technology - are changing what it means for individual churches to participate in missions and how individual missionaries fit into the larger mission of the church in the world. You can learn more about MRN and how they help equip churches and missionaries at their website: https://www.mrnet.org/
Reflecting on her long career in missions and in counseling missionaries both before and after they serve in the field, Dottie Schulz shares some of the things that she wishes she had known were she in the position of starting over again. Specifically, Dottie addresses the difficulty of missionary reentry and the struggle to feel relevant in connecting with a post-Christian culture.
Long-term missionary and counselor in missionary care Dottie Schulz speaks in this episode about the most common issues among cross-cultural workers and teams as they seek to stay healthy in ministry. Specifically, she addresses the importance of forming friendships outside of the official "team relationships" for missionaries, of learning to be assertive, to not avoid conflict, and the often overlooked value of having fun while in the field.
In today's episode, GCMI Catalyst Gabe Brazle shares from his own career in missions about things he wishes he had known starting out in ministry. Specifically, Gabe discusses the importance of realizing just how spiritually curious most people are, as well as the need to overcome the fear that we must be "experts" in order to begin sharing our faith with others.
NYC Catalyst Gabe Brazle discusses the ways in which working among Muslim people groups in Global Cities has expanded his view of both what evangelism is and grown his appreciation for how diverse a person's experience of Islam may be.
Often in ministry, we judge our own success based on the ideal outcomes of our missional strategies as they look on paper. But what are the likely results of pursuing disciple-making work in urban ministry? It has been the experience of our team that, from a strategic perspective, most relationships break down or "fail" at some point. In today's episode we discuss the various ways that DMM relationships can collapse and how to deal with this failure as a missionary.
As we at GCMI try to help new disciples mature into disciple-makers, we have to ask ourselves what qualities we desire to see in Christian leaders of new church movements. In today's episode we discuss a tool we use in our work - the Training Wheel - to help form the kinds of listening, discerning, and vision casting abilities that equip new believers to become mature leaders of disciples who make disciples.
In today's episode we continue our discussion about Discovery Bible Study (Episode 11) by looking at how we have ongoing spiritual conversations after our initial evangelistic interactions and how we can tell the difference between a person who is only interested in spiritual things and a person who might gather others to begin a new house church group.
When we gather groups of spiritually interested people, the first tool we utilize at Global City Mission Initiative is Discovery Bible Study (DBS). But what is a DBS and why is it advantageous in cross-cultural urban missions? In today's episode we discuss the structure and strategy behind DBS and give some stories from using it recently in our disciple-making work.
In today's episode, GCMI Director Jared Looney shares from his own career in missions about things he wishes he had known starting out in ministry. Specifically, Jared discusses the importance of learning how to manage our own anxiety and insecurity as new missionaries and how to set ourselves up for gaining healthy perspective from our failures and hardships.
In today's episode GCMI Director Jared Looney discusses the strategic advantage of planting missionaries in Global Cities, and what opportunities globalization and immigration present for the American Church.
It is important when making disciples and planting churches that we as workers not neglect our own interior lives and practice. But what are some tools and rhythms that might help us remain accountable and help keep both us and our teammates healthy and grounded? In today's episode we discuss a couple of ways our GCMI team tries to create a working culture which prioritizes spiritual health. You can find more information about the tools discussed in today's episode at the links below.
Enneagram: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions/
Spiritual Pathways: http://common.northpoint.org/common/sacredpathway.html
If we want to learn about our diaspora neighbors' culture deeply enough to make informed ministry decisions, then one of the most important skills for us to develop is that of asking good ethnographic questions. In today's episode we discuss some of the pointers GCMI missionaries recommend in building this ability and we suggest some of the important questions to consider as we grow in our learning of a culture.
If we are looking to do incarnational ministry in a cross-cultural setting, we need to know where we begin to learn about our neighbor's culture in a way that helps us to start building a missions strategy. In today's episode we look at four questions about starting cross-cultural ministry in your city: How do we know where to go? How do we know who to talk to? How do we know how to talk? And how do we know what to say?
How do we, as evangelists and ministers, move from being the primary teacher and director of new disciples and move into a position that allows new believers and pre-believers to discover for themselves the answers to their most pressing questions? In today's episode, we look at some examples of taking a "discovery based" approach to studying the Bible with others, and reflect on the importance on not always trying to have an answer to people's questions about scripture.
There is a temptation in ministry for the professional worker to always be at the center of everything going on in the church. In today's episode, we discuss some principles for becoming a better catalyst to the growth and development of a disciple making ministry.
What do you wish you had known when starting out in ministry? GCMI strives to be a pioneering ministry, which means we make a lot of mistakes. Here are some of the things our New York team wishes they had known before beginning making disciples and planting churches in the city.
How do we take the everyday conversations that are happening around us and begin to use those as a foundation for sharing the gospel with others? In this episode, we discuss the evangelistic skill of "making spiritual statements," and share stories about several different missionaries trying to insert Gospel content into their normal interactions in their cities.
After reviewing both the evangelistic practice we see Jesus utilizing in the Gospels and common evangelistic practices we have observed in Urban ministry, we suggest a new approach to sharing the gospel that GCMI catalysts have been experimenting with in cities around the world.