a blog by Keelan Cook
A little over a week ago, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled, "Rural America Is the New ‘Inner City’." As the title suggests, the article is a feature piece that does a winsome job telling the narrative of urban renewal and rural demise. It relates the dilemmas now occurring in America's rural areas.…
Continue reading ➞ In the News: Rural America Is the New ‘Inner City’
Today, I want to draw your attention to another research article from the Brookings institute concerning migration in the United States. Notice I said migration, not immigration. Of course, this article deals with the latter, but there is more going on that foreign-born people moving into the US. Instead, this article compares two very important…
Continue reading ➞ In the news: Where immigrant growth matters most
I learned a new term this week: vacation move. A vacation move is when a person or family picks up and moves to another city but has no intention of staying in that city long term. Vacationer movers pack up their life and head off to another city, most often because it sounds like a…
They are calling it global fluency. In a recent article from Brad McDearmon of the Brookings Institute, he discusses the city of Columbus, OH and their recent training by the Global Fluency Institute. The purpose of this training is to help cities become more "culturally competent and globally fluent, allowing them to successfully interact with…
Are you planting a church or a worship service? Some of you may be offended that I even asked that question. Odds are, you will see and agree with the dilemma I propose in this article. Others may not understand the distinction I just made, and this is for their benefit. Too often, I watch…
Continue reading ➞ Are we planting churches or worship services?
I recently ran across a quote I would like to share concerning the significance of global cities in the mission of the church. It is from Jared Looney, who wrote Crossroads of the Nations: While it is unlikely that this status will remain static, global cities such as New York City, London, Tokyo as well…
Continue reading ➞ Global Cities: The Roman Roads of the 21st Century
We need better ministry methods in our cities. There is a lot of talk out there nowadays about cities. Everyone, including me, is quoting that statistic about half the world's population. Fresh calls come forth regularly for a focus on our cities, and they need to. We do need to be working in cities, and…
Gentrification is a buzz word today. I know I talk about it quite a bit (See: here, here, and here), and if you are paying attention to the conversation it is a regular topic for church planters and ministers in bigger cities across the country right now. Yesterday, the Atlantic posted an interesting article on…
Continue reading ➞ In the News: When ‘Gentrification’ is Really a Shift in Boundaries
This past week, the Economist ran a significant article on the widening gap between cities and rural areas in the United States. If you are in ministry, in either setting, then this is important stuff to know. America is in the middle of serious transition, and this will increasingly affect the way ministry is done in…
Continue reading ➞ In the News: The Great Divergence (of Rural and Urban)
We talk a lot about cities nowadays, and we should. The world is now more urban than not, and that does not look to change any time soon. The Great Commission is increasingly an urban mission. That being said, I think some of the language we use at times to showcase the importance of…
Continue reading ➞ Urban Missions: The Suburbs Still Matter Too, You Know
