Encounter God in the City: Onramps to Personal and Community Transformation [Paperback]

Randy White (Author), Raymond J. Bakke (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2006

God is at work in the city. And he invites his people to join him. But the city is not merely a mission field for Christians to target. The city is also the environment where Christians are discipled and lives are forged into the image of Jesus. Urban ministry veteran Randy White shows how God transforms you when you answer God's call to the city. Urban life peels away your sin and self-deception and challenges your unexamined assumptions about privilege, race, class and power. Experiential discipleship moves you from abstract theory to hands-on learning and on-the-ground action, revolutionizing your perspective and making a difference in local neighborhoods and beyond. Passionate and practical, White's vivid narratives of experiencing God in the city show you how your spiritual health is intertwined with the health of the metropolis. Seek the welfare of the city, and both you and the city will be transformed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An unforgettable trip to real life in Fresno to see how Jesus uses real people to make a real difference. Essential reading for anyone who wants to see God's dreams come true in the city. Randy compellingly weaves stories from the streets with stories from the gospel and provides insightful guidelines for those who want to discover how God might want to use their mustard seeds in the city." (Tom Sine, founder and director, Mustard Seed Associates, author of Joining God's Conspiracy and Living on Purpose, )

"Cities are to be loved. Living, learning and loving the city makes a huge difference in personal transformation as well as ministry. Randy White's Encounter God in the City is biblical, practical and full of beautiful stories. An important read for all followers of Jesus." (Dr. John Perkins, founder, Christian Community Development Association, and Rev. Dr. Wayne Gordon, president, Christian Community Development Association, and pastor, Lawndale Community Church, Chicago )

"Encounter God in the City is a road map to becoming an apostle at the intersection of love, pain and hope. Randy White has captured the bittersweet beauty of mutual transformation that comes in serving. Years of experience living among those he serves invest his words with power and give his insights an incisive edge, cutting to the quick of urban dysfunction. This book is both uplifting and hands-on practical--a must-read for anyone who wants to live out their faith authentically." (Barbara J. Elliott, author of Street Saints: Renewing America's Cities, and founder of the Center for Renewal, Houston, Texas )

"What a wonderful book. Many people are talking about transformation these days; Randy White shows us what it looks like with his roots planted in the soil of his neighborhood. This kind of transformation removes the distance between object and subject as it changes both partners. I am already making plans to use this in my teaching." (Jude Tiersma Watson, Team Director, LA InnerCHANGE, and Associate Professor of Urban Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary )

"Randy White takes us on a mind-opening journey once again, this time onto the challenging and transformative pathway of discipleship in the context of the city. Based on his years of living in and studying the urban context, White distills in a manner not found in any other book I know the power of the written text in understanding his own transformation, even as he facilitates and nurtures a similar transformation among young adults and others seeking to appreciate and encounter God in the complex and often chaotic sociocultural landscape of the city. This book would interest anyone who is grappling with the question of what it means to be a disciple of Christ in our world today. Encounter God in the City is a must-have book in particular for those who are responsible for mentoring or leading others into a full embrace of and by God. White does us all a great service by not only sharing his story but providing tangible examples and tools for transformation." (Michael A. Mata, National Director, Tools for Transformation, World Vision, U.S. )

"There is a redemptive art to urban ministry. It is the art of storytelling--taking the mistold tale of human existence and retelling the story from the perspective of the love of God. Anyone desirous of seeing this redemptive art in practice should read Encounter God in the City. This book is a must read for theological faculty in our seminaries. It is a how-to manual in contextual theology and experiential education. It is a must read for practitioners of ministry in the city who are serious about learning how to be agents of transformation, and a must read for all Christians who are not afraid of being surprised by a joy that calls them to holistic ministry in an urban world. It has become a must read for all of our students." (Dave Frenchak, President, Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE) )

"Randy White paves the road for us to enter the Story that begins in the Garden and ends in the City. Here is a gentle invitation to participate in the healing of broken lives and cracked sidewalks, and to practice resurrection in the abandoned places of the empire." (Shane Claiborne, founding partner of The Simple Way community in inner-city Philadelphia, and author of The Irresistible Revolution (thesimpleway.org) )

"From living in cardboard boxes for a week to running computer schools among the poor, Randy White overflows with options for following Jesus into our cities." (Miriam Adeney, Associate Professor of Global and Urban Studies, Seattle Pacific University )

"I've been waiting for Randy's book for years. Here we have the broken heart and quick mind of an urban practitioner-scholar, calling God's people to believe they can embrace the urban poor for Christ. His journey and that of his family are really an 'every-believer' model. We can all do a part of this, even if not the whole. Thank you, Randy." (Lon Allison, Director, Billy Graham Center, Wheaton College )

"Randy White knows that the Spirit of God was active in the inner city long before he and Tina got there. . . . The Whites know what incarnation means, to live vulnerably while hungering for righteousness and seeking shalom, the justice and peace of God." (From the foreword by Ray Bakke, founder, International Urban Associates )

"Urban ministry has a strange, fleeting glamour that draws lots of outsiders for lots of different reasons but seldom holds them long. The ones who stay do not romanticize the poverty which surrounds them, but they do come to love it--the way Randy White loves it--for the many ways it reveals their own poverty. What Randy has learned better than most, however, is to also love his neighbors' strength and goodness, and to allow them to make him a better man. In these vital, practical, inspirational pages, he shows the rest of us that most excellent way." (Bart Campolo, founder and chaplain, Mission Year )

"Randy White takes us to the mean streets of urban America and uncovers there treasures of the kingdom hidden from the natural eye. Years of firsthand experience living in the 'hood give him rare insights into the surprising ways God can be discovered among the disenfranchised of the city. In candid, sometimes painful self-disclosure, he invites us to look into the unlovely faces of the broken and catch glimpses of the mystery of the Christ who said 'inasmuch as you have done it unto (cared for) the least of these you have done it unto me.'" (Bob Lupton, urban community developer, author of Theirs Is the Kingdom and Renewing the City )

About the Author

Randy White directs Bakke Graduate University's international Doctor of Ministry Degree focusing on transformational leadership for the global city. He is the founder of the Fresno Institute for Urban Leadership and was InterVarsity's national coordinator for urban projects for more than a decade, overseeing projects in 30 American cities. Randy and his family live in Fresno, CA, the city with the highest level of concentrated poverty of any large city in the U.S.. For the last 16 of those years, they have lived in Fresno's highest crime, highest poverty neighborhood, once called the Devil's Triangle, pursuing God's shalom kingdom there through relational, urban ministry and community development activities.

Raymond J. Bakke is chancellor and professor of Global Urban Studies at Bakke Graduate University, headquartered in Seattle, Washington. He is a former executive director of International Urban Associates in Chicago, Illinois.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: IVP Books (September 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830833897
• ISBN-13: 978-0830833894
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #761,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling! White is a story teller, October 30, 2006

By 

Scott B dot (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Encounter God in the City: Onramps to Personal and Community Transformation (Paperback)

Randy White is an amazing story teller ... and he has lots of stories to tell. As a "relocator" moving from suburban affluence to inner city poverty, White talks eloquently about the power of the city to teach us - about ourselves, about others and about God. What's more, he examines in some detail not only how you might draw personal lessons from urban America, but how those in ministry can leverage the urban experience to bring transformation. This is a great book on pedagogy for anyone who considers themselves a teacher. More than that, it is a very personal account of how White and his family regularly encounter God in the city.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening, Encouraging, and Challenging, October 28, 2008

By 

Danny Crosby "On Mission Christian" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Encounter God in the City: Onramps to Personal and Community Transformation (Paperback)

Randy White does a great job of painting a picture of ministry in the urban setting. God has certainly transformed his life through his ministry to the inner city of Fresno.

He certainly has a heart for the people God has placed him with to serve. It comes out in his defense of the urban existence, immigrants (legal or illegal), and the need for social reforms. I would disagree with some of his social activities where he might get a little too political, but I applaude his heart to be an advocate for his people.

The only real negative thing I would say is that this book can make one feel somewhate guilty if they are not serving in "the city". There is no doubt that suburban, rural, or small town ministry does not have some of the daily crime and issues the city deals with, but it certainly comes with it's own challenges.

Everyone can gain an appreciation for urban ministry by reading this book. Some may even sense a call to go to an urban setting. All of us should pray for our cities and they truly as trendsetters for the world.