| Richmond
District Urban Ministry Initiative
Implementation
Richmond District congregations have been invited to
engage in a 3-month time of prayer and discernment from
December 2005 – February 2006 regarding the areas of the
urban ministry initiative they would seek to engage with
and support.
On February 25, 2006,
workshops relating to nine focus areas of the urban
ministry initiative was held in conjunction with the
presentations by Chris Rice of Duke Divinity School’s
Center for Reconciliation. Ministry teams from district
churches and other conference attendees indicated at
these workshops their interests in and support of
particular ministries. Responses to the urban ministry
initiative are being coordinated through United
Methodist Urban Ministries of Richmond (UMUMR), now
focusing on four primary ministry areas.
To support and coordinate
the four primary ministry frameworks (feeding, education
through mentoring, affordable housing, and jobs/job
skill development) UMUMR is implementing a nationally
recognized model for community development: Communities
of Shalom (http://new.gbgm-umc.org/about/us/cim/programs/shalom/).
UMUMR is also developing
the first of its kind program – Council for Creative
Urban Ministries (CCUM) – to connect and organize local
Communities of Shalom and their various partners into a
regional ministry effort bridging across Richmond to
create a city of shalom
http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=4258.
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