Courses Offered by Keystone Urban Institute

Each course is also available in seminar form.

Each course (except “Internship and Field Study) will be fully self-contained and need no prerequisites so that a student can enter at any point in the cycle. 

A presentation entitled, “The Urban Frontier” will provide an introduction to the challenges and significance of urban ministry for any student entering the program.

I.  Contemporary Approaches to Urban Ministry

Contemporary approaches to relief work, community development, and racial reconciliation will be observed.  The class will examine approaches to church outreach / evangelism and urban church planting.  The heritage of Wesleyan urban ministry will be briefly surveyed, and principles drawn for modern application.  The student will move toward constructing a biblical, personal, and contextual philosophy of ministry for the modern urban environment. 

II. Issues of Urban Poverty and Christian Economic Community Development

The student will study causes of poverty, the culture of poverty and dependence, philosophies underlying relief work, data from the government welfare system, urban education data, and housing data.  Goals of the class are understanding the urban inner-city economy (including sources and circulation of income and the “escaping urban dollar”), facing the challenge of funding sustainable ministry among indigent populations, applying the principle of Christian fellowship to material needs, and exploring means for a local congregation to create its own economy.

III. The Church in the Inner City

The student will learn to apply a biblical theology of the church as presented in Ephesians and Colossians to allow the power and wisdom of God to be revealed as God intended, in the local body of Christ.  Goals include seeing the church as God’s answer to the needs of the individual and the world, seeing how the essence of the church will take different forms in different places, and understanding why inner-city church planting will have special challenges.

IV.  Christian Mission in Postmodernity

The student will understand the present challenges of the church to present scriptural truth in an age when many doubt the validity of reason and the existence of absolutes.  The influences of pluralism, humanism, and multiculturalism will be explored.  Implications for evangelism and discipleship will be discussed.

A sample lecture CD is available.

V.  Internship and Field Study

The student will be engaged in urban ministry for six weeks in a specific role that matches his/her aptitudes and also research a particular aspect of urban conditions / ministry methods.