by Thomas Scarborough

The name Ray Bakke is synonymous with urban ministry. "I want to tell stories", he says, because it is stories which "helped revolutionize my theology of the city" (Bakke 1997:11). Many such stories, today, are told in urban ministry blogs (web logs). With this in mind, the purpose of this article is to introduce the top 7 such blogs (the writer's own is placed at no. 4). A brief description of each blog follows, including: its name and location, focus and style, and author and frequency of updates.

No 1. Urban Onramps (http://urbanonramps.blogspot.com/). Its base: Pasadena, California. Its focus: Christian non-conformity, with an emphasis on economics. Its style: a no-frills blog with diverse observations. Its author: Rudy Carrasco of Harambee Christian Family Center, Pasadena. Updates: this blog migrated nearly three years ago, to the successful http://www.onramps.com. Nonetheless, it remains at no.1.

No. 2. Larry James' Urban Daily (http://larryjamesurbandaily.blogspot.com/). Its base: Dallas, Texas. Its focus: issues facing low-income residents of US inner cities, from a Christian perspective. Its style: well presented, with expansive commentary and personal perspectives. Its author: Larry James of Central Dallas Ministries. Updates: daily.

No. 3. St. Paul Urban Ministry (http://stpaulurbanministry.blogspot.com/). Its base: St. Paul, Minnesota. Its focus: Christian ministry among the youth of the Hmong people. Its style: first-person accounts and photos from young people who have been touched by the ministry. Its author: just Gary. Updates: every month or so.

No. 4. Urban Ministry Live And Unplugged (http://thomasscarborough.blogspot.com/). Its base: Cape Town, South Africa. Its focus: a window on urban ministry in Cape Town. Its style: fragments on an eventful ministry, with commentary and photos. Its author: Thomas Scarborough of Sea Point Evangelical Congregational Church. Updates: daily.

No. 5. Do U C What I C (http://www.christopherbennett.blogspot.com/). Its base: the USA. Its focus: urban ministry theory and praxis among youth and young families. Its style: a personable mix of insights into urban ministry, with erudite analysis. Its author: Chris Brooks, National Coordinator of UrbNet. Updates: every few days.

No. 6. Gospelcom Buzz (http://www.gospelcom.net/buzz/). Its base: the USA. Its focus: a network of 300+ Christian ministries working to spread the Gospel online. Its style: includes many indexed contributions from several organisations, on a wide range of Christian issues. Its author: Gospelcom Alliance. Updates: daily.

No. 7. Rick Warren's Ministry Podcast (http://blog.pastors.com/). Its base: Lake Forest, California. Its focus: a place for pastors to dialog about issues, providing insight, wisdom and best practice from experience. Its style: professionally done, a companion to a weekly podcast which is recorded live. Its author: Rick Warren. Updates: every week or two.

Urban ministry, notes Andrew Davey, is of crucial importance today. Within this decade, over half the global population will live in urban settlements. This is the church's "urban challenge", he says, for reason that we live in one of those special periods of history when the faith is being taken into unfamiliar patterns of social life (Davey 2002:5).

Bibliography:

Bakke, R., 1997. A Theology as Big as the City. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press.

Davey, A., 2002. Urban Christianity and Global Order. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.

How were the top urban ministry blogs selected? The method was admittedly a rather unscientific one: the writer, on 15 October 2007, Googled "urban ministry blog", and surveyed the seven blogs which topped the list.