Thriving in the City: A Guide to Sustainable Incarnational Ministry Among the Urban Poor

by T. Aaron Smith, Viv Grigg (Foreword)

What does it mean to live in an urban poor slum or inner city for twenty years? What does it take to raise a family there, and to find God's love and peace in the most challenging neighborhoods? In Thriving in the A Guide for Sustaining Incarnational Ministry among the Urban Poor, T. Aaron Smith helps new leaders to answer that question for themselves. Smith integrates the voices of 100 incarnational leaders who have made the choice to live, to work, and to raise families within urban poor communities. He adds twelve years' worth of stories from his own ministry in Manila, Philippines to create a thoughtful, narrative-based reflection guide to different decisions and strategies that could help many leaders to stay longer and minister more powerfully in their uniquely challenging contexts. Smith leads the Servant Partners team in Manila, Philippines, where he serves as a founding leader of Botocan Bible Christian Fellowship. He also directs the Transformational Urban Leadership program at Asian Theological Seminary in Manila, and is the lead instructor in Servant Partners’ Global Urban Training School, Foundations. He earned a Masters of Divinity from Asian Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry from Bakke Graduate University in Seattle, Washington. Aaron and his wife, Ema, and their sons, Zach and Ezra, continue to live and serve among the urban poor.

224 pages, Paperback

Published December 17, 2015

Reviews

[Robert Munson]

Part instruction, part biography, Smith seeks to help the reader understand Incarnational and Holistic missions to the urban poor and destitute. The book shows the wonders of what God can do in communities where hopelessness seems to reign. He focuses on his and his team's work in Balic-balic and Botocan in Metro Manila. However, Smith shares the realities of this work making it clear that it is NOT for everyone. Strong recommendation.