Crayons for the City: Reneighboring Communities of Faith to Rebuild Neighborhoods of Hope

by Kevin R Yoho, Raymond Bakke (Foreword)

When a fire severely burned a small boy and displaced his family, it left lingering marks on the entire neighborhood. As a community pastor, Dr. Kevin Yoho not only witnessed the visible signs of despair but also came to understand the pain hidden in the flames. He will be your guide as you step outside your organizational structures through the practice of what he calls reneighboring. Crayons for the City is about training leaders to be a new kind of community network engineer who will realign their organization's priorities, resources, and values to serve the public good. It's a story about how one community of faith improved the lives of hundreds of families by taking a walk across the street with fresh expressions of the good news. How do leaders grow and change--from holding on to ineffective ministry models to building new connections of grace and gratitude? The journey is not an easy one for most. Crayons for the City starts with the reader's own context and offers a new methodology of how to engage it. Awaken your own capacity to change the world. All you need to begin is this book and a box of crayons. FOR THE BACK "Crayons for the City is a practical, inspiring, insightful example of how a traditional church in a troubled urban neighborhood can become 're-neighbored' and have a transformative impact on its community. Decades of creative, front-line urban ministry give Kevin Yoho the credibility to speak convincingly and correctively to the church in the city." --Bob Lupton, veteran urban activist; founder of FCS Urban Ministries; author of Toxic Charity, Charity Detox, and Theirs is the Kingdom "This book is a must-read for anyone with a burden and vision for new hope for the city. Kevin Yoho uses his extensive experience in church and community leadership to offer fresh ways to breathe life into our aging and marginal urban neighborhoods. He shows how congregations and other groups, through intention and design, become 'strategic neighbors,' offering real relationship, genuine encouragement, and real hope to those who have gone too long without it." --E. Stanley Ott, President Vital Churches Institute "It is much easier to duplicate and replicate than to incarnate, but Kevin Yoho's engrossing Crayons for the City is a showcase exhibit on how to move from franchise church to artisan church. Yoho's love for the city and its people beams on every page as he traces the local-color particularities that lead to the universal principles." --Leonard Sweet, author; professor (Drew University, George Fox University, Tabor College); founder of preachthestory.com FOR THE FRONT "Kevin Yoho gets it. Crayons for the City gets it. The book tells the story of one pastor's commitment to reconnect a struggling urban church with its struggling neighborhood in ways that transformed them both. It also invites readers to do something similar in their own way, in their own location. The book is filled with practical insights and wisdom, undergirded at every point by a profound theology of love and hope. --Dale T. Irvin, President and Professor of World Christianity, New York Theological Seminary Kevin R. Yoho is a regional leader and pastor in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and serves on its national board. As a builder of spiritual networks, an urbanologist, and an educator at the intersection of theology and technology, Dr. Yoho believes that every worshipping community, regardless of its religious or theological context, must deliver measurable community impact. A consultant and speaker, his writings have been nationally published.

278 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 3, 2017

Reviews

[Kevin Yoho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi,
As the author of this book, I have a special connection to its content. I will leave the editorial review and comments to others. This book is written for those who care about kids in the communities they live in whether as a parent or any number of connecting roles such as community leader, focused on community development, involved in a faith based organization, or government or NGO.

However you engage this story, I hope it becomes your story, too, bringing hope to kids in our urban neighborhoods!

All the best,
Kevin Yoho
Author, Crayons for the City