Nellie's Life

What better place to look than at Jesus when trying to understand how to approach the cities. Jesus traveled to “about all the cities and villages of Galileee. That would be an area twenty-five to thirty miles across in both east-west and north-south directions. There were more than two hundred cities and villages in Galilee.” (130) Jesus started in the city and with time He had reached all the way to the countryside. Jesus did not go to the countryside itself but through His message in the city it soon reached the countryside from word of mouth. As we always say in class so goes the city, so goes the country. It sounds as if Jesus already knew this stradegy in his time. This is a great reminder that when looking for ways to help the cities, the best place to look is the bible. It has the answers to the many questions that face our society today. Even before our time people were dealing with the same struggles we face today and Paul and Jesus were very good examples of how to go about solving these issues.
Paul had a interesting approach to missions. He was creative in his ministry and he never approached a city the same way twice. I find this very intriguing and helpful for myself in developing my own mission strategies. When my new roommates and I first arrived in Atlanta we needed to find a way to get to know the people in our neighborhood we were placed into. We tried to find creative ways to get to know people. The first week we made about 100 cookies and brought them in bags to our neighbors who we have seen around or had met already. We also had just moved in so there were things we needed to borrow, so we would go and ask one of our neighbors if we could borrow something. We found many ways to arrange interaction with our neighbors in order to build many lasting relationships. Our main task was to get into the city and feel around for a bit and figure out the best way to approach our ministry based on their needs. I feel this is very similar to the way Paul approached his ministry as well. Once again I feel the best place to find the answers to how to go about how to do ministry can be found in the bible. Barnabas would be another prime example of how to do ministry. He was considered a healer, he felt and acted on his feelings. He had a way of showing God’s grace to others. This is a wonderful gift to posses when dealing with urban people or any people because when first finding Christ the person needs to understand God’s grace or else they will get very discouraged and feel extremely guilty.