Jonathan Brooks is the pastor of Canaan Community Church in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood and the author of the forthcoming book, Church Forsaken: Practicing Presence in Neglected Neighborhoods. He is a community developer, hip hop artist and Chicago city director for Mission Year. Jonathan grew up in Englewood on Chicago’s south side, moved away, and eventually returned to build community. Together with […]
Dr. Mark Mulder is professor of sociology, adjunct professor of congregational and ministry studies, and director of the urban studies minor and at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He teaches classes on church and society, diversity and inequality, and urban sociology. Mark is the author of Congregations, Neighborhoods, Places, Shades of White Flight: Evangelical Congregations and Urban Departure, and co-author of
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is the author of Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion. In 2003, he and his wife Lead founded the Rutba House, a house of hospitality where the formerly homeless are welcomed into a community that eats, prays, and shares life together. As the director of the School for Conversion, Jonathan pursues the beloved community in his neighborhood, North […]
Some reflections on my experience at the first ever On Being Gathering at the 1440 Multiversity in Scotts Valley, CA, including the poetry of Marilyn Nelson and David Whyte, the words of Rilke and Barth, and insights from a Pixar movie and peacemaker John Paul Lederach.
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Sandhya Jha is the founder and director of the Oakland Peace Center, a collective of people and organizations committed to creating access, equity and dignity for all in Oakland and the Bay area. She is the author of Room at the Table, Pre-Post-Racial America: Spiritual Stories from the Front Lines and, most recently, Transforming Communities: How People Like You are Healing Their Neighborhoods. She has previously created and hosted […]
Jon Huckins is the Co-Founding Director of The Global Immersion Project, a peacemaking training organization that helps individuals and communities move towards conflict and become everyday peacemakers. He is the co-author of Mending the Divides: Creative Love in a Conflicted World and Thin Places: Six Postures for Creating and Practicing Missional Community, and writes for numerous publications including USAToday, Red Letter Christians, Sojourners, and Relevant. Jon lives in San […]
Dr. Preston Pouteaux is the author of The Bees of Rainbow Falls: Finding Faith, Imagination, and Delight in Your Neighbourhood. He is a beekeeper, writer, published watercolour portrait artist and neighbourhood enthusiast. Preston is a syndicated columnist with 13 Ways. Since 2015, his column “Into the Neighbourhood” has been printed over one million times in weekly newspapers. He is a pastor at Lake Ridge Community Church, serves nationally […]
Michael Mata is the director of the transformational urban leadership program at Azusa Pacific Seminary. An experienced urban planner and pastor, Michael has spent over 30 years in leading and equipping others in urban transformation through the creation of community and church-based programs. His work has focused on community transformation, youth leadership development, public health, intercultural outreach, and multiethnic ministry. Mata serves as […]
Dr. David Leong is the author of the forthcoming book Race and Place: How Urban Geography Shapes the Journey to Reconciliation. He is Associate Professor of Missiology at Seattle Pacific University where his teaching and research focuses on the theological meaning of the city in […]
Noel Castellanos joins me to talk about what Christian community development is and his journey into it, what Ezra and Nehemiah teach us about neighborhood leadership and rebuilding neighborhoods, why planting Sunday-centered churches isn’t enough, what his greatest concerns are for young leaders who care about justice, and how his Chicago neighborhood and the Camino de Santiago opened his eyes to the struggle of immigrants.
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