Cross-cultural youth minister, Manny Dominguez, joins us again on the podcast to discuss what he wishes he had known starting out in ministry. Specifically he discusses the difficulty of metrics in ministry and the need to find and establish mentors.

Global City Mission Podcast

Episode 38 - Things I Wish I Knew (Interview with Manny Dominguez)

Manny Dominguez joins us on this episode to talk about working cross-culturally as a Latino minister at a historically white congregation. He discusses his and his wife's experience of moving from their Dominican community of origin in NYC to Fort Worth, Texas and the important lessons about transition and church life that have accompanied their time working there.

Episode 37 - Cross-Culturally Ministering to an Anglo Church

Minister from Missions Resource Network, Andy Johnson, joins us again on the podcast to discuss lessons learned from 13 years working in Burkina Faso and through his families' transition back to the US. Specifically, he talks about learning how to manage expectations and transition both going to the field to make disciples and when returning home.

Episode 36 - Things I Wish I Knew (Interview with Andy Johnson)

Longtime missionary to Burkina Faso, Andy Johnson, joins on this episode to discuss their team's work in participating in a church planting movement. Specifically, he addresses the lessons learned from developing leaders across cultural boundaries for a network of hundreds of churches planted through their efforts in West Africa.

Episode 35 - Developing Leaders Cross-Culturally

Kyle Mills from Forefront Experience and Cory Ozbun of KC Underground speak in this episode about the most important principles and areas of emphasis when forming people for making disciples in long-term ministry. Specifically they speak about getting beyond training tactics and about healthy ways to set metrics when developing disciple-makers.

Episode 34 - Forming Disciple-Makers for Ministry

We are joined in today's episode (via phone recording) by Joe Reed of Exponent Group and Cory Ozbun of KC Underground to address the question "What is a Person of Peace?" And, more specifically, to discuss what this looks like in a North American context.

Episode 33 - What is a Person of Peace?

Today on the podcast we're joined by Courtney Schuler and Tyler Brittain, two of our summer interns in NYC. They discuss their experience of working for 8 weeks as cross-cultural evangelists in Queens and the learning they bring home from that ministry.

Short Term Missions (STM) in Global Cities

In this episode of the Global City Mission Podcast, therapist and friend of GCMI Missy Gray (LPC & LPA) joins us to discuss the topic of mental health in the mission field. She talks about both the emotional well being of missionary workers as well as how to know when we're out of our depth in a ministry relationship and when to make a judgment call about referring others to a mental health professional.

Episode 31 - Missionaries and Mental Health

Theologian and spiritual director, Randy Harris, joins us again on the Global City Mission Podcast in this episode to discuss what he wishes he knew if he were to start over again in ministry. Specifically, he discusses how we might go about knowing which relationships to prioritize and how to evaluate one's own "success" as a minister or missionary.

Episode 30 - Things I Wish I Knew (Interview with Randy Harris)

Spiritual director and theologian Randy Harris joins us in this episode of the Global City Mission Podcast to discuss spiritual direction and formation for missionaries and ministers. He discusses major needs and obstacles in our prayer lives as well as how to begin establishing a contemplative practice for those who have no previous experience or guidance in that tradition.

Episode 29 - Spiritual Formation for Ministers

Ben Langford - long-term African Missionary and now a professor of Missions at Oklahoma Christian - joins us again on the Global City Mission Podcast to discuss the priorities and challenges of teaching students who are preparing to enter the field as missionaries. Specifically, we discuss the importance of joining theology with methodology: which leads us to ask the question of not just "What works?" but "How do our beliefs about God shape us and our work?"

Episode 28 - Teaching Vocational Missionaries

In this episode of the Global City Mission Podcast, teacher of missions and former African missionary Ben Langford joins us to discuss things he wishes he had known when he was starting out. Specifically, he discusses wishing he had better understood the difference between "the plan" for ministry and the unexpected moments open to embodying the gospel that - without the experience to see otherwise - can seem less "productive."

Episode 27 - Things I Wish I Knew (Interview with Ben Langford)

Following up on our last episode, today we are addressing the line between good contextualization - in which we adapt ourselves and our message cross-culturally in a way that clarifies what we mean to say about the gospel - with syncretism: a practice in which we blur the lines between what Jesus calls us to and a cultural element at odds with that message. We first work to define the difference between these two activities and then visit a number of practical examples GCMI's NYC team has experienced, all while asking the question, "Is this good contextualization or syncretism?"

Episode 26 - Syncretism vs. Contextualization

When we are seeking to share the gospel, we never escape the issue of culture. Whether it is our own tradition and experience, or that of our neighbor, communication and relationship always occur through the medium of culture: so how we make decisions about our methods of proclaiming the gospel inherently involves discernment about contextualization. In today's episode we discuss some important questions to consider before we try and communicate Kingdom cross-culturally and some pitfalls missionaries fall into when thinking about contextualizing evangelism in urban ministry.

Episode 25- Evangelism and Contextualization

The missionary life is full of transition and change, and that can be emotionally taxing on workers and their families. In today's episode, we discuss a tool we call the RAFT, which can help missionaries reflect on and prepare for the change of moving contexts and more readily adapt to their next location- whether that be coming to/leaving the field, or transitioning to a new city to continue the same disciple-making work.

Episode 24 - Transitioning To and From the Mission Field

Regular reflections and conversations about the obstacles and emerging best practices of cross-cultural urban ministry. Visit our website to find out more at http://www.globalcitymission.org/