pat loughery

As part of the educational process at Bakke Graduate University where I am pursuing a Doctor of Ministry, each class includes a big stack of reading.  Students write 1-page summary papers on each book that they write.  Here’s one of those papers on a book I read for an upcoming class.

Street Signs
by Ray Bakke and Jon Sharpe
New Hope Publishers (2006)
285 pages

Description of the Book
Cities are important to God, who is at work bringing people to urban environments across the globe as well as at work among people who are in those urban environments. Christians can recognize these shifts and learn to identify the work of God in the city so that they can participate with the God of hope. Bakke and Sharpe host city consultations in order to read a city and teach Christians to recognize the work of God in the city.

The two authors trace their own journeys from rural Washington to cities: Ray Bakke from Acme to Chicago and then to Seattle; Jon Sharpe from Index to Seattle. Each uses half of the book to tell their story and to give their perspective on city-based ministry and city consultations.

Interpretation of the Book
A sociological shift is underway in cultures across the world. As the population is more urbanized, worldviews change. With culture and worldview shifts, our models for pastoral care and for understanding the mission of God must change as well.

Application
The challenge to listen to the city and learn from God’s work in the city has transformed me. My parents emigrated from Los Angeles to Trout Creek, Montana when I was two. I grew up on 10 acres of land in rural Montana and moved to Spokane, Washington for college, and then to Seattle after I graduated. I find myself comfortable in small towns and rural areas, but I love cities. I love Seattle, the metropolitan area in which I live, and I love the suburb of Seattle that I live in. I know I’m in the place that God has for me. This is one of my greatest learning experiences at BGU: I love the city.

Street Signs gives me a way for me to understand Seattle. But I find that the process of consulting a suburb or a neighborhood within a larger city is perhaps more complex, and certainly more targeted. I need to learn more about finding signs of God’s activity in my