| The School of Urban Ministry was started with the express purpose of training
Christians to work in the city. As we brought suburban people in to work
with our children's programs, they were instantly frustrated. That
frustration led to 1-3 day workshops. At a pastor's prayer retreat in late
spring 1994, Pastor Wells was sitting under a tree in the afternoon and the
whole idea of a year-long program dropped into his head in as a complete
piece. He, along with an elder in the church, developed the idea over the
next year into a class - SUM.
Since then, the School of Urban Ministry has held
classes at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, on Monday evenings. Over
250 students have attended and received a certificate
of completion. There have been many ministries created out of SUM.
The curriculum taught in SUM is useful for
ministries in cities worldwide. Such global appeal has sparked
interest in people from all over. As a result, the school is
expanding to sites in different cities. Each site offers the same
basic curriculum, but it is tailored to the city in which it is located.
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