LEADER 04138nam 22004695 450 001 9910828876403321 005 20230809233756.0 010 $a1-4798-0237-9 024 7 $a10.18574/9781479802371 035 $a(CKB)4340000000188599 035 $a(OCoLC)1005190944 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse65724 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC4834272 035 $a(DE-B1597)547534 035 $a(DE-B1597)9781479802371 035 $a(OCoLC)1038178688 035 $a(EXLCZ)994340000000188599 100 $a20200608h20172017 fg 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|||||||nn|n 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 14$aThe Urban Church Imagined $eReligion, Race, and Authenticity in the City /$fJessica M. Barron, Rhys H. Williams, Rhys H. Williams 210 1$aNew York, NY :$cNew York University Press,$d[2017] 210 4$dİ2017 215 $a1 online resource 311 0 $a1-4798-7766-2 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tAcknowledgments --$tIntroduction --$t1. City Jesus --$t2. Urban Outfitters --$t3. The Diversity List --$t4. City Outreach --$t5. ?Swirl Babies? --$t6. ?Should I Stay or Should I Go?? --$tConclusion --$tNotes --$tReferences --$tIndex --$tAbout the Authors 330 $aExplores the role of race and consumer culture in attracting urban congregants to an evangelical church The Urban Church Imagined illuminates the dynamics surrounding white urban evangelical congregations? approaches to organizational vitality and diversifying membership. Many evangelical churches are moving to urban, downtown areas to build their congregations and attract younger, millennial members. The urban environment fosters two expectations. First, a deep familiarity and reverence for popular consumer culture, and second, the presence of racial diversity. Church leaders use these ideas when they imagine what a ?city church? should look like, but they must balance that with what it actually takes to make this happen. In part, racial diversity is seen as key to urban churches presenting themselves as ?in touch? and ?authentic.? Yet, in an effort to seduce religious consumers, church leaders often and inadvertently end up reproducing racial and economic inequality, an unexpected contradiction to their goal of inclusivity. Drawing on several years of research, Jessica M. Barron and Rhys H. Williams explore the cultural contours of one such church in downtown Chicago. They show that church leaders and congregants? understandings of the connections between race, consumer culture, and the city is a motivating factor for many members who value interracial interactions as a part of their worship experience. But these explorations often unintentionally exclude members along racial and classed lines. Indeed, religious organizations? efforts to engage urban environments and foster integrated congregations produce complex and dynamic relationships between their racially diverse memberships and the cultivation of a safe haven in which white, middle-class leaders can feel as though they are being a positive force in the fight for religious vitality and racial diversity. The book adds to the growing constellation of studies on urban religious organizations, as well as emerging scholarship on intersectionality and congregational characteristics in American religious life. In so doing, it offers important insights into racially diverse congregations in urban areas, a growing trend among evangelical churches. This work is an important case study on the challenges faced by modern churches and urban institutions in general. 606 $aCity churches 615 0$aCity churches. 676 $a253.091732 700 $aBarron$b Jessica M.$4aut$4http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut$01639343 702 $aWilliams$b Rhys H.$4aut$4http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut 801 0$bDE-B1597 801 1$bDE-B1597 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910828876403321 996 $aThe Urban Church Imagined$93982255 997 $aUNINA