Summer Urban Missions

See the 2009 Schedule, Costs, and General Information

Each summer, Restore St. Louis hosts various work teams at the New City Fellowship St. Louis campus. Teams come workteams from all across America to learn, tutor, work, and teach in a structured week-long program. The Summer Urban Missions program is primarily designed for high school youth groups, but we have had family and junior high teams join us in the past.

As an outreach ministry of Restore St. Louis, Summer Urban Missions is a collaboration of resources between New City Fellowship members and groups from other local churches, schools, businesses, etc. New City Fellowship generously provides (at no charge) their campus facilities, staff, and equipment, and other resources. See this chart to illustrate the relationship of Restore St. Louis to New City Fellowship.

Vision and Mission

Summer Urban Missions exists to seek the establishment of God's kingdom rule in the hearts of every ethnic group by discipling the nations in the reconciling Gospel of Jesus Christ through a clear proclamation of salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone and by doing Spirit-led deeds of justice and mercy.

Those who participate in Summer Urban Missions and the people who are served will experience the reconciling love of God in Jesus Christ...



See a 5-1/2 minute video about Summer Urban Missions
Please be patient for the video to download to your computer...

   quicktime Get Quicktime Viewer



How Will Our Mission Be Accomplished?



God Will Advance His Gospel of the Kingdom Through Us this Summer As We...


...Believe the Gospel Together

The Gospel is God's power for salvation (Romans 1:16-17). It is not just the beginning point for entering into a relationship with God, but it is the way to address every problem and the means for growth at every step. The heart of the Gospel is this message: "Christ became sin for us, in order that we might become the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Through the Gospel we learn to believe God's love, forgiveness and the sense of acceptance as "sons and daughters of God". We find that in every facet and every area of life God is now committed to us in a relationship of grace and therefore of strength through his Spirit to live a new life. We are in fact completely new creations who are in the process of growing up into the image of God revealed in Christ.

As we learn to believe the Gospel, this new identity gives us the freedom to admit sin more readily, freely receive grace more quickly, pursue obedience more joyfully, view one another within the church with a defined, fundamental identity as redeemed children of God and have greater compassion for those outside the church who have not yet found the amazing grace of God in Christ Jesus.


Primarily, we will be learning about the Gospel as we worship, work, eat, and sleep together. We will believe the Gospel together as leaders at New City Fellowship share with teams on Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, and then on a daily basis during devotions Monday through Thursday mornings. Youth groups will have a nightly debriefing time to focus and process on what everyone is learning. We will also proclaim the Gospel with our mouths during evening Bible Clubs that are held in the community. The week is designed to show both our sins and our weaknesses and to point to the fact that we need a Savior.

...Take on a Kingdom Focus

When Jesus Christ came to earth he announced the good news (Gospel) of the kingdom (Matthew 4:23). He came as the King of kings and the Ruler of the Universe to save a people for himself through his own sacrifice and restore us under his loving rule and reign as a people who would live lives defined by godly justice, mercy and humility (Micah 6:8). The focus of Christ's ministry in this world is described in Isaiah 42:1-4: "Here is my Servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope."

As his people, we are freed from a lifestyle of self-focused sin and freed to "seek first his kingdom" (Matthew 6:33). Like Jesus, we are anointed by the Spirit (Matthew 3:11), gifted to make his love known (Ephesians 4:7-13), and will be led by the Spirit to sovereignly appointed opportunities for good works (Ephesians 2:10).

God's kingdom priorities are not hidden to us, nor are they ours to define. God has spoken in his Word and declared to us what he wants our service to look like: "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? The your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I." (Isaiah 58:6-9)

Seeking first the kingdom means these types of ministries will mark us as the church. We will care for the widow, the orphan and the immigrant in our midst. It also means we will seek justice in marriage relationships, parenting responsibilities and work issues. God is concerned that his justice fill the earth, and that means justice both personally and socially. In his love and graciousness, these ministries are not the "calling" of a special few of God's people, but it is the privilege of all God's people to live such lives of service.


We will work, sweat, cry, and laugh in the homes of widows, the elderly, the disabled, and other people who need assistance Monday through Thursday afternoons. This work could look like demolition, painting, plumbing, drywall, digging, cleaning maggots in basements, washing mold off of walls, stripping paint, removing brush, and many other things! A portion of our work time will also be spent working on New City Fellowship's building to facilitate Kingdom work that is carried on there.

...Pursue Reconciliation

Part of God's central theme in salvation is that he has come to save the whole world (John 3:16, cf. Genesis 12:1-3, Isaiah 19:19 ff), meaning men, women and children from every ethnic group and every extended family group on earth (Revelation 5:9-10). That means we are not simply redeemed as individuals, but as part of the "people of God" (1Peter 2:9-10). Reconciliation takes place between God and man and between man and man. The mark of the church (which leaves men with an undeniable proof that God has come to bring salvation) is this new found love that we have for all those who are different from us, and who used to be our enemies (John 17:20-23, Ephesians 2:11 ff). All who trust in Christ Jesus as their Savior are made a part of God's covenant family. Jesus describes this family relationship in these terms: "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice (Luke 8:21)."

The history of Israel in the Old Testament, the ministry of the life of Christ on this earth and the history of the early church in the New Testament all reveal God constantly pushing his people toward the inclusion of the whole world (cf. Jonah, Daniel, Zechariah; Jesus' constant reference to the Samaritans and the Gospel of John's emphasis on the "whole world"; Pentecost, the Ethiopian, Peter and Cornelius, and ultimately, the whole ministry of Paul). We believe God intends for us to be intentionally pursuing the reconciliation of all people under the Lordship of Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10) across all ethnic and socio-economic barriers (1Corinthians 12:12-13).


We will worship in many languages on Sunday morning alongside New City's congregation in University City. We will work alongside and for people of many different racial, educational, economic, and social backgrouds. We will be intentional on Sunday morning: as we tutor, as we work on homes, and as we teach Bible Clubs about looking at our own prejudices, confessing them for what they are, and seeking reconciliation. One of the devotional times in the morning will be a discussion of reconciliation in the church.

...and Work in Teams

There is but one God, who exists in the form of the Three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We believe God has created us in his image and therefore he intends to fulfill his purposes through us in a relationship of Team Ministry. While Scripture puts an undeniable emphasis on our personal responsibility to respond to his love with a very personal faith, it also puts an equal emphasis on the need to fulfill and live out our faith in a context of team relationships of accountability, love and support. We need look no further than the ministry of Christ to see this principle lived out. Jesus' "ministry teams" began with the Trinity, included Mary and Joseph and the Israelite community, and his life's work was fulfilled in the context of calling and working with twelve disciples. If we stand back and look more closely at the ministries of Abraham, Moses, David, or Peter, John and especially Paul, we will see all the marks of an intense team relationship in fulfilling ministry.

At New City, we are committed to ministry only moving forward within the context of teams. People do individually minister, but they fulfill their ministry within a team framework. Learning to endure through prayer and believing the promises of God together, seeing a variety of gifts unleashed, gaining wisdom and insight from different members of the body all have opportunity to become a reality as we intentionally commit ourselves to Team Ministry.


You will work with MANY different people when you come this summer. Andrew Stern will help coordinate many of the activities but many other team members will direct you. Our pastors will share with you about the Gospel of the Kingdom on Sunday. Team leaders of the tutoring, work project, and Bible Club ministries will orient you on Sunday afternoon. During the tutoring sessions, college interns working with InterVarsity's CityLights Urban Project will direct you. In the afternoons on work projects, you may work under a Harambee crew leader, a college intern, or you may lead a site yourself! Sound confusing? It is! It is further evidence and opportunity for God's grace to be made all the more evident! Of course, your own group needs to work and live as a team. Teamwork provides more opportunities to expose our sin and more opportunities to see that God's grace is both needed and at work!


Contact: Andrew Stern (314) 726-2302 ext. 222

Email: andrew@ncfstl.org

Mail:
Summer Urban Missions
Attn: Andrew Stern
1142 Hodiamont
St. Louis, MO 63112







"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I."

Isaiah 58:6-9