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Urban Ministries, Inc. (UMI) is an independent, African American-owned and operated Christian media company founded in 1970. [1] UMI publishes Christian resources, including Sunday School and Vacation Bible School curricula, books, movies, and websites designed for African American churches and others seeking a diverse perspective on faith and life issues.
Since its founding, UMI has served over 40,000 churches across the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa. It is evangelical in its theology but rooted in the African American church tradition.
The establishment of Urban Ministries, Inc. was the fulfillment of a boyhood dream that Melvin E. Banks had at the age of 12. Soon after becoming a Christian, Banks gave his testimony on one of the back roads of Birmingham, Alabama. An old, white-haired Black man heard his testimony and quoted this Scripture verse to him: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). This verse made a great impression on Banks, and he determined to devote his life to educating African Americans with knowledge of the Bible and Christian teaching.
In 1955, Banks graduated from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He went on to Wheaton College (Illinois), where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theology and a Master of Arts and Biblical Studies degree. He received an honorary Doctorate of Literature from Wheaton College in 1992.
While working at the predominantly white evangelical Christian publishing company Scripture Press, [2] Banks realized the need for resources that would appeal to African Americans. In 1970, a Board of Directors was selected and Banks’s boyhood dream began to take shape with the incorporation of Urban Ministries. During its first 12 years, UMI operated out of the basement of the Banks family’s home. In the spring of 1996, UMI completed construction and took occupancy of a new headquarters facility located in Calumet City, Illinois, in South Suburban Chicago.
Today,[ when? ] UMI is one of the few independent African American-owned and operated religious publishers producing materials specifically for African American churches. UMI materials include Sunday School curriculum, Vacation Bible School resources, books, videos, and music, all of which depict or speak to people of color in the context of their culture.
Melvin Banks remains with the company as founder and chairman. Dr. Banks is the author and editor of a number of books and Bible studies. In Banks is also the founder of the Urban Outreach foundation, an elder in his local church, and a member of the boards of trustees of Wheaton College and the Circle Y Ranch. In 2017 the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) presented Dr. Banks with the Kenneth N. Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award for more than 50 years of excellence, innovation, integrity, and commitment to making the message of Christ more widely known. [3]
The Christian countercult movement or the Christian anti-cult movement is a social movement among certain Protestant evangelical and fundamentalist and other Christian ministries and individual activists who oppose religious sects which they consider cults.
Christian fundamentalism in its modern form began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and American Protestants as a reaction to theological liberalism and cultural modernism. Fundamentalists argued that 19th-century modernist theologians had misinterpreted or rejected certain doctrines, especially biblical inerrancy, which they considered the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Fundamentalists are almost always described as having a literal interpretation of the Bible. A few scholars label Catholics who reject modern theology in favor of more traditional doctrines fundamentalists. Scholars debate how much the terms evangelical and fundamentalist are synonymous. In keeping with traditional Christian doctrines concerning biblical interpretation, the role of Jesus in the Bible, and the role of the church in society, fundamentalists usually believe in a core of Christian beliefs which include the historical accuracy of the Bible and all of the events which are recorded in it as well as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Biblical inerrancy is the belief that the Bible "is without error or fault in all its teaching"; or, at least, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact". Some equate inerrancy with biblical infallibility; others do not. The belief is of particular significance within parts of evangelicalism, where it is formulated in the "Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy".
Hendrik "Hank" Hanegraaff, also known as the "Bible Answer Man", is an American Christian author and radio talk-show host. Formerly an Evangelical Protestant, he joined the Eastern Orthodox Church in 2017. He is an outspoken figure within the Christian countercult movement where he has established a reputation for his criticisms of non-Christian religions, new religious movements and cults, as well as heresy in Christianity. He is also an apologist on doctrinal and cultural issues.
Systematic theology is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topics or what is true about God and his universe. It also builds on biblical disciplines, church history, as well as biblical and historical theology. Systematic theology shares its systematic tasks with other disciplines such as constructive theology, dogmatics, ethics, apologetics, and philosophy of religion.
Wayne A. Grudem is an American evangelical theologian, seminary professor, and author. He co-founded the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and served as the general editor of the ESV Study Bible.
Dallas Theological Seminary(DTS) is an evangelical theological seminary in Dallas, Texas. It is known for popularizing Free grace theology and the theological system Dispensationalism. DTS has campuses in Dallas, Houston, and Washington, D.C., as well as extension campuses in Atlanta, Austin, San Antonio, Nashville, Northwest Arkansas, Europe, Guatemala, and Australasia and a multi-lingual online education program.
Donald Arthur Carson is Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and co-founder of The Gospel Coalition. He is a prominent evangelical scholar and author.
In Christianity, the gospel, or the Good News, is the news of the imminent coming of the Kingdom of God.
Mark Allan Noll is an American historian specializing in the history of Christianity in the United States. He holds the position of Research Professor of History at Regent College, having previously been Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. Noll is a Reformed evangelical Christian and in 2005 was named by Time magazine as one of the twenty-five most influential evangelicals in America.
Darrell L. Bock is an American evangelical Christian New Testament scholar. He is Executive Director of Cultural Engagement at The Hendricks Center and Senior Research Professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) in Dallas, Texas, United States. Bock received his PhD from Scotland's University of Aberdeen. His supervisor was I. Howard Marshall. Harold Hoehner was an influence in his NT development, as were Martin Hengel and Otto Betz as he was a Humboldt scholar at Tübingen University multiple years.
The Evangelical Christian Church(Christian Disciples) as an evangelical Protestant Canadian church body in North America (2004) can be traced to the formal organization of the Christian Church in 1804, in Bourbon County, Kentucky under the leadership of Barton Warren Stone (1772–1844). The Stone Movement later merged with the efforts of Thomas Campbell (1772–1854) and his son Alexander Campbell (1788–1866) to become the Restoration Movement that gave birth to the Churches of Christ (Non-Instrumental), the Christian churches and churches of Christ, the Churches of Christ (non-institutional), and the Disciples of Christ. The Evangelical Christian Church as a separate group within the Restoration tradition was reorganized in 2001. The Evangelical Christian Church's national office in Canada is in Waterloo, Ontario.
The Fundamentals: A Testimony To The Truth is a set of ninety essays published between 1910 and 1915 by the Testimony Publishing Company of Chicago. It was initially published quarterly in twelve volumes, then republished in 1917 by the Bible Institute of Los Angeles as a four-volume set. Baker Books reprinted all four volumes under two covers in 2003.
Christian universalism is a school of Christian theology focused around the doctrine of universal reconciliation – the view that all human beings will ultimately be saved and restored to a right relationship with God. Christian universalism and the belief or hope in the universal reconciliation through Christ can even be understood as synonyms.
Protestants in Thailand constitute about 0.66% of the population of Thailand. Protestant work among the Thai people was begun by Ann Judson in Burma, who evangelized Thai war captives who were relocated to Burma. Protestantism was introduced to the country of Thailand in 1828 through the work of Karl Gutzlaff and Jacob Tomlin, the first two resident Protestant missionaries in Thailand.
Elmer Leon Towns is an American Christian academic, pastor and writer who co-founded Liberty University, the largest private non-profit university in the world, alongside Jerry Falwell in 1971. Towns is also a prominent Christian leader and speaker on the principles of church growth, church leadership, Christian education, Sunday school, and prayer and fasting. He has written over 170 books, eight of which are listed on the Christian Booksellers Association Best Selling List. In 1995, his book The Names of the Holy Spirit received the Gold Medallion Award from the Evangelical Christian Booksellers Association for Book of the Year in Biblical Study. Most recently Towns has served as Dean of the B. R. Lakin School of Religion, Dean of Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary, and Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Liberty University. In fall 2013, Towns announced he would be taking a sabbatical from his teaching and administrative duties to focus on speaking and writing.
Edward John Stetzer is an American author, speaker, researcher, pastor, church planter, and Christian missiologist. Stetzer is Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission, and Evangelism at Wheaton College and Executive Director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. He is the North American Regional Director for Lausanne International and serves as interim Teaching Pastor at Moody Church in Chicago, Illinois and Teaching Pastor at Highpoint Church, a multisite church in the western suburbs of Chicago. He is a contributor to the North American discussion on missional church, church planting, church revitalization, and Christian cultural engagement.
Craig Alan Blaising is the former Executive Vice President and Provost of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Blaising earned a Doctor of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, a Master of Theology Dallas Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a recognized authority in patristic studies and eschatology and is one of the primary proponents of "progressive dispensationalism."
Catherine Clark Kroeger was an American author, professor, New Testament scholar, and a leading figure within the biblical egalitarian movement. She founded the worldwide organization Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE), and its papers are housed at her family home. As a speaker, Kroeger traveled the globe opposing violence and the abuse of women, while also advancing the biblical basis for the shared leadership and authority of males and females.
Alvera Mickelsen was an American academic, author, and women's equality activist. Mickelsen, an evangelical Christian, spent her professional life advocating "that being a feminist is a Christian responsibility," despite resistance from some sectors. She published numerous books and scholarly articles on the topic of women's equality within Christianity. Alvera Mickelsen joined her colleagues to co-found Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE) in the late 1980s, a non-profit organization of churches and individuals which advocates for the equality of women within the church, as well as in their homes and society. Additionally, Mickelsen was a longtime professor of journalism at Bethel University in Minnesota from 1968 to 1986.