Core Values

• Christian Worldview-Urban Transformation Ministries (herein referred to as UTM) sees all of life and ministry through a lens of a Christian Worldview, meaning that the Biblical grid of Creation, Fall, and Redemption will permeate all activities and programs of UTM.  

• Urban Community-Realizing that the future world is an urban world, UTM will focus their attention on ministering to the youth and families of the inner-city. As much as possible, UTM missionaries and staff will model the incarnational Jesus by living among the people in which they serve.

• Loving Relationships-As ministry to the inner-city can only be done within the context of relationships, UTM will work together to build God’s kingdom through modeling loving relationships with one another, while reaching out to the urban community with the same type of relational love. 

• Multiplying Discipleship- UTM will live out the command from Jesus to “make disciples of all nations.” (Matt 28:19). The task of discipleship in the inner-city must be model-based, grounded in scripture, and wholistic to reproduce urban disciples who will reproduce urban disciples.

• Respectful Evangelism-UTM does not “play the numbers game” in evangelism. Rather we will earn the right to be heard by loving our neighbors as ourselves and then respectfully sharing the good news of Jesus Christ through friendship, small-group and event evangelism.

• Indigenous Empowerment-The old Chinese poem states, what UTM means by empowerment. “Go to the people, live among them, learn from them, love them, start with what you know, build on what they have. When their task is done, the people will remark, ‘we have done it ourselves.’” UTM will develop indigenous leaders within inner-city neighbors who love Christ and desire to make a difference for Christ in their communities without perpetuating a mindset of dependence.  

• “Like-Minded” Partnerships-Whenever possible, UTM links itself to the community in which it serves through partnerships with other like-minded organizations. We will seek to develop partnerships with churches, businesses, neighborhood associations, local schools, and other non-profit organizations.

• Whole-Person Centered-Recognizing that there are no quick-fix solutions to the multi-faceted issues of poverty in the inner-city, UTM strives to be wholistic, addressing the spiritual, physical, emotional, and intellectual needs of the urban person that is transforming, not condescending. 

• Ministry Training- Recognizing that the effects of urbanization seem traumatic to the church, UTM will do everything they can to fully equip the church at-large to understand and effectively do urban ministry through training workshops, seminars, college-level classes, and consulting.

• Evaluative Effectiveness- UTM will always seek a standard of excellence, integrity, and greater effectiveness. We will take necessary risks and continually evaluate every aspect of every activity and program in order to maximize our ministry effectiveness.