NORTH LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — “When ministering in the city, you’re never far from unpredictability.”
So said Steve Cloer in his keynote address to open the 33rd National Urban Ministry Conference. About 130 city ministers, scholars and students gathered for the meeting at the Levy Church of Christ in this city of 65,000. They represented 40 churches and ministries from a dozen states.
Steve Cloer
Attendees nodded with familiarity when Cloer compared city ministry to the story of the apostle Peter getting out of his boat and trying to walk to Jesus on a stormy sea. Peter began to sink.
“In city ministry, it is so easy to take our eyes off Jesus,” said Cloer, director of the Harding School of Theology’s Center for Church and City Engagement in Memphis, Tenn. “It is so easy to sink.
“But even in our moments of little faith, let’s remember that Jesus is going to be there.”
Tracing its roots to a few inner city Church of Christ ministers who gathered in 1990 for mutual encouragement and support, the National Urban Ministry Conference evolved into a hub for city ministers to learn, network and take time for themselves.
The 2026 iteration featured a preconference workshop, three keynote lectures and 19 breakout sessions. Organizers said attendance and the breadth and quality of conference programming continue to grow in the post-pandemic years.
Ron Clark, co-director for Agape Community Ministries in Portland, Ore., returned to the conference after several years away. He said the event fills a need for many city ministers like him.
Ron Clark, left, and Taylor Cave pray with other conference attendees.
“A lot of the conferences that I go to are more from the academic perspective, but there’s a real need to train the people who do hands-on ministry,” Clark said. “I’m impressed with how the people here are coming to learn how to do ministry more effectively.”
Aron Clevenger, a children’s minister with the bilingual South Walker Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, was a first-time attendee at the urban ministry conference. She said the event gave her a sense of community with fellow city ministers. New to city ministry, Clevenger expressed gratitude for how the conference gave her new ideas and tools for her work.
“I came to Oklahoma City from a very rural setting, so it’s been a cultural shock for me to live there, much less worship there,” she said. “So I’m excited to learn more by being at the conference.”
But for a meeting that many city ministers attend to get ideas for what they can do, organizers wanted this year’s event to focus on what God can and is doing in cities.
Participants pray during the National Urban Ministry Conference in North Little Rock, Ark.
“Our theme, ‘Deeper and Wider,’ came from the Gospel of John, Chapter 15,” said Keith Lape, an evangelist for the River City Church in North Little Rock and one of the conference organizers. “We wanted our focus to be on heeding the call of Jesus to abide in him and to bear much fruit.”
One example of that focus was a two-hour prayer session that many participants described as the highlight of their experience.
“I’ve never been to a conference where they took two full hours just to pray,” said Walter Pierce, another first-time attendee and minister for the Uptown Church of Christ in Chicago. “That was really powerful because it helps us see and understand that God is the lifeblood of our ministries. Change is not going to come because of our works — it’s going to come through the work of God.”
Cloer said he found the 2026 National Urban Ministry Conference to be the best yet. He foresees the conference becoming one of the most important annual gatherings of ministers.
“As the world becomes more urban, there needs to be more spaces where ministers and leaders can think strategically about how to engage the city with good news and good works.”
“This conference is vital for the future of Churches of Christ,” Cloer said. “As the world becomes more urban, there needs to be more spaces where ministers and leaders can think strategically about how to engage the city with good news and good works.”
The 34th National Urban Ministry Conference will convene at the South Walker Church of Christ next February.
B.T. IRWIN directs and hosts The Christian Chronicle podcast. He and his family live in Clawson, Mich., and are members of the Rochester Church of Christ in nearby Rochester Hills.
