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PIUT Religious Order

Partners In Urban Transformation (PIUT) is pleased to announce the creation of a religious order committed to the sustaining, strengthening and spiritual formation of Christians who are called to urban ministry.

Being called into urban ministry is not simply a call to a place, that is, a ministry centered in an urban area.  Nor is it simply a call to a mission, that is, a call to work for the transformation of the urban world in a specific way and within the context of a specific organization.  The call to urban ministry is also a call to a life.  And if that life is not carried out in community and in dealing with all aspects of life, the demands of urban ministry will quickly burn one out.

The Problem

The vocation to which the church is called in the city is not to be its savior (only Christ is that), but to be the body which exposes the lies the systems tell to keep the city in bondage and to work for the city given over to the kingdom of God.  That is why the church must work for the empowerment of the poor (the victims of the systems), the liberation of the powerful (those seduced by the systems), and the reformulation of the city into a godly community (the kingdom of God).

We as the church must take quite seriously the biblical appraisal of the city as a systemic battleground.  We Christians are not called to be above this warfare, ignoring it as we seek to win individuals to Christ and try to build a church.  Rather, by the very nature of the ministry to which we have been called, we are caught precisely in the middle of this warfare.

The greatest enemy of the urban Christian is not the city and its concentration of evil.  Nor is it the church struggling to remain alive and vital, and in that struggle demanding all of its peoples and pastor’s energies.  The greatest enemy of the urban Christian is the Christian himself or herself!

Precisely because the struggle for justice, equity and relationship in the city engages us in “spiritual warfare” against oppression, exploitation and domination, our greatest vulnerability lies in sustaining ourselves in ministry.  Ministry demands that you give out constantly – and city ministry makes this demand relentlessly.  But you cannot give out what you do not have.  If you are not replenishing yourself in order to continue the battle, then you are exposing yourself to defeat, burnout and exhaustion.  And we cannot replenish ourselves by ourselves.  We need a Christian community – a religious order to help sustain us in the struggle.

The Order

Partners In Urban Transformation has called into existence a sustaining, empowering and disciplined urban religious order.  PIUT operates as a tripartite structure – a ministry, a governance body, and a religious order.  The purpose of our ministry is to equip the church for engagement in public life.  We carry out that mission through educational events, the creation of resources, the conducting of experimental laboratories in urban ministry and in consultancies with churches, mission agencies, community organizations and academic institutions.  Governance is carried out by the Partners Board, which is made up of clergy and laity involved in highly effective urban ministries around the world.  Our religious order exists for the purpose of enabling those who are a part of it to pay attention to our mutual corporate and individual spiritual formation in order to both deepen our relationships with each other and God, and to support each other in the work of ministry.

The Partners religious order is a dispersed order, operating in each of our respective communities, congregations and ministries.  As a dispersed order, there are two forces that gather us together into one community.  The first is an annual retreat, when we gather together in the spring of the year for several days of spiritual refreshment.  The second is the observance of disciplines that we have agreed to follow together.

The Disciplines

Those who are members of the Partners religious order commit themselves to the practice of the following disciplines:

·    A daily discipline of prayer for each other, the church of Jesus Christ and the world;

·    A daily discipline of Bible study and reflection of our individual choosing;

·    A weekly shared Biblical reflection around a common lectionary that appears on the PIUT website;

·    Ongoing engagement in public life, each of us choosing the arena and nature of that engagement;

·    Meeting monthly with a spiritual companion from PIUT to support one another, with such meetings occurring by phone, email or face-to-face as determined by the two companions;

·    Being a good steward of our finances, including dedicating a percentage of our income to the Church, to organizations concerned with promoting justice and empowerment of people, and to PIUT;

·    Being a good steward of our time in such a way that attention is given, not simply to work, but to leisure, time with family, developing skills, worship and devotion, to voluntary work and to sleep;

·    Participation annually in a retreat of the PIUT religious order or, if one is unable to attend, in reflecting on one’s participation in the order.

Joining the Order

Are you interested in exploring membership in the Partners religious order?  Participation is open to Christians who are committed to and actively engaged in urban ministry that is either empowering the poor or is engaged in public life.  Such ministry may be with a local church or association of churches, a mission agency, ministry, denominational body, academic institution or community organization.  “Christian” is defined as a person who has embraced Jesus Christ as savior and who is seeking to live obediently under the lordship and authority of Jesus Christ.

Participation in the Partners religious order is always for a one-year term that can be renewed at the PIUT annual retreat.  Continued participation is dependent upon an ongoing faithfulness to the PIUT religious disciplines and participation in the order’s annual gathering and retreat (or acceptable substitute).

If you are interested in exploring order membership for a one-year trial period or have questions about the order, contact the prior of the order, Jeff Wright at wrightstuff@pacificsouthwest.org, at 626-720-8100 or at Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference, Box CAL, 1539 E. Howard Street, Pasadena, CA, 91404.