For Mark Jobe, pastor is synonymous with bridge builder. Leading New Life Community Church in Chicago over the past 20 years, Jobe bridged racial, ethnic, and cultural barriers. He believes New Life's calling is to be a church of "blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, CEOs, and street people."
As the church presses toward that goal, it has expanded to eight locations across the city, conducts services in multiple languages, and has effectively drawn many of Chicago's diverse people together. But Jobe has discovered it is the barrier between rich and poor that is most difficult to span. They have very different values, many unbiblical.
Jobe is featured in the Spring 2005 issue of Leadership. For this online extra, we asked Jobe how he creates unity between the well-to-do and the down-and-out.
Your church life has been intentional about bridging ethnic barriers, but you've said economic barriers are even harder to span. Why?
In the city there are very wealthy people and very ...
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