The Hope Network at the Metro Urban Institute
2024: The Hope Network at the Metro Urban Institute is a multi-part program with hope as an organizing theme that: 1) addresses trauma informed pastoral ministry in communities with significant physical and structural violence and loss; 2) trains congregations in non-violent activism to address communal violence and create a more hope-filled future; and 3) works alongside artists to create expressions of hope out of and anchored within communities where healing is needed. The vision for the HOPE Network is to create space for people throughout the city of Pittsburgh to build the capacity to heal from the traumas of various forms of violence while gaining skills to address the social and political conditions that often produce violence. The pilot project will focus on five churches in east Pittsburgh, one from each of the neighborhoods surrounding Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s Highland Park neighborhood—East Liberty, Homewood North, Homewood South, Homewood West, and Larimer.
AnneMarie is Associate Professor of Ethics, Culture, and Moral Leadership and the Director of the Metro-Urban Institute (PTS). She writes about Black Church activism, peace and reconciliation, and Black music and media’s influence on social activism.
The Strengthening Pastoral Formation for Ministry in the City initiative involves seminaries, theological institutions, and churches and intends to help communities and institutions explore and assess their own urban context and church life; gain clarity about their mission and programmatic offerings; and strengthen and support the design and implementation of plans to address key challenges and opportunities for pastoral formation and flourishing congregations in urban settings.
The Strengthening Pastoral Formation for Ministry in the City initiative involves seminaries, theological institutions, and churches and intends to help communities and institutions explore and assess their own urban context and church life; gain clarity about their mission and programmatic offerings; and strengthen and support the design and implementation of plans to address key challenges and opportunities for pastoral formation and flourishing congregations in urban settings.
God of the city and God of the field, we are thankful for the ways you are building bridges across our socially constructed differences and drawing us closer to each other and to you. Give us a hope-filled imagination to do the work to address violence around us and within us, so our daily lives become anchored in and guided by your love. Amen.