Michael Crane

About Michael Crane

Michael and his wife moved to Southeast Asia working in a variety of roles with development agencies. During this time, Michael completed a PhD in urban missiology. Michael serves on the faculty of two graduate schools.

Posts by Michael Crane:

Chicago, missiology, Ray Bakke, urban theology

In Memoriam: Honoring the Legacy of Urban Missiologist Ray Bakke

Michael Crane

Although I only met Ray Bakke once at a YWAM urban ministry center in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, his impact on my life has been profound. Even in that gathering, Bakke was casting vision to a new generation of Christians seeking to make a difference in their cities. Thanks to Ray Bakke, the global church is better prepared to engage our ever-more-urban world.

mission-city

Episode 18 – Multi-generational Mission in South Asia

Michael Crane

Church Planting, City to City, Resourcing

Episode 17 – Global Challenges to Resourcing the Church

Michael Crane

Mobile, Shepherding, Washington D.C.

Episode 10 – Shepherding in Global Cities

Michael Crane

Australia, England, Thailand

Episode 9 – Responses Among the Urban Poor

Michael Crane

Bay Area, Church Planting, San Francisco

Episode 8 – Starting Churches in the San Francisco Bay Area

Michael Crane

Diaspora

Episode 7 – In the Slums of Kibera

Michael Crane

cities, city, COVID-19, pandemic, urban

The Pandemic and the Plight of Cities

Michael Crane

Cities will continue as vital centers of human commerce, social interaction, and innovation. While there is no doubt that the pandemic will alter some aspects of city life, the long-term impact is overstated. We need cities and cities need us.

imb

Episode 4 – A Watershed Moment

Michael Crane

Los Angeles, Overstreet, Set Free, Skid Row

Episode 3 – Movement at the Margins

Michael Crane

Grigg, Manilla, Slums

Episode 2 – Informal Settlements and Church Planting

Michael Crane

built environment, informal settlements, mapping, urban poor, urban research

Mapping Poverty as a Form of Transformative Research

Michael Crane

There is a direct relationship between a city’s built environment and who benefits from it economically. Our phrasing even betrays this connect: “the bad part of town” or “the other side of the tracks.” Or to put it another way, cities naturally obscure parts of the city that are distressed or neglected.

Johannesburg

Episode 1 – City Spotlight: Johannesburg

Michael Crane

Africa, cities, city, global, Johannesburg, mission, podcast, urban, Urban History

Johannesburg: Profile of a Global City

Michael Crane

The city is relatively young, growing from a rural farm community to a boomtown after gold was discovered in 1884. The discovery of gold meant a rapid increase in infrastructure, technology and laborers. Within ten years, a stock exchange was established in Johannesburg, which has made it the key financial center in the country and even the continent.

city, mission, urban

Introducing Mission City

Michael Crane

Jane Jacobs, know your city, Lewis Mumford, urban exegesis

Best Books for Seeing Cities Differently

Michael Crane

I’m often asked to recommend the best book on cities. As with any worthy subject, one book is not sufficient. Here I want to recommend a few books, or categories of books, that have helped me understand cities and therefore see cities differently.

cities, city definition

Defining the City

Michael Crane

A single-sentence definition cannot adequately define a city. But a definition that moves us beyond a simplistic or inaccurate understanding of the city is a starting place.