Ministry in the City HUB Update, January 2026

Dear HUB friends,

Happy new year! We hope you received your care packages, and are finding space for rest and reflection at the start of an already eventful year.

We hosted a follow-up online workshop with “Cultivating Learning Communities” participants on Jan 12. Sarah and I (Maria) were encouraged to see how new ideas were already being activated across ministry contexts. Stay tuned for more ways to hone your facilitation skills this year. In the meantime, visit our HUB website RESOURCES page for ideas.

Last Saturday (Jan 24), Rev. Aracelis Vasquez-Haye and Lucila Crena (featured above) joined us via Zoom and in person at our 14th Annual Symposium on Women in Leadership (WILAM). It was a wonderful day of worship, sharing, reflecting, creating, and engaging in meaningful conversations on what it means to seek the peace of our inner cities, our families and communities, and in the city and wider society. Lucila offered a helpful definition of “politics,” drawn from Luke Bretherton, as “the art of constructing a life with others, across difference.”

This Monday (Jan 26), we gathered for our first online Food and Fellowship of the year led by Rex. We met new HUB grantees Nate Hosler and Steve Park from DC, and reunited with others for a powerful time of sharing, encouragement, and prayer. Some words we hold onto for this upcoming year are: Service. Encounter. Grow. God as Reward. Gratitude. Scale up. Resilience. Emmanuel. Courage. Resistance. Partnership. Keeping hope. Capacious. What is your word for 2026?

We look ahead to our HUB Regional Gathering in Toronto on March 5-6, in conjunction with the Canadian debut of the “Creative Community Care” (CCC) exhibit at the Toronto Chinese Mennonite Church from March 6-22. CCC artists Alysia Nicole Harris and Naomi Kuo will join us at the opening reception on March 6, and host workshops that weekend.

We have much to thank God for as we work in our contexts and together as a collective towards faithful and hopeful ministry in the city. We are praying for you. Please share updates and stay in touch.

God’s peace to you and yours,
Maria and Mark
Highlights
Regional Gathering : Toronto
NET-MAKING
On March 5-6, 2026, we will be hosting our regional gathering in Toronto at the Toronto Mennonite Chinese Church. We look forward to connecting with our HUB members from the area, learning and growing together, and witnessing and experiencing abundance in our midst. The gathering will be followed by the opening of the Creative Community Care: Artists Respond to Pandemic Times traveling exhibit. Alysia Nicole Harris, one of the artists in the exhibit, will facilitate an activity during the regional gathering and Naomi Kuo will lead a public workshop as part of the exhibit. To learn more about the exhibit, click here.
CCSTV Pastoral Monday Series
GRANT STEWARDING
At the end of 2025, CCST Vancouver hosted several seminars and workshops called the Pastoral Monday series, a rhythm of gatherings designed to help pastors find rest, practice deep listening, reflect prayerfully, enjoy fellowship with fellow ministers, and regain strength for the journey ahead. The first session featured the talk, Walking the Path of Trauma. The second session, Meeting Jesus in Prayer, invited participants to explore a deeper experience of God’s presence in prayer. The final workshop addressed the heavy burdens often carried by participants. To read more details about these sessions and to learn more about their work, click here.
Lilly Endowment's Exploring Christian Practices Initiative RFP
RESOURCE SHARING
Lilly Endowment’s new Exploring Christian Practices Initiative aims to multiply opportunities and increase access to settings that help individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds explore and engage in Christian practices to address spiritual interests and questions, find and build community with others, nourish their religious lives, and grow in faith. The Endowment is inviting eligible charitable organizations to submit proposals for grants of up to $2.5 million each that may be used for up to a five-year period to develop new and/or enhance existing programs. Read more at the Endowment’s Exploring Christian Practices webpage.
Gearing up for Boston Sankofa Interviews and Spring Showcase
STORY-TELLING
The Boston Sankofa Journey cohort has been meeting monthly as a cohort of pastors, educators, activists, artists, and organizers committed to learning from Boston’s racial history and honoring the faith-rooted work of Black freedom and resistance. Building on a 2024 HUB affinity working group pilgrimage to key sites connected to slavery and Black resistance, the cohort is now preparing to record living history interviews in January with ten Black Christian leaders, based on long-standing, trusted relationships. Find out more about their work here.

Ministry in the City HUB
City Seminary of New York
302 West 119th St, 3rd Flr
New York, NY 10026, USA

This national initiative is generously supported by Lilly Endowment, Inc.
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