Ministry in the City HUB Update, February 2026

Dear HUB friends,

Happy Lunar New Year to those celebrating another beginning this month! We’ve had another eventful few weeks, with a lot to celebrate and to lift up.

Maria traveled to downtown Orlando on Feb 10-12. She met with HUB Strengthening Pastoral Formation (Research) grantee Dr. Hosffman Ospino, and went to visit HUB Faithful Futures grantee Rev. Omar Johnson. Omar is collaborating with local pastor Rev. Hector Sanchez to provide arts programming for kids at Torre de Refugio (TDR) Ministries’ academy.

Our Grant-Stewarding team has been regularly hosting Thursday afternoon online grantee meetings to introduce cohort members to each other, to share updates, to encourage each other, and to lift each other up in prayer. It’s been a powerful to hear how God is at work in small and big ways, and to walk alongside grantees in their faithful steps of ministry practice.

Next week, we will be installing and celebrating the opening of the Creative Community Care (CCC) traveling exhibit in its Canadian debut at Toronto Chinese Mennonite Church on March 6. The church is also graciously hosting our HUB Regional Gathering Toronto, where 12 ministry leaders and theological educators from the greater Toronto area and Winnipeg will gather on March 5-6. CCC artists Alysia Nicole Harris and Naomi Kuo will join us for this time, and lead arts workshops. Please pray for the ways we will see God at work in new ways.

Stay tuned for new opportunities coming your way next month. We will be opening up applications for 16 participants to attend HUB Summer Camp (June 15-18) in New York City. This year, we will focus on building capacity to cultivate teaching and learning communities. There will also be another round of HUB Local Gathering and Affinity Working Group grants. If you missed the opportunity to apply last fall, this is open to those in the HUB network who have not previously received a grant in these categories.

Until next month, stay warm and well!

Maria and Mark (with the HUB team)
Highlights
Food and Fellowship, March 2026
NET-MAKING
Join us for our next Food and Fellowship on Thursday, March 26th! Food and Fellowship is a time we can connect with one another in prayer and encouragement and share resources as we minister in our city contexts. If you have something helpful you’ve used lately or developed in your ministry or grant project you’d like to introduce to our network, please reach out to Rex at rex@cityseminaryny.org ahead of time. Don’t forget to RSVP so we can send you a Seamless gift card and know to expect you!
Introducing rooted: A Publication Grounded in Community
GRANT STEWARDING
We’re celebrating the work of HUB Grantee, De'Amon Harges, with the release of the first issue of rooted, a new quarterly publication from The Learning Tree. The Learning Tree’s work is grounded in urban communities where residents’ gifts and voices are often overlooked, yet where faith, resilience, and creativity abound. The organization’s approach centers on listening, relationship-building, and empowering local leadership to address challenges and celebrate community strengths. You can view the magazine and read more about this initial release here.
So.Do.Be.Free
RESOURCE SHARING
See.Do.Be.Free.: A Liberating Resource for Communities Called to Love and to Serve is designed to help faith communities cultivate human flourishing in their contexts, and comes with an open invitation to an ongoing conversation that can be joined at any time and engaged in any order. The material is ordered in a sequence that creates a cohesive whole, but that can still be engaged from different angles by different learners with different concerns and questions. Learn more.
Light Breaking Out
STORY-TELLING
In this season of Light Breaking Out, we are speaking with the artists from the Creative Community Care residency on their experience and continued engagement in art, faith, and community. In our latest episode, we had a conversation with De'Amon Harges and Alysia Nicole Harris. Hear them share about how they entered into the residency and how their projects bore witness and expressed care for the stories of their neighbors and communities, past and present. Listen Now.

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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