Urban Issues
Bishop Laurie was born and bred in the East End of London and worked for fifty years within dense urban communities, both inner city and sprawling estate, within the UK. He began his urban studies in New York in 1968 under Professor George (Bill) Webber, of East Harlem Protestant Parish, and Professor Niall Harper of New York Theological Seminary. He worked with the Puerto Rican gangs of East Harlem before returning to the UK where he has lived and worked in Birmingham’s Handsworth, Gravelly Hill, and Aston and in London’s Poplar (Canary Wharf and Isle of Dogs).
More recently he has written Urban Mission and the Kingdom of God, SPCK, which proved to be a Church Times “Book of the Year”. The reviewer acclaimed it as, “the best book on urban ministry I’ve ever read.” It looks at the urban scene in the context of globalisation and stresses the importance of seeing the interrelation of rich and poor areas, and from that he draws out a liberative theology, giving plenty of examples of ways forward for the Church’s ministry and mission. 
Bishop Laurie is chair of the Church of England’s Urban Strategy Consultative Group and a member of the Urban Bishop’s Panel. He is also a founder of the international Anglican Urban Network. He is currently living and working in the Thames Gateway regeneration area and so is co-editing a book on Regeneration issues and how the Church should respond to them. 
Towards an International Anglican Network and Commission on Faith in an Urban World, February 1999
Addressing Urbanisation - A way forward for the Anglican Communion, September 2000
Towards an Urban Strategy for the Church of England, a paper written for the House of Bishops, December 2001
Addressing the Global City, Texas 2002
Urban Ministry in a Global Context, address at book launch of Urban Ministry and the Kingdom of God, SPCK, 2003
Urban Seminar, Madurai, India, 2008