UniteBoston

Nurturing Relational Connections Across Boston's Christian Community

Unity in Diversity: Shalom in the Fenway

For the past five months, the UniteBoston Reps have been engaging in various activities to listen and learn from their communities. These next four weeks, each rep will be writing a brief blog to share their findings with the Greater Boston Christian community. This week, Betsy Slate, Director of Community Engagement at Fenway Church is sharing her insights from the Fenway Community.

We dream of having every community in Boston connected with a UB Rep! UB Rep Cohorts begin in October and extend to May. If you’re interested in being a UB Rep in your community, email Kelly Steinhaus, kelly@uniteboston.com


(Photo Credit: www.colleges-fenway.org)

Strolling through the Fenway neighborhood, you’re likely to meet people from all walks of life. You may meet Fatma, who has come from Saudi Arabia to the area for its proximity to the Longwood Medical Center; her daughter is ill with a disease that she’s come to Children’s Hospital with hope for a cure. Continuing down Boylston Street, you meet someone like Mark, a student from California who has come to study music at Berklee, just trying to figure out the ins and outs of adulthood. As you pass the Fenway Victory Gardens, you meet Janine and Bobby, long-term residents who find a sense of community in the very ground of the Fenway. Rounding the bend, you bump into Clara, a resident of the Fenway for over three decades, working to see the community become just that – a community, a people that care about one another and the state of the neighborhood.

The beauty of the Fenway lies therein; a diverse group of people brought together geographically – often for a limited period of time. This neighborhood is denoted by transition, which puts the area at risk for great instability. With the number of families dropping each year, the increase of young, transient residents and ever-rising housing prices, one could look at the Fenway and think it’s headed for disaster. But, if you search for God’s heartbeat in the humdrum of this bustling neighborhood, you’ll hear a different rhythm, one that softly drums hope.

Despite the odds being stacked against the neighborhood, God is bringing together individuals from these different social groups to generate unity for social impact. This is not a community that backs down from a challenge; organizations like the Fenway Community Development Corporation (FCDC) are bringing together students, long term residents, and families to build an “urban village” – a place with ample and affordable housing, healthy local business, shared indoor and outdoor community spaces, and good access to transportation. Further, residents and developers – typically at odds – are partnering to see a Community Center come to fruition. While these may look “practical” and not “spiritual,” they are the instruments God can use to bring about a community knitted together in shalom – community-wide, holistic peace characterized by relationships as He intended.

Though we’re seeing the first signs of partnership between residents and students, there is still much to be done. On the whole, the church in the Fenway can partner to bring peace and reconciliation alongside local community workers. Division seems to always be at work in the Fenway. Even the geography reflects the struggle between unity and division: the Fens – the park system iconic of the neighborhood – is both a space to unite the neighborhood and which separates the Fenway in an east-west divide. Churches in the Fenway must unite across geography and turf, and share a common vision to see this neighborhood transformed. Followers of Jesus throughout the Fenway can then enter community organizations as learners with a sense of peace and unity that will come to the whole neighborhood.

Futher, the church can function as peacemakers between disparate groups in the Fenway. Long term residents sometimes feel at odds with students, the transience of whom lead to increased housing costs and poor living conditions within the neighborhood; whereas students are largely unaware of their place in the community. The church can act as ministers of reconciliation in the Fenway by facilitating the connection between the residential community and the student community. A neighborhood is not one group or another; rather, it includes everyone who lives in that area. Students have a place in and responsibility to the community, and residents have a role in welcoming students to the neighborhood. The church can model the former to students, and introduce students and residents to one another.

Disparate groups are not meant to coexist, in the Fenway or otherwise, but to engage with one another. As God directed the Israelites in Jeremiah 29, so are we to seek the welfare of the city, of the neighborhood, in which we find ourselves. God is already at work in this neighborhood; let us partner with Him as peacemakers to see unity in the Fenway. The church can and must weave itself into the fabric of the community, and help others do the same, with the hope of bringing unity and shalom to the Fenway neighborhood – one step toward seeing unity across Boston.

On the right, Betsy Slate is Director of Community Engagement at Fenway Church

Boston’s South End and UniteBoston

For the past five months, the UniteBoston Reps have been engaging in various activities to listen and learn from their communities. These next four weeks, each rep will be writing a brief blog to share their findings with the Greater Boston Christian community.

We dream of having every community in Boston connected with a UB Rep! UB Rep Cohorts begin in October and extend to May. If you’re interested in being a UB Rep in your community, email Kelly Steinhaus, kelly@uniteboston.com
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Photo Credit: Flickr.com

By Ralph Kee, UniteBoston Rep: South End

I’ve been encouraged to see how God is working throughout the South End. Recently, pastors or designated representatives of churches that meet in or within a couple of blocks of the South End have been holding 2-hour meetings together every six weeks for the last year, for the purpose of South End focussed Great Commission collaboration. Fifteen churches have attended at least one meeting, with an average of six or so churches and twelve or so people at each meeting. The South End itself is about one square mile with some 35,000 residents, and there are 35 churches of all kinds are listed in the South End, so as you can see, the need is great.

At each of the meetings, individuals representative of various Boston endeavors have presented their work, their needs, as well as their offers to help South End churches, collectively or individually. At recent meetings, there has been discussions on helping South End public schools, helping reduce South End street violence, helping families affected by violence, connecting with Tenants Development Corporation, and helping refugees adjust to Boston. In addition to this, a collaborative outdoor Easter Sunrise Service was held in a South End park, with components of the service led by five of the churches and about forty people in attendance.

There are many realities facing the South End of Boston at this time, such as the ongoing loss of church buildings to high-end condos, the increasing number of millionaires, and the reality that whole new mini-neighborhoods are being constructed in or near the South End. Christians need to address these current realities, and collectively come up with an answer to the question: how do the churches put their expertise to work collaboratively for further South End Kingdom-building? And can we collaboratively be out in the coffee shops and in the parks this summer doing some friendship building and evangelism? These are things for the South End churches themselves to decide. And then, as led, do.

The group is now at a critical point. After a year of meetings, concrete results need to be seen if interest is to continue. Unless this kind of endeavor produces two things at the same time: added strength and growth to individual participating churches and at the same time added additional strength and growth and evangelistic success to the whole Body of Christ in the South End, interest and participation in this endeavor will lapse. We hope this effort to collaborate will be successful.

We praise God for UniteBoston, for its commitment to neighborhood focussed collaborative vision-building and practice. My UniteBoston prayer walk around the INK Block construction was a memorable prayer walk. Getting the UniteBoston Reps that focus on various Boston neighborhoods regularly around the same table is critical. Constantly learning from each other and encouraging each other is basic to success That’s what they did in the Book of Acts and what we need to do in Boston, and UniteBoston is helping enable this to happen.

Harvard Square: There’s No Place Like Home

For the past five months, the UniteBoston Reps have been engaging in various activities to listen and learn from their communities. These next four weeks, each rep will be writing a brief blog to share their findings with the Greater Boston Christian community.

We dream of having every community in Boston connected with a UB Rep! UB Rep Cohorts begin in October and extend to May. If you’re interested in being a UB Rep in your community, email Kelly Steinhaus, kelly@uniteboston.com

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Harvard Square: There’s No Place Like Home

by Kelly Steinhaus

Cambridge has been my home community for almost six years now, and I’m coming to understand that in many ways, the Cambridge community is like a brick. 29% of Cambridge is enrolled in college (1), whose campuses are characterized by red brick buildings. In Cambridge, a person’s tends to be defined by the letters after their name, and, like a brick I’ve found many people in Cambridge to have a hard outer shell. Yet, I’ve also found that, once people trust you, people in Cambridge will open up and become some of the most loyal friends you could ever hope to have.

For many, a brick is also symbolic of “home,” which many people in Cambridge do not have. On one night in 2013, it was determined that 537 persons in Cambridge were homeless (2). Anyone who walks around Harvard Square will notice friends young and old who are living on the street. In fact, Tom Magliozzi said that “Harvard Square is the bum capital of the world.” (3)

Over the past few months as a UB Rep, I’ve become stirred by this issue and am seeking the answer to one question – What would it look like for the churches to come together to serve people who are experiencing homelessness?

As I began researching, I realized that what we don’t need is another soup kitchen. Lunch is served every day in three locations in Cambridge, with 12 dinner meals throughout the week – and this is only the beginning of the abundance of resources available. So what should be done?

I interviewed three people with this question, and found one common thread: What people experiencing homelessness need most is a friend. Tim & Alice Colegrove serve as friends and advocates of homeless youth in Harvard Square, emphasized that “We need a shift in our attitude from charity to mutuality. The church doesn’t need to provide services, they need to build relationships.” Similarly, Alex Grant from Hope Fellowship Church said that while we can’t eliminate homelessness, we can have a change of heart where we look at those we pass during the week and desire to help them.

I also had the opportunity to interview Stephanie Akert, Cambridge’s Director of the Multi-Service Center for the Homeless. From her perspective, one of the biggest needs is to help people transition to permanent housing. We brainstormed ideas as to how churches could alleviate the loneliness that plagues many formerly homeless people who become housed. Churches could be matched with individuals and families who become housed to provide welcome baskets and walk alongside them as friends in their new community. However, the logistics of this effort would be quite difficult due to restrictions in confidentiality and the dispersal of home placements far from Cambridge.

A few friends and I did an interesting experiment a few months ago – we stood in the middle of Harvard Square with signs that read, “Free Hugs.” While many were skeptical and walked by, a few brave souls came to give us a hug. They left grinning and laughing, bringing smiles to others passing by. This momentary embrace of perfect strangers celebrated our common desire for community. (Click on the image below to watch)

The UB Reps program has helped me to see Cambridge holistically. I’m coming to understand that more than a physical home, people need a spiritual place they can call home; a community where they are loved and appreciated for who they are, not just what they do. My church (Journey Church) is officially launching to the city in September with a campaign called “Helping Others Find Their Way Home.”

You see, a brick is only significant because of what it is a part of – a larger wall, placed in alignment with many other bricks. Truly, in Cambridge, there’s no place like home.

Boston Fellows: The Difference They Made

Today, Father Kelly Madden shares a testimony from the recent cohort of Boston Fellows that just spent a year in intentional Christian community and spiritual formation.

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Measuring progress in a spiritual program can be tricky and the Boston Fellows is, at base, a program of spiritual formation. We help recent college graduates start well in the working world, beginning with habits of the heart. One measure is their time daily in God’s Word, in prayer, in listening, following. Each of them cultivated this daily practice as a habit of the heart over the course of the year. We look for other signs of growth.

But it may surprise you to know how much we emphasize and measure their work at their jobs as a measure of growth. Their workplace is the laboratory of the program. Their service and witness to Christ depends on their doing good work for an employer.

What’s that look like?

Well, if Jesus is our Lord and model, how did he work? Can there be any question that Jesus was an excellent carpenter? A few years ago The Passion of the Christ illustrated this. Jesus is seen innovating in the design of a fine set of table and chairs he is making.

The Boston Fellows ’14 cohort have excelled at their work.


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Amanda’s employer publicly and spontaneously praised her at a businessmen’s breakfast I attended, for her admin work in financial services. She was also the primary administrator of a benefit gala for Bethel Institute for Justice in Boston. Some 600 people attended, including Mayor Tom Menino and the Boston Police Commissioner. They raised $700,000 in one evening to help at-risk youth and families in Boston in the name of Christ. Amanda excelled here.

Yet to excel is, literally, to “go beyond.” So the Fellows not only work proficiently at whatever tasks they have been hired to do. We have them design, propose, and carry out an above-and-beyond project for their host organization as well. Amanda initiated a project that redesigned her employer’s website, for example.


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Paul, for another example, works for Biobase-International, a pharmacogenomics company that indexes the latest research on how genetic variations change the effects of pharmaceutical medicines. Paul wrote a program in the computer language Python. (Which, by the way, he taught himself.) The program alters the raw data into a format that allows clients to incorporate the database into their own software systems rather than using an online version of the database. Big advantage for the clients, increased revenue for the company. And you then take prescription drugs that heal you, not kill you.

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Meredith works for the 1,400-employee publishing giant, EBSCO. She proposed and developed a database to keep track of subscriptions and log-in information for the thousands of journals that they digitize used by the main organization and its two daughter companies.

In addition to their paid work, the Fellows also excel—go beyond—by doing community service, and serving in the church where they are based.


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So while Pieter, as his workplace project, developed a way to connect people seeking help for sexual brokenness with godly therapists, he also took the lead both in a Bible study for the church youth group and in another outreach for twenty-something’s in the area.


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And while Jim significantly improved the way documents are processed at the healthcare IT company athenahealth, and was several times named best worker on his team there, he also completely redesigned our website, www.BostonFellows.com (no comment necessary!), led musical worship from the piano as part of the church’s worship team, and… and….

They did all this, remember, while each was working at their first job since graduating from college.

How’s it going?

They are excelling, praise God!

Visions in Dark Places

This week, Doug Hall from the Emmanuel Gospel Center shares with UniteBoston a reflection following an event he had attended at Lion of Judah in the South End of the city.

Doug and Judy Hall have had a tremendous influence in the body of Christ, here in the Greater Boston area over the past 50 plus years. Doug began leading the Emmanuel Gospel Center, with his wife Judy, in 1964, and is also the current president. He is an adjunct professor with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary as well. Together, they wrote, ‘The Cat and The Toaster,’ and have worked side by side in urban ministry since the early 1960’s.

This past April during an event hosted at Congregation Lion of Judah’s new facility, they were both impacted by the dramatic difference they had witnessed at the site of this new building, at 68 Northhampton Street in the South End.

They reflected on how much had changed in the past 35 years. Once this had been a terrible slum with a violent bar at it’s center, but over the decades a tremendous transformation has taken shape.

Doug shared that they remembered a important evangelistic meeting that was held at this location in 1969. Following that event two significant things transpired:
1. The bar in the center of this slum, ‘Louie’s Lounge’, burned to the ground that very same night.
2. Judy experienced a vision where she saw that this location would be redeemed by significant Christian developments in the days to come.

The redemption did not happened as quickly as they hoped, but over time the spiritual landscape has indeed changed not just in this location but in the city of Boston and surrounding communities.

Doug said that they were encouraged years ago, when an anointed church planter named Juan Vergara came to start a Hispanic church in the South End, together with Ralph Kee and the Conservative Baptist group. The church originally started at EGC’s building, but later moved to Cambridge, under the name Central Baptist (Iglesia Bautista Central). Years later an EGC staff member Eduardo Maynard, challenged this church to acquire some property that had come available on Northampton Street, they did so, with no knowledge that it overlooked the very site of the evangelistic prayer meeting held in 1969. What was once an urban ghetto became the site of a thriving Christian community.

It is significant to note that this all began with a meeting that invited the presence of God, and a vision from God given to a woman who would foresee that in this dark place God would do a redemptive miracle.

Doug shared, “When I think of the restoration we are witnessing today, it appears to be aligned with the scripture found in Luke 3:4-6:”
“ As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
A voice of one calling in the desert,
Prepare the way for the Lord,
Make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in,
Every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
The rough ways smooth.
And all mankind will see God’s salvation.”

Doug said, “This was one of a number of visions that were revealed in dark and desolate places, visions that prophesied God’s redemptive power would indeed be poured out in our city. The Quiet Revival, that represents the move of God happening now just below the surface through church planting and ministries throughout the city, began when Boston was on the verge of economic collapse, and filled with slums. But God has made the rough places smooth. It may be wise for us to pay attention to visions that occur in dark places, because surely through those visions we are seeing God’s redemptive power being displayed today.”

Below, two young woman pray over the city during UniteBoston’s spring evening night of prayer for Boston.

Written by Sheila Donegan


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