UniteBoston

Nurturing Relational Connections Across Boston's Christian Community

Soccer Nights: Building Friendships from Around the World

By: Tim Fleck

Last week I had the opportunity to volunteer with Soccer Nights, a free evening soccer camp for children in Cambridge and the surrounding towns.  Soccer Nights is a partnership between the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, other local churches , the Cambridge Police Department, and an apartment complex near the field, and exists to promote athletic excellence, leadership, and community. Most importantly, it gives Christians all over Boston the chance to unite and show love to our neighbors.

Soccer is the world’s most global sport, and Soccer Nights is probably one of the most global experiences  in Boston.  I volunteered just one week last year and one week this year, and I have met children, parents, and volunteers from Morocco, Algeria, Bangladesh, Jordan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Peru, India, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Kenya, Haiti, Canada, and Alaska.   The kids bond quickly with their teammates across boundaries of race and religion, and always get excited when a teammate scores, which shows how artificial these boundaries are.  Of course, they are also quick to bad-mouth people on other teams (which are randomly chosen hours or days earlier), which shows our natural desire to have boundaries.

Soccer Nights has meant a lot to me personally because it has opened up relationships with Christians in different churches, who often approach faith differently, interpret the Bible differently, or otherwise can contribute a fresh perspective on what it means to follow Christ.  Coaches work in pairs, and between running passing drills and trying to keep kids from wandering off, Roger and I got a chance to talk about what being a Christian meant to each of us.  When I needed to talk to someone outside my church about a tough situation in my faith last year, I met up with Roger, and he encouraged me to persevere in my faith despite the doubts and fears I had at the time.

Some of the volunteers are soccer fanatics like me, but Soccer Nights needs volunteers for all kinds of tasks.  Volunteers set up fields and sound equipment, register children, teach lessons on nutrition, distribute snacks, and play with toddlers too young for the instructional program, in addition to demonstrating soccer fundamentals.  Maybe you’re looking to make a difference in children’s lives, build bridges from the church to those outside the church, reach out to the poor, meet other Christians (and non-Christians) from different backgrounds and denominations, welcome newcomers from around the world to Massachusetts, or engage with your community.  Whatever your goal is, I hope you’ll give Soccer Nights a shot.

Soccer Nights runs 6-8:30pm at multiple sites in Greater Boston. The next sessions are July 11-15 and July 25-29. Volunteer times commitments are flexible.  For more information, call 617-252-0005 (option 2)  or visit www.soccernights.org

Tim Fleck is a UniteBoston Fan and Soccer Nights Volunteer

https://uniteboston.com/soccer-nights-building-friendships-from-around/

A Unified Team
By: Kelly Steinhaus

A few years ago, I was training with the ambition of making the national rowing team – practicing twice a day, six days a week. One fall morning, I realized that my passion and desire for rowing had left. Then, throughout the next few months, God replaced this with an incredible dream for unity within the Christian community here in Greater Boston. I want to share a little bit about what I’ve learned about Christian unity based on my background as a rower.
 
Principle 1: A team acts, thinks and moves as one
One of the reasons rowers look so united is because they act, think, and move as one. When everyone is synchronized, the work almost becomes effortless, and there is nothing like the feeling of eight rowers moving together, flying over the water.

The book of Acts describes the first Christian church as being “of one accord” and having “one heart and mind.” Yet, over the years the Church has divided time and time again until now there are over 500 Christian denominations. It’s as if we are rowing twenty different boats on twenty different teams, competing with one another and pulling Jesus in opposite directions.
 
As Christians we belong in the same boat to act, think, and move as one and be permeated with oneness.(Ephesians 4:4-6).

Principle 2: A team is united in spirit
Near the end of an exhausting race, I would wonder if I could make it to the end. At this time, our leader would shout out: “OK, now we are going to pull 10 strokes Let’s keep the winning tradition alive!”
 
There was something about her call that lit the fire within me. In a race or a battle it is easy to get overwhelmed by struggle, but we must remember the deeper purpose that unites us. As Christians, we have a depth of unity that is unparalleled by anything else in this world, we are not only sacrificing our time and energy for our school team but our entire lives for Jesus, the one who made us and who died on the cross for us.  
 
Principle 3: A team earnestly endeavors to keep the unity
Occasionally situations arose among team members which caused us to be divided mentally. If even one person wasn’t working in complete mental and physical unison, you could feel the resistance throughout the boat. We quickly learned that keeping unity was of utmost importance.
 
In Ephesians 4:3 Paul writes that we must "make every effort" to keep the unity of the spirit among the Christian community. However, the word here in Greek (spoudazo) implies a much deeper meaning “to intensely labor; to endeavor to keep; to guard or watch over.” Like rowers intensely laboring at physical and mental capacity, we must fight with intensity and discipline for the unity we already have within the Holy Spirit.
 
Principle 4: A team embraces the diversity of the team members
In a rowing shell, each person has a different role. I found that when I understood my own role within the boat, it helped the boat go function more effectively. I believe that unity doesn’t imply uniformity. Rather, true unity embraces the diversity amongst the individuals.
 
Rather than denying the differences between denominations, let’s embrace the uniqueness among parts of the body and learn from one another. Rather than compete with one another, we complete each other as the body of Christ “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Ephesians 4:16).
 
Principle 5: A team encourages one another
My novice year rowing, we shouted encouraging words to each other during the race.  It is a well-established rule  that rowers do not talk in the boat. The thought is that if you have breath to shout, you’re not working hard enough. For a few weeks, my coach would not allow us to talk in the boat, and it drastically decreased our speed. My coach then rescinded her comments and told us to do whatever it took to go the fastest.
 
Encouragement helps us to realize that someone else believes in and support us. It’s the glue that binds good teams together in working to accomplish the same goals. For too long the church has been silent with one another, striving for the same goals but not talking to its fellow team members.

God used my experience as a rower to plant a longing for unity in my heart.  As part of UniteBoston I strive to foster this unity specifically here in Greater Boston and I hope you will join me!

What can you do to promote unity within the Christian community? I’d encourage you to begin by speaking well of other Christians. This week, you might start by saying an encouraging word about another individual or church of a different denomination than yours? This is one simple way to promote the unity of the spirit, as God desires for us, His church. When we come together united as one, just imagine what God will do…

Kelly is the UniteBoston Director of Operations. She can be reached at kelly@uniteboston.com

https://uniteboston.com/a-unified-team-by-kelly-steinhaus-a-few-years/

Circle of Promise

By Jillian Orlando

I recently had the opportunity to experience Boston churches and public schools joining together to serve the children of this city.  I was inspired by the unity and camaraderie of these two groups coming together around this shared goal.

The Circle of Promise Faith-Based Partnership is the Boston Public School initiative to seek the involvement of the local church. The school system is welcoming churches and volunteers into the schools to develop programming such as tutoring, mentoring, after school care, school supply drives, and more. This new program was kicked off with a dinner at Twelfth Baptist Church on May 23, 2011. Over 100 attendees including principals, pastors, rabbis, school social workers, and volunteers gathered together in the church basement to share a meal, learn about the initiative, and build relationships.

It was an inspiring occasion. Ideas were flying around the room as school leaders shared their needs and churches shared their desire to meet those needs. A panel of 3 principals and 3 faith leaders spoke to the group about these partnerships offering encouragement and advice. In some cases, churches from different denominations and neighborhoods joined together to serve. Out of these relationships students have been blessed through tutoring, backpack drives, and seeing the tangible love this city and Jesus have for them.

What I saw that evening reminded me of the importance of developing relationships. Throughout the Circle of Promise dinner, the importance of relationship came up over and over again and the value of facilitating relationships to foster unity. It is exciting to see individual schools welcoming individual churches, but what really hit home for me was the story of churches partnering and serving together in the name of Jesus. His plan for us to be unified increases our ability to impact and influence our city for God.

My goal as part of UniteBoston is to facilitate these real life relationships by increasing connectedness in the body of Christ. It is amazing to see how God can use us when we let down the barriers that divide us. I believe he is doing an incredible work in Boston breaking down walls and joining Christians together in this city!

I encourage our readers to interact on this topic in our forums. If you are a school looking to connect with a church for tutoring, backpack drives, or any other volunteer opportunities or needs, please visit the volunteering section of our forums. Similarly churches, if you are looking to partner with other churches in serving this city, please see our list of Church & Ministry Connections. Here you will find churches that support unity in the body of Christ to start building those connections and begin the journey of learning what God has planned for those relationships!

To learn more about the Circle of Promise visit http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/news/mayor-menino-announces-action-plan-“circle-promise”

Jillian is the UniteBoston Director of Marketing. She can be reached at jillian@uniteboston.com

Unity

By Kelly Steinhaus 

In my mind, the most important characteristic of UniteBoston is unity (hence the name!). UniteBoston exists to better unite the Christian community in Boston through shared experiences. We want to use today’s technology to connect this community in ways that have not been possible before.

The Church today is largely made up of fragmented groups, which is not the way that Christ designed his church to operate. It’s not “my thing” and “your thing” but “our thing.” We are to be a body, with the hand connected to the feet, connected to the eyes, and all under the influence of the Head, which is Christ.

As in 1 Corinthians 12, each part of the body is valuable, unique, and special and serves a particular function within the whole. Yes, we must understand the microcosm of God’s work but we must also gain perspective on how it relates to the big picture; how Christ is living, moving, breathing throughout the city. When one group suffers, we must support it any way we can, similar to the way a body builds up and heals itself. Thus, UniteBoston exists to connect the dots, so to speak, between various Christian churches and ministries throughout the city.

As individuals, this will allow each of us to better connect with events and ministries throughout the city that match our interests/giftings. However, not only does unity build up believers within the church, but by strengthening the “web” and “infrastructure” of God’s work throughout a city, unity is also evangelistic. As in John 17, when we are one as He is one, the world will know that God has sent his son. 

When Christians unite together, putting aside the denominational, cultural, and socioeconomic walls that have divided us and simply come around Christ, this unity will be a testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit. Then the world will know that there is something different about us. We will also be better able to meet the needs that exist throughout the city, to truly bless the city of Boston with the love of Christ. 

Kelly Steinhaus is the UniteBoston Director of Operations, she can be reached at kelly@uniteboston.com


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