Katherine Stewart writes about how church planting uses public schools to reduce rent and retake secular Boston
National Day of Prayer
UniteBoston is always excited to see Christian leaders working together, and the National Day of Prayer is one of the foremost examples of this.
On May 7, 2015, all 50 Governors and the President of the United States proclaimed the 64th annual National Day of Prayer as millions of Americans gathered from coast to coast in solemn assembly. It was the single, largest mobilized call to prayer in the history of our nation with more than 43,000 events taking place at courthouse steps, parks, offices, government buildings, churches and homes symbolizing a single prayer – one voice – one cry – for such a time as this.“ In Massachusetts we had over 30 events, and in Boston,we had over 110 people in attendance at the State House and 150-200 people in attendance at Lion of Judah – TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY!
It is our desire to partner with ministries and local churches to train and mobilize the Church in effective prayer and we need your help to make that happen. If you are interested in hosting a seminar, or training, please do not hesitate to contact us at praymassachusetts@gmail.com. Please be on the lookout for regional seminars that will take place quarterly and more information on Pray351. You can also be a blessing to our movement by making a contribution that will enable us to travel throughout the state providing the necessary support to the local church by making a donation below!
His Kingdom Come!
LaTonya V, Brown
2015 HOST COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Reverend Dr. Roberto Miranda, Congregación León de Judá
Archbishop A. Livingston Foxworth, Grace Church of All Nations
Reverend Bryan Wilkerson, Grace Chapel
Reverend Liz Walker, The Historic Roxbury Presbyterian Church
Reverend Steven Chin, Boston Chinese Evangelical Church
Reverend Matthew K. Thompson, Jubilee Christian Church
Reverend Chuck Wimer,Jubilee Family Outreach Center
Bishop Brian Greene, Pentecostal Tabernacle
Reverend David Hill, Event Coordinator, Abundant Grace Church
Minster LaTonya V. Brown, MA Coordinator, National Day of Prayer
The Power That Brings Hope
This week, Ryan Garza shares a self-produced video about the hope Christ has given him, despite the darkness of circumstances around him. He writes:
On the night of September 9th, 2014 I was doing homework in my room when suddenly I felt inspired to begin writing. I opened a word document and began writing about finding hope in my generation. After living in Boston for about two years now, I have realized how desperate people are for hope. The goal of this video is to spread the hope that I, and so many other people, have in us everyday. I hope this video inspires healing and restoration to all those who see and hear this message.
You can watch the video on Youtube here:
Follow Ryan on Instagram – ryan.garza or Twitter – @ryanagarza
Boston Globe: Churches Expand Ministries in New Ways
Read this article recently published in the Boston Globe about the various ways that Boston’s churches are creatively sharing the good news of Christ in this season:
A Romans 12 Vision for Unity
Kelsey is a second year intern with Cru campus ministry in Boston. She’s also serving as a UniteBoston Rep on the MIT campus. This year she will be trailblazing a new internship in the northeast called Freedom58, a partnership between Cru and International Justice Mission, to bring Biblical Justice into Christian conversation at universities.
One of my co-workers has pointed out that I’ve caught the “unity bug”. I caught it as a senior at Cornell University, sitting beside my Jewish friend along with 600 Christians and non-Christians in the arts quad for an inter-fellowship Easter service. Two years later, it is Holy week again and I find myself in a small crisis of faith, wondering if this bug I’ve caught is from the Lord. So I asked Him to show me what unity is supposed to look like, and He responded with Romans 12.
“A LIVING SACRIFICE” – OBEDIENCE
The chapter begins, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” When I look back into the Old Testament, asking what a “holy and acceptable” sacrifice looks like, it is clear that God’s desire is for obedience.
It feels, though, like obedience is a bad word in the church today. We obey to an extent, but we are so afraid of legalism that we easily justify disobedience in the name of freedom.
But dream with me for a moment. What if we were all to be true, living sacrifices? David says “the sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite heart.” The Hebrew word shachah, translated to “worship”, means to lie prostrate. I imagine the best physical description of a broken and contrite heart would be shachah. What if we were all to live our lives prostrate before God, obedient to such an extreme that we let go of our pride, our fear, our personal convictions, our own dreams and aspirations? What if, like Abel, we really were to withhold nothing from God? I see a church, prostrate at the throne of God, with one voice singing “holy, holy, holy is the Lamb.”
“MANY MEMBERS, ONE BODY” – HUMILITY
Next, Paul warns everyone “not to think of himself more highly than he ought, but to think with sober judgment.” The next verse describes a body of many members, paralleling the one Church body comprised of many gifts.
The day before Easter this year, we hosted an Easter Arts and Music Festival at MIT. It was the dream of one visionary student. We didn’t assign it to a particular group or fellowship, but simply said, “we want to worship Jesus and see people saved”. I have never seen anything like what resulted.
In the days leading up to the event, five different universities, three local churches, three campus ministries, and four national ministries gathered on MIT’s campus to pray for souls to enter the Kingdom of God. It didn’t matter that some were speaking in tongues while others were praying “hail Mary’s”. The prayer team, prophet team, food team, worship team, hospitality team, and tree-climbing set-up team all came with no agenda but to humbly serve the vision of one student who wanted to glorify the Resurrected King. One man’s words to me were “I’ve been here from set up to take-down, and I have never seen this before. Every single person’s heart is united. Everyone wants to praise Jesus.”
GENUINE LOVE
At the end of the night, the student who organized the Easter festival was so overcome with gratitude, she commented, “I wonder if they all realize how much I love them.”
Having communicated with all the separate teams, I had to laugh at her and ask, “Do you realize how much they all love you?!”
That night I learned that unity doesn’t happen for unity’s sake. Our goal wasn’t to unite people. It was so incredibly simple- to love Jesus. Because the motivation was clear, genuine, and right, the love that was directed upward at Jesus seemed to rain down on us all, warming our hearts with a true and genuine love for one another.
Romans 12 starts with God’s loving mercy and ends with our brotherly love. There’s the key to unity- it starts and ends with love.
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