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Many people are still feeling the after-shock of the Covid-19 pandemic that forced them into isolation. One of the significant challenges has been the restrictions on physical interaction. While remote gatherings can provide levels of human interaction, many have found that virtual gatherings are not sufficient enough to fill the relational void caused by isolation. It requires an uncanny type of resilience and creative methods to cultivate authentic friendships and develop new relationships.
In this week’s blog, we are excited to highlight a resilient and creative group of young people from Young Life Boston who have been intentional about developing genuine friendships even through the pandemic. According to Emma Dickinson, the writer of this blog, “this restricted season has limited our ability to host and lead traditional Young Life programs, and for the greater Church, our ability to gather in typical fashion. But it has by no means slowed our collective ability to tell the people of Boston about Jesus through the bonds of friendship.”
Emma is the Area Director of Young Life in Downtown Boston. She moved to Boston with her husband, Billy, to begin this role in September of 2020 after completing three years of Young Life staff in Buffalo, NY. As the world emerges with more and more openness beyond the pandemic, Emma shares about the need to consider the quality of our relationships as Christians.
As you read her blog, we hope you will be inspired to be more resilient and strive to find creative ways to cultivate friendship as we emerge through a season of social disconnectedness.
Can I pull back the curtain and tell you what we are talking about in one of our Young Life high school small groups?
How to be friends.
I’m not talking about how to form the elusive high school clique. And I’m definitely not talking about how to grow your Instagram followers, a perceived community based on incomplete windows into each other’s lives.
We are breaking down examples of friendship that we find in Scripture. We are talking about Ruth and Naomi, Mary and Elizabeth, Jesus with John, Peter, and James. We are asking each other hard questions about exclusion, rejection, and selfishness. We are seeing God’s good design for community, how His way is for us to live at peace with one another, by any means possible. (Romans 12:18).
We are earnestly praying for every high school student in our city – that they would know of the love Jesus has for them. And we are humbly praying for ourselves – that we could be a bright light amongst the darkness in our schools.
We don’t believe that the gospel goes out into our communities of young people because of great programs. It’s because of the Holy Spirit. It’s because of the relationships we are building with students. And it’s absolutely because of the relationships we are empowering them to have with others. One leader received a text from a student that read:
“hey. i just wanted to say thank you for inviting me to young life tonight. it’s exactly what i needed.”
This student, we will call her Julie, reached out to one of our Young Life leaders at the beginning of January with an “enough is enough” attitude. She was done doing high school on her own, done with trying to follow Jesus in her own strength. Julie did not ask for more programs and she did not ask for more resources. She asked for friendship. She asked for someone to walk alongside her as she walked toward Jesus again, after a season of waywardness.
A consequence of the pandemic has surely been further isolation for our young people. Do you want to know what I’m seeing in a culture that prioritizes self-protection and survival over gospel friendships? I am watching young people and the generations that precede them dive deeper into chosen isolation than ever before. While there are many people in Boston in isolated situations by circumstance, there are potentially many more who are simply but profoundly numb from the trauma of the last year.
This restricted season has limited our ability to host and lead traditional Young Life programs, and for the greater Church, our ability to gather in typical fashion. But it has by no means slowed our collective ability to tell the people of Boston about Jesus through the bonds of friendship.
We can be encouraged and motivated by what Paul writes in Philippians 1:12, that his difficult circumstances served him in advancing the gospel. Our pandemic chains are no match for the love of God, displayed through the body of Christ, by laying down our lives for our friends (John 15:13).
Boston, what would it require of us to continue to press in, brush off discouragement and pursue meaningful friendships? What if the revitalization of our gatherings as vaccines roll out and restrictions decrease only matter if we are fully engaged with one another in a Romans 12 kind of way?
It can be truly messy. It is most always awkward. It will cost you. You will definitely be inconvenienced. But if friendship is God’s design, and we are God’s people, and this is the city He’s asked us to serve – how else would we spend our days? Who else would we want to be?
I am praying, Boston brothers and sisters, that we’d be known for the way we pursue one another and the “other”. I am praying we’d be a witness to the friendship God has offered us. I am praying the words of Jesus, that we would be one (John 17:22).
May 13, 2021 at 10:59 am in reply to: Heart to Heart Conversations on the “Park Street Dialogues” Podcast #18163unitebostonKeymasterHey UniteBoston Community! We recently came across this really cool podcast series by Park Street Church in Boston called “Park Street Dialogues.” It features local Christian leaders from Boston who are making an impact in different sectors of the city. In each episode, Pastor Mark Booker hosts a series of conversations with various guests about their work and ministry in the city to highlight how God is at work in the city. The podcast focuses on strengthening the unity of the church and connecting Christians in Boston and beyond. Read more about the podcast in our blog below and listen to it here: http://www.parkstreet.org/dialogues/.
By K. Percy Ballah
In my work serving as the Communications Administrator with UniteBoston these past few months, we have been seeking to highlight and elevate the ways that God is at work in our city. I was impressed to see the strong theme of unity and collaboration present within the Park Street Church Dialogue podcast to “connect followers of Jesus in Boston and beyond” so that they can do more together than they can apart. In episode zero, Pastor Booker shares his deep conviction for the Church to function as a unified body. He believes that when the Church expresses unity through collaboration, they tap into a divine power that “demonstrates to the world that Jesus is alive.” According to Pastor Booker, this unity is unique because the Holy Spirit sustains it; it is “a supernatural reality, not just a social phenomenon.”
Throughout the podcast, Pastor Booker has heart-to-heart conversations with a diverse group of local Christian leaders who are making an impact through their churches, non-profits, and parachurch ministries. They discuss various topics ranging from God’s calling to serve in Boston, to racial justice, post-trauma healing, youth ministry, church planting, networking, and much more. Some voices featured on the podcast are Pastor Barry Kang from Symphony Church, Dana Baker from the Boston Trauma Healing Collaborative, Jua Robinson from Boston Collaborative, Reverend David Wright from BMA TenPoint, and Christian and Mary Grant from The Boston Project and Young Life Boston. Their collective voices provide a holistic perspective on how Jesus is working through his diverse body to address the surmounting challenges people face in our city.
Some of the featured guests on the “Park Street Dialogues” podcast.
Leaning into the honest dialogue between Pastor Booker and his featured guests provides a glimpse into the powerful ways that God is working through the local church in Boston. As the podcast audience listens intently, Pastor Booker hopes that God will speak to their hearts about the active role they are called to play to strengthen the unity of the local Church in Boston.
If you are a Christian in Boston who is longing to make an impact in your local neighborhood, I encourage you to check out this podcast. I am confident that you will feel inspired to partner with other Christians in your local community as you learn about the diverse ways God is at work in the city. The Park Street Dialogues podcast is available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. Or, just start by listening here: http://www.parkstreet.org/dialogues/.
unitebostonKeymasterThis Thursday was the National Day of Prayer, and we’re honored to feature a blog written by the coordinator of the inaugural UB School of Prayer! Anne Freeman lives in Roslindale and works as a free-lance American Sign Language interpreter. She also serves as Coordinator of New England Deaf & Hard of Hearing Ministry under the umbrella of The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts. Anne is married and has a teenage daughter. Read below to hear about how prayer can be a powerful tool for nurturing spiritual unity across Christians.
Prayer is a uniting practice that we as Christians participate in, but due to COVID 19, we’ve had limited opportunities to pray together in person. I was feeling a bit frustrated over the lack of places for us to go deeper in prayer, both in learning about it as well as praying together. To my knowledge, there were no initiatives that provided both learning and praying with others, so I sensed an invitation from God to take the initiative and see what might be done to go deeper in prayer with Christians throughout the city.
After some conversations and prayer with leaders from my house church, I checked with Rev. Kelly Fassett, team leader for UniteBoston, to see if I could serve under that umbrella to offer both teaching on prayer and prayer itself. She agreed to give me a chance to try something new, and the UniteBoston School of Prayer was born!
Ideas came to mind for what this might look like: sessions that offered teachings on a variety of topics related to prayer from a variety of places in the Body of Christ in the greater Boston area. An opportunity for both lay people and professional clergy to do the teachings. A format for the participants to pray together, using what they had just learned and in so doing, maturing in their understanding, experience and expression of prayer.
I also strongly value the mission of UniteBoston, which encourages unity by encouraging us to focus on what we all have in common. I think praying together and sharing what we’ve learned with each other is a way to pursue God’s dream for unity as we “major on the majors.” Above all, I recognized that the way we grow in prayer is by praying!
I created a flyer and was able to line up six great teachers from a broad spectrum of Christian backgrounds to lead the first six meetings: Joy Niemiera, Doreen Bennett, Pastor Dave Hill, Lorienne Schwenk, Pastor Kathleen Verna, and myself. We covered our own personal prayer histories, intercessory and contemplative prayer, Lectio Divina, going from duty to delight, praying the Word, and the ACTS acronym.
In the survey that I sent after the sessions were over, I learned that many appreciated the chance to be part of the meetings and thought it made for greater learning to move out of the circles they normally fellowship in. They felt enriched in their understanding of the aspects of prayer that were covered, and found what we were doing to be refreshing. These are exactly the things I was hoping for!
It was truly a pleasure for me to see teachers in action. They told me it was an honor and blessing to get the invitation to lead. I felt like a producer, getting to use my administrative and networking skills to plan and organize these meetings. Zoom proved to be a useful tool because we could not have done this in person. I suppose I can consider it a pandemic “silver lining”!
Because all participants were interested in prayer in the first place, they brought a lot to the table regarding knowledge and experience. These were not rookies! Most of them serve as leaders either in their home churches or in a parachurch organization, however, their humility in realizing that they still have more to learn was evident.
The first woman to register told me that she felt this was an answer to prayer. She was just telling God her prayer life was weak and then got the flier about the School of Prayer!
John Bumyan said “You can do more than pray after you pray, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.” I am convinced that prayer is a primary component of God’s kingdom coming to our city. I was inspired by how God worked through this initiative and am looking forward to hosting another School of Prayer soon!
We are grateful for Anne taking the initiative to launch and organize the School of Prayer! You can read a summary Powerpoint from each of the sessions here. If you’re interested in being notified for future opportunities such as these, you can contact Anne Freeman at annefreeman14@gmail.com
unitebostonKeymasterToday, we’re featuring a reflective piece by UniteBoston’s Team Leader, Rev. Kelly Fassett. Here, Kelly shares a reflection on the jury results this week of the murder of George Floyd, from her perspective as a White person and a mother.
This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about justice lately and what it means for justice to be served. I recently found a moving poem and painting created by people of color and I wanted to highlight them here.
While a jury in Minneapolis found Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts, this is not the end but a beginning. Attorney General Keith Ellison described that “I would not call today’s verdict justice, however, because justice implies restoration. But it is accountability, which is the first step toward justice.”
Derek Chauvin being held accountable for the murder of George Floyd is just a small drop in the bucket; the racism that people of color face on a day-to-day basis continue to endure, and the struggles remain. It seems like every morning, I wake up and there is another story on the news about a black or brown brother or sister getting shot, or another story about violence towards Asian-Americans. I lament this reality and long for God’s kingdom of holistic peace and justice to come forth in our world: “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream…” (Amos 5:24).
Here is a poem by Chicago-based poet Leslé Honoré that describes raising her Black son in our world today. This hit me deeply as a new mother, recognizing the injustice of how differently my daughter’s experience in life will be, purely based on the color of her skin.
“Backpacks” by Leslé HonoréWhen black boys are bornWe mothers kiss their facesTwirl our fingers in their curlsPut them in carriers on our chestShow them to the worldOur tiny black princesAnd when they start schoolAs early as 3We mothersPlace huge back packs on their backsAnd we slowly fill them with bricksEtched with toolsTattooed with truthsHoping to save themDon’t talk backDon’t get angrySay yes ma’amSay no sirDon’t fightEven if they hit you firstEspecially if they are whiteDo your bestBetter than bestBe stillWorker hardestBRICKthey get a little olderAnd we add moreKeep your hands out of your pocketsDon’t look them in the eyeDon’t challengeDon’t put your manhood before your lifeJust get home safeDon’t walk aloneDon’t walk with too many boysDon’t walk towards policeDon’t walk away from policeDon’t buy candy or ice teaDon’t put your hood upI’ll drive youI’ll pick you upYou can’t be freeDon’t go wanderingCome home to meBRICKThey get a little olderAnd we add moreUnderstand you are a threatStanding stillBreathingYour degrees are not a shieldYour job is not a shieldYour salary makes you a targetYour car makes you a targetYour nice house in a nice neighborhoodMakes you a targetDon’t put your ego before your safetyDon’t talk backDon’t look them in the eyeGet home to your wifeYour sonBRICKThey weigh them down.This knowingOf having to carry the loadOf their blacknessthe world hasn’t changedThe straps just dig deeper into their skinTheir backs acheBut their souls don’t breakOur beautiful black menWhen you say to me#AllLivesMatterI simply askWill your son dieAt a traffic stopWill your son dieFor a 20 dollar BillWill your son die with the a kneeon his neckMine haveunitebostonKeymasterToday we want to highlight the “Hope Rising Gallery” that was installed this weekend in the Boston Common as part of the Embody Conference 2021. Coordinated by the Ministry of City Engagement at Park Street Church, there were 13 different neighborhoods and 39 “neighbors” within a 1-mile radius of Park Street Church featured in the art installation. The conference website describes: “The Son of God put on flesh and moved into our neighborhood. This is called incarnation. Christianity can become an intellectualized set of ideas rather than a way of life. This is called excarnation. Jesus of Nazareth invites us to embody his life in the world.”
The purpose of this gallery is to highlight the stories of the variety of “neighbors” who live within a 1-mile radius of Park Street Church in order to spotlight the “courage and resilience of our community to rise beyond the effects of COVID-19 and to have hope to see justice persist within our city.” Participants could scan the QR codes to hear stories told in their own voices. Whether or not you were able to attend the art installation, we wanted to share with the UniteBoston community a few of the stories that were featured, in hopes that you, too, might see how “hope is rising” in our city.
unitebostonKeymasterThis week, our featured blogger is Ellie Wiener, who lives in Beverly and is a member of North Shore Community Baptist Church. Ellie is is a full-time student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. As many are growing weary with dynamics relating to the COVID-19 public health crisis, Ellie shares a powerful reflection and call to action to cling to the resurrection hope found in Jesus Christ because He is our End.
The end. These sweet words of closure place the period on the best stories, celebrated with a satisfied exhale. How is it that this common phrase of finality has frayed into elusiveness and uncertainty so abruptly? Often when I stop to probe the restlessness I register stirring within my soul, it is this devolution of my sense of “the end” I find churning at the core. I discover that once again, my fickle self sends out grasping hands to latch onto any hopeful statistic, any felicitous daydream of when and how this pandemic will come to an end so life can return to the normalcy we did not know we should have treasured so much.
But then projections prove to be a double-edged sword, for I rarely find congenial the assessments of how long it may take for society to open back up (haltingly, guardedly) to work and gathering, for distribution of vaccines to quell this unwieldy virus. Our best number-crunching and prudent proactivity are a meager match for this invisible yet formidable foe of a virus that keeps demanding more of our calendar, resources, bodies…
And then if I press on still further into the labyrinth of my heart, the dim pathways become only more grim. I encounter what I scarcely dare admit: that I most often, most strongly desire “the end” for myself first. Even though my situation is far less dire—in fact, rather pleasant on the whole—in comparison with the grieving and/or vulnerable millions worldwide who are anxious over lost jobs, pushed to the brink of starvation, mourning a loved one, physically compromised, etc., still I somehow retain the selfishness to wish first for the alleviation of what feels most unideal in my own life. Perhaps you resonate, whatever your situation may be. Yet is not the way of the cross to carry the death of Jesus around in our bodies so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our lives and the lives of those around us (2 Cor 4)? Rather than looking for the quickest escape route from suffering, should we not purposefully ally ourselves with those most likely to linger in suffering long after many have recovered and forgotten? O God, have mercy.
And in God’s mercy, may I—and we, together as the church—absorb and lament the pain of the world through tears of faithful intercession. In God’s mercy, may we enter the specific griefs of our hurting neighbors, with no hurry to exit and no agenda to accomplish other than to bear the presence of Christ in love. In God’s mercy, may we run to the sufferer with the winsome, hope-filled comforts of a tender Savior.
How may this be done? Only if our Lord is our End. We are no longer lost, for we have been found at the End, in the End; we are no longer blind, for we have beheld the End; we are no longer thirsty, for we have drunk to the End. In our God we have encountered all that is substantial and lasting, wholly satisfying truth. No longer must we linger in limbo as we restlessly pine for circumstances to emerge as we would ordain; rather, we are invited to acquiesce delightedly to life and time as God has masterfully ordained them.
What is more, Christian faith would come up tragically short if devoid of eschatology, theology of the end. Paul has said that if only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men (1 Cor 15). I am learning to cling to the resurrection of my Lord as I never have before, trusting that even now in the risen Jesus the Spirit has ushered me into the Father’s presence in the heavenly realms, uniting his people to the divine life and securing the life to come (Eph 2). It is indeed fitting that humans should recoil at the brokenness and darkness of the world, refusing to settle for anything other than wholeness and light. We are only able to stare a sin-scarred world in the face without fleeing in terror or collapsing in despair because we stand with our God who once made and declared everything good; has climactically thwarted death in the cross that gave way to life; and promises to make all things new at last. Then—how my heart burns within me—the end will come. And outstripping our wildest imagination, it will be unshakably and unendingly glorious.
unitebostonKeymasterToday, we are honored to feature Erika Anderson as a guest blogger, who writes about the significance of our embodied lives. “Embody: Follow. Seek. Take.” is the theme behind an upcoming conference and public display in the Boston Common coordinated by Park Street Church. Erika is a farm girl from South Dakota but has called Massachusetts home for ten years. She is a lawyer and lives with her husband and three daughters in Brookline. Read below to hear the theme behind the conference, about how Jesus beckons each of us to “embody, follow, seek, and take.”
“Failure to honor God in the material realm cannot be compensated for by religiosity in the spiritual realm.” ~Chris Wright
Jesus’ arrival on Earth forever negated the notion that material does not matter. The entire material universe matters to God – He created it, and He called it good. And He took on flesh and walked and ate and breathed among us. With us. Even Jesus’ miracles cannot be separated from the body. Guests celebrated by drinking new wine; newly whole bodies walked, and leaped and praised God. When Jesus speaks of who will inherit his Father’s kingdom, he speaks of welcoming bodies: “As you have done to the least of these, you have done onto me” (Mt 25:40).
The Son of God put on flesh and moved into our neighborhood. This is called incarnation. Christianity can become an intellectualized set of ideas rather than a way of life. This is called excarnation. Jesus of Nazareth invites us to embody his life in the world.
To embody is to give a tangible or visible form to. During the past year, we have been instructed to keep our bodies at home, to keep our bodies distanced, to keep our bodies safe. Yet, as Christians, we are still called to continue to embody the presence of Jesus. We are called to give a tangible form to Jesus’ love in a city that is scared, isolated, unmoored from the familiar, and uncertain about the future. As we dreamed about a conference to engage our city, we knew we wanted to tell stories of Jesus still embodied even this year – perhaps especially this year.
We have invited voices from our city to share their stories, and we invite you to a different kind of a conference: “Embody: Follow. Seek. Take.” EMBODY is a week of community happenings about incarnating the Presence of Jesus in the City.
We will consider three of Jesus’ invitations and promises through the lenses of these voices in the city:
(1) Follow me and I will make you fishers of the human race (Mt 4:19). We will walk through our neighborhoods and pray for our neighbors. We will listen to the voices of city pastors share how they created community and reached people when their doors were closed. We will hear from professionals – teachers, doctors, professional musicians, and entrepreneurs who pivoted their livelihoods and faced a health crisis unlike our city has ever seen and still found purpose, still found the kingdom at work in the midst of crisis.
(2) Seek first my kingdom, and I will add all these things to you (Mt 6:33). We will hear from an author and creator of authentic communities, Hugh Halter, speak about mission as the everyday stuff of life. We will hear voices in our city from those who sewed thousands of masks to keep our communities safe, who distributed groceries to families. We will hear how kingdom seekers fought food insecurity: from writing grants to support food pantries to food banks packing hundreds of pounds of food each week. We will hear children and teens who shared sandwiches and conversation with people experiencing homelessness at warming centers.
(3) Take my yoke, and you will find rest for your souls (Mt 11:29). Church planter and Park Street Church lead pastor, Mark Booker, will share a good word on taking Jesus’ yoke to find Jesus’ rest. We will hear from college students sharing how they have seen the embodied presence of Jesus during disruption on their campuses. And we will close the Embody conference with a special candlelight vigil, of gratitude for Jesus’ invitations and promises, gratitude for his continued embodied presence among us.
In a special photography exhibit in the Boston Common throughout the weekend, Hope Rising, we will invite the public to view photographs of people who live and work in our city and listen to their voices share their hopes and dreams for our city. We will invite each of you to add your photo and your hopes and dreams, too. These and so many more opportunities await you to follow, seek, and take during the Embody conference, April 11-18.
The kingdom continues.
Find out more at https://www.parkstreet.org/cityengagement/embody-conference/
unitebostonKeymasterShin Maeng and Sarah Shin are gifted artists and conveyors of God’s heart for justice. They both graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and now live with their baby girl in Scotland. Sarah also served as Associate National Director of Evangelism with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) and is the author of Beyond Colorblind. We wanted to share this beautiful piece of art that was inspired by Sarah’s poem, which capture the pain and also hope within generations of those in the Asian community, a powerful piece for reflection during this Holy Week.
“American 한 (Han)” by Shin Happens.“Beyond Invisible” by Sarah ShinThe tears were always there.You just didn’t recognize my face.Nor did you see behind the hunched back of the one doing your nailsThe steel frame of a mother feeding her family with 14 hour work days.Instead of seeing in our bodies and our faceThe altar of the broken faithful awaiting resurrectionYou make them instead into a graveyard for your sins.But some habits just die hard, huh?Inconvenient convenience it would beTo behold in a flattened storyThe freedom-fighters who battled war, demagogues, oceans, and despairAnd tore themselves from everything they knew to be homeThe heartache of sacrificing family past to give family future a chance.Anchors they have served to be as we strive to make this homeBut cut into them and you’ve cut looseEverything that told us to bear itEverything that said hope was worth itTo swallow tears and keep our heads down.No more now.Our dams are broke and now they floodAll around you, all around me.Do you see beyond just my face now?Do you see beyond what you didn’t see in my eyes now?Do you see meCan you see meCan you see me now?#StopAsianHate #StopAAPIHate
Explanation of the imagery (from Shin)I am Korean American. Historically, cream-white was the robe of mourning worn by Koreans at funerals, and that is what the woman at the top is wearing over my take on a han-bok. There are lamenting faces woven into the collar of her robe. Her arms are outstretched around her mother, who bears the traditional hairstyle of Korean queens in days past. (“Ma Ma” ironically means your majesty in Korean.) The 할머니 (grandmother) wears the gold-red robes that were only reserved for kings, a rightful honoring of her womanhood and protest against the invalidation, misogyny, and oppression so many Korean and Asian women by their own brothers and fathers. My wife and I grew up with Asian women pastors and leaders. We honor you. The grandmother has her arms outstretched around her granddaughter, who holds a cup full of the tears that flow down her mother’s face, down her 할머니’s face, and cascades out as they are poured onto the ground. There are no tears on the little one’s face which looks up with hope, but the tears are an offering of prayer, pain, and love, the love of mothers who sacrifice for the sake of their future families. It is a plea and prayer for help, of women of faith who have kept the family knit together in their persevering and too-often suffering love.If you want to support Shin’s art go toFrom now until the month of April, Shin will be donating the proceeds of selling this piece to two organizations: StopAAPIHate and Asian American Christian Collaborative. These offer helpful resources for reporting and resisting the anti-Asian racism we are seeing and to helping Asian-American mobilize towards faith-based action against racism.unitebostonKeymasterDr. Desiree Etienne, with her co-leaders Pastor Edris Webbe and Minister Ava-Ann Pennyfeather, leading a virtual ‘Boston United’ revival service on April 10th-11th.
When UniteBoston’s staff heard about a church event called “Boston United,” we knew we needed to talk with the organizer of this event, as it had such synergy with UniteBoston’s own name. We had the chance to interview Dr. Desiree Etienne this past week – read below to hear her goals for a time of revival and awakening for Christians in Greater Boston that transcend traditional church (or virtual) walls.
By K. Percy Ballah
Twenty-seven years ago, Dr. Desiree Etinenne moved to the United States from Antigua with a dream to pursue higher education. As she began pursuing this, God placed another dream in her heart to “see a revival that would awaken the church and the world.” While pastoring at Bethel Abundant Life Church over the past twenty-three years, she has grappled with how to make her God dream a reality. As her experiences in life and ministry revealed the spiritual and emotional challenges people were facing, and as she perceived the widened divisions within the body of Christ, she sensed that it was time to launch a gathering to invite the Holy Spirit to do a deep work of awakening in the hearts of Christians throughout the city. Last year, she took the next steps by meeting with two other women pastors to establish a revival gathering called “Boston United.”
In UniteBoston’s work to highlight the beautiful work that God is doing through various churches and ministries throughout the city, we wanted to meet with Dr. Desiree to learn about what makes her dream for awakening and revival unique. In our conversation with her, we discovered some key things that undergird her God dream:
First of all, we learned that her dream was birthed out of a personal spiritual encounter that she witnessed when her husband was miraculously healed at a revival worship service. She described, “I believed in miracles and often prayed for them, but I never saw a physical miracle happen until my husband was healed five years ago at that worship service.” That defining experience clarified her vision for what could be possible at a revival gathering. She wanted to see this type of supernatural healing take place with Christians from among the city because many people are facing overwhelming challenges that require divine intervention.
In the past year, there has been a significant increase in the struggle with emotional, mental, and physical health challenges. Also, many people are feeling lonely because they have been living in isolation. Dr. Desiree believes that these complex challenges have presented an opportunity for people to experience a spiritual awakening that could happen through a revival service.
With the restrictions in place for in-person gatherings, it has been difficult for churches to host physical gatherings. Finding a solution to this significant problem was critical to making her dream of awakening a reality. She expressed that she had been thinking through these types of questions since last year when her original revival service was canceled because of the pandemic. Consequently, Dr. Desiree and her team have adjusted their strategy to host a virtual revival gathering on April 10th and 11th. This gathering will have a virtual worship experience, praying together in breakout rooms, and a sermon by Bishop Dr. Jonathan Ramsey Jr., the Bishop that God used to heal her husband.
This adjustment to the original plan has been an unexpected twist to how Dr.Desiree envisioned awakening would happen in this revival service. However, Dr. Desiree and her co-leaders, Pastor Edris Webbe and Minister Ava-Ann Pennyfeather are determined to host this gathering because they believe that it is God’s timing. They know that God is not restricted by our distance physically from each other. God’s spirit can easily travel through the barriers of our computer screens and smartphones to touch our souls–and perhaps, wake us up so that we will step boldly into His greater purpose for our lives.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Historically, something special always happens when Christians unite to worship and pray together. This type of unity has always been a spark that ignites great awakenings and revivals. Dr. Desiree believes that “when we as a Church can unite across the denominations, and ethnic backgrounds, we will have a greater testimony to offer the world.” At times it has been frustrating for this team of women pastors to see the church not reaching its full potential and seeing the fiery love some believers once had for Jesus to grow dim.
Ultimately, they expect God to show up in a mighty way up to strengthen the bond of Christians and rekindle believers’ fire and passion for Jesus. In recognition that the oneness that Jesus prays for in John 17 is a testimony about the reconciling love of Jesus, they hope that unbelievers will then be attracted to the Church and also experience a spiritual awakening.
The “Boston United” revival service will take place on Saturday, April 10th, from 5:30pm to 7:00pm and Sunday, April 11th, from 4:00pm to 5:30pm. We would love to see Christians throughout Greater Boston join with Dr. Desiree in her dream for awakening and see how the Holy Spirit might show up as we seek God together. Click here for more information and to register.
unitebostonKeymasterHey UniteBoston! You may remember Kika Ghobrial, our incredible emcee in UniteBoston’s annual concerts such as last fall’s “Love Boston” concert. Did you know that Kika also planted a church called “Lighthouse” for young adults in West Roxbury, and has been working to produce a new Podcast called “Social Media Revivalists?” This new podcast highlights how Christians with hundreds of thousands of followers are using social media to share the gospel. We had the chance to catch up with Kika to hear more about this initiative – Read his story below to hear how people are creatively sharing the gospel and engaging with future generations.
UB: This sounds incredible. Kika, tell us how did this project get started?
Kika: Yeah it’s been a fun journey and honestly, I’ve always been interested in videos and the media world and love having some sort of creative outlet. At the end of 2020, I was ready to commit to doing something big like this so I finally made it happen! I reached out to some “big Christian Tiktokers” who have hundreds of thousands of followers to hear a bit of their story and how they are seeing God use them to bring people to Christ! Here’s a quick clip of one video that shares a bit of that story that I’ve used to promote the show on Tiktok as well. It really is amazing to see Christians online bringing real world revival and I’m just here to listen to their stories and share the good news with the rest of the Christian world.
UB: Why do you think these posts on social media took off?
Kika: I think that the pandemic increased the isolation and brought many people to ask the big questions about God, the meaning of life, and seeking greater purpose. Christians took to social media platforms, especially to Tiktok, to publicly share their faith and the strength of trusting in God in challenging times. As you’ll find out on the show, there are testimonies after testimonies of young people starting their faith journey because of what they heard others share online. In fact, in a Tiktok livestream, a young man named Elijah Lamb saw over 300 people give their life to Christ! All in one night!
UB: Wow, how does that work for all those people to indicate a profession of faith online?
Kika: With the livestreams they can see how many people are in attendance and then people can respond on the chat so Elijah had people respond through that. Crazy stuff! There’s a lot more going on that I thought when I first started this podcast – I never thought the impact was that wide-spread. You can watch the Elijah Lamb soon as it will be released on Monday night March 22.
UB: Awesome, Kika. Can you tell me more about yourself and what else you are passionate about?
Kika: I live on the Gordon College campus with my wife Rachel who is a resident director there. One of the perks of living at Gordon is that we live close to the beach and can go surfing when it’s warm enough!
I’m also passionate about connecting with young adults and growing the influence of their church to impact the local community. The big project I am working on currently is launching the English church at the Arabic Church which will be called “Lighthouse Church” and will open its doors on Easter! When I look back, it’s been quite a journey since I moved to West Roxbury from Cairo, Egypt in 2002 when my father accepted the position at this church!
UB: What do you appreciate about UniteBoston?
Kika: I love the vision of UniteBoston and the opportunity to bring Christians from all backgrounds together to unite in worship. I have built incredible relationships through those worship nights as well as through the West Roxbury community dinners that UniteBoston also hosts.
UB: What’s next for you with Social Media Revivalists?
Kika: I’m dreaming of creating a resource with names of churches and youth pastors in all major cities, so when young people give their life to Christ through online social media platforms like this, they can get connected to a local church. I recognize that this is key for life-long discipleship – and I am talking to a few people about that now!
UB: What’s your take-home message to Christians in the Boston area?
Kika: COVID has made it challenging to reach out to others to share our faith because we can’t see people as easily. What if we learned to be comfortable on social media and share our faith through the technology that is available to us? While some say technology is bad, God can use anything and redeem all things, so I would love to see us continue to find creative ways to share the hope that we have even in the midst of a pandemic!
Kika will be releasing an episode of “Social Media Revivalists” every other Monday – Check it out on Kika’s Youtube Channel, Spotify and Apple Podcasts
unitebostonKeymaster“I have been on a long journey to arrive at this point, but I am finally planted in New England to be a Pastor in Providence and a Bridge Builder in Boston for many years to come.”
After ten years with only one staff person, we are grateful for God’s provision to be able to hire Rev. K. Percy Ballah to the UB staff! Percy considers his life-long calling to be a bridge-builder. He brings skills in administration, leadership, and racial reconciliation to UB. Read below to hear Percy’s story of moving to Boston as a young adult, then pastoring at Impact Center Providence, and now his journey back to Boston to work with UB.
Coming Home: My Journey Back to Boston!
Hello UniteBoston Family!
Thank you for welcoming me to your team. My name is Percy, and I am excited to join this beautiful community! I am grateful to the faithful donors who made it possible for me to assist Rev. Kelly in the mission of nurturing Christian unity for the flourishing of the city.
Background
I was born in the country of Liberia, which is located in West Africa. I moved to America at twelve years old after surviving three brutal civil wars over a ten-year span. It was an epic journey that I’d love to tell you about at another time! Unlike most children in my country, I was allowed to come to America because my mother was a hard-working resident in the South Jersey and Philadelphia area for many years. I lived with her for most of my teenage years before God called me to move to New England.
Currently, I reside in Providence with my wife Katie and our three children Sophia, Oliver, and Mia! As my kids would say, together, we are Team Ballah! Our team takes pride as a family unit on a mission to glorify God and bring wholistic transformation to people and communities through Christ. In 2019, we planted a church on the Southside of Providence. And recently, we merged our church with an older congregation. Now, we are excited that I will be working with Kelly to fulfill UniteBoston’s vision in a city that is close to our hearts.
Before moving to Rhode Island, we lived in Boston for five years. I served in ministry at The Boston Project Ministries and Morning Star Baptist Church. This season shaped us in incredible ways. We learned how to impact communities holistically and to strategically serve those living in disenfranchised communities. We learned how to be parents: two of our kids were born at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. God used the experiences and lifelong friendships we developed in Boston to shape our identity as a ministry family. Even though I was not a native Bostonian, I adopted Boston as my home city!
Fun Facts
One of my favorite characteristics of Bostonians is their passion for local sports teams. This culture resonates with my love to cheer for the Philadelphia Eagles and Sixers. For many years, I watched the New England teams win championships ngnyear after year, while my teams always had heartbreaking losses. After endless debates about which teams were better, I finally accepted the reality that Boston had the best sports teams in the country. I still support my Philadelphia teams, but I don’t root against the New England teams in the playoffs because of their championship pedigree.
I am even more passionate about playing sports than watching it. When I lived in Dorchester, I enjoyed playing basketball at the local parks, participating in flag football games between various churches, and coaching young men during the summer league. However, some of the best parts about sports transcends actually playing together: we built friendships and learned essential life skills such as managing our emotions and being people of integrity.
Additionally, I also appreciate the emphasis Bostonians place on education and critical thinking–this resonates with my love for reading and playing competitive chess. I loved going to Harvard Square and the public library in Roxbury to play against great players. Nowadays, when I am not playing sports, reading, or competing in chess, I am usually hanging out with family and friends.
How you got involved with UB and what you love about UB
Since I left Boston to pursue God’s calling to be a pastor, I always stayed connected to the Holy Spirit’s work in the city of Boston. As I conversed with various groups of people and ministries in my Boston network, I realized they had one thing in common — they were all connected to UniteBoston. I was intrigued by this organization’s ability to gather Christian leaders and churches from diverse backgrounds. According to Reverend Kelly, UniteBoston is “called to unite the bride of Christ” to fulfill Jesus’ prayer of unity and oneness in John 17. While Christians can often be divided over various issues, UB is building bridges to connect believers.UB creates a space for the body of Christ to experience healing from self-inflicted wounds and a safe place to have conversations that will bring reconciliation.
Therefore, when the opportunity came for me to work for this incredible organization, it was a no-brainer because they aligned with my lifelong calling to be a bridge-builder. Even though my various ministry experiences equipped me with the skillsets to support Rev. Kelly at UniteBoston, I am more excited about the opportunity to learn from her and the UB community about building bridges and connecting Christians.
I have been on a long journey to arrive at this point, but I am finally planted in New England to be a Pastor in Providence and a Bridge Builder in Boston for many years to come. God is the author of my story, and I am excited to live the next chapter in working with UniteBoston. Most of all, my heart is happy because God is allowing me to serve the city that welcomed me with open arms and the place I have adopted as my home city.
unitebostonKeymaster“The biggest thing that has kept me afloat this season is learning to receive God’s love. It’s hard to trust anyone when you don’t truly believe they love you. When I struggle with that trust, I do my best to sit and receive God’s love, to remember He’s a good father that loves me.“
This week, we are excited to share about Jen Aldana’s full EP (Extended Play) release! Jen was one of our featured artists in the Love Boston concert last fall and she has been working hard to put together an amazing array of music collectively called “Trust in You”, which is now available on Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music. Jen took time for an exclusive interview with UniteBoston resident journalist Peter Seremetis; read below to hear the impactful story behind the EP’s creation, and some hopeful words from Jen!
Peter: Tell me about your first EP. It sounds really exciting!
Jen: Yeah absolutely! The whole EP is called “Trust In You.” It’s about trusting in God every step of the way. I’ve had to trust that the path I’m on is the track that God has for me, trust that His promises are good and that they will be fulfilled, trust that even in the midst of a pandemic and struggles and fears, He’s got me and He loves me, and He’s guiding me. It’s like a big part of this whole journey for me.
Peter: Have you been working on this full EP for a while? Or is this a recent project?
Jen: This has been a long time coming.
Peter: Admittedly I’m not as familiar with the music business, so I’m curious what exactly is an EP, and how did you put it together?
Jen: So EP stands for “Extended Play”, and is a collection of songs that’s a little shorter than an album (e.g. albums usually have 7+ songs, and this EP has 5). Usually with music, you first have to write the song and come up with demos. Then you produce the song by bringing in other musicians and record it. Then you get help to mix and master the song, and once this is finished, it is ready for release. So I had this project mastered, done and ready to release (for distribution, shipment, etc.) since December 2018.
Peter: Wow! So it’s been ready for two years. What had been holding you back from releasing it?
Jen: The last two years, I was almost waiting for the right moment and I just felt there was never the right time. It was really just fear that was holding me back. I was fearful that it wouldn’t do well, or that people wouldn’t resonate with it, etc. So what I ended up doing was releasing it song by song–like “Heaven Rejoices”, “Trust in You”, and “Your Peace” performed in UniteBoston’s Love Boston Concert last year.
So come 2020, I’m like “this is the year! I’m gonna release it! No matter what!” And then the relationship I was in at the time ends the week right before quarantine, and now we’re in this pandemic and everything is completely shut down! So all of my motivation and all of my inspiration is just kind of gone and shattered, and I’m like “how am I supposed to go through with this project in a pandemic? What is even going on in the world?” I had so many plans, I was going to do a tour, I was going to do an EP release show, I was going to do this and that, and suddenly I couldn’t do those things anymore. So, I was sad and heartbroken about it, and again, I didn’t release it.
Peter: It sounds like you’ve been through a lot with this EP, and a lot of those feelings definitely resonate. So what motivated you to release it now?
Jen: Come 2021 I was like “Man, I have to do this. I have to move on!” I have other projects and music that I want to work on and release, and by holding onto this project, I just felt like it was keeping me from that. So I said to myself “I have to do this.” But at the same time, I wanted to be obedient to God because I have felt led through the Lord to work on faith-based music to begin with. This wasn’t the direction I was going in before artistically, so this EP is an act of obedience and a leap of faith for me.
Peter: Since your EP is called “Trust in You” and since all of us wrestle with trusting God sometimes, I’m curious what encourages you to press through in those moments when you have a hard time trusting God? Especially during this challenging season you’ve been going through?
Jen: The biggest thing that has kept me afloat this season is learning to receive God’s love. It’s hard to trust anyone when you don’t truly believe they love you. When I struggle with that trust, I do my best to sit and receive God’s love, to remember He’s a good father that loves me. He’s not a God waiting with crossed arms for me to make the “right decision,” He’s a God waiting for me to run into His arms, and that brings me more peace than anything.
Peter: Such a powerful and important perspective. So what can people expect to see in this EP now that it’s released?
Jen: People will hear familiar songs I’ve written and released already like “Trust In You” and “Heaven Rejoices,” but also some new songs like “Come Away With Me / Come Away” and “How Good You Are.” The “Come Away With Me / Come Away” song I’m especially excited for people to see because it’s a cover medley between the pop song “Come away with me” by Nora Jones, and a worship song called “Come Away” by Jesus Culture. Even though the two songs are different genres, the medley between them in the Trust In You EP is almost like this love song of God just loving His children and His people. For example one of the Nora Jones verses is “Come away with me on a Bus. Come away with me, I’ll never stop loving you;” and in the Jesus Culture song it says, “Come away with me. It’s not too late for you. I have a plan for you.” So the statement I wanted to make in putting the two songs in a medley together was that God really is in everything, we’re just not always looking for Him. We can find God in a bus. We can find God both in secular pop music and in worship music. We can find God all throughout His creation. So people listening can see that we honor God so much more when we can identify him in the mundane, not just when we’re sitting in the pews of the church or listening to a sermon.
Peter: Why should people listen to the EP, and how can they support you in this EP release?
Jen: I really just want folks to feel God’s love & peace as they listen, and the EP can be listened to in all kinds of situations. It’s great for background music while praying, a workout playlist, a commute playlist (or while you’re doing work at home!), and really great for any time you want to get in the presence of God. I’ve even had a pregnant mother reach out once that she’s adding it to their birthing playlist, I’ve seen videos of folks listening while working out, and many stories of folks feeling encouraged by the honest lyrics. I’m also just excited for people hearing the EP’s music as a project, a journey and a story being told all the way up until the last note. Heaven Rejoices are the first words of the EP, and I want people to really feel that tug on their heart and come closer to the Lord. In terms of support, any listen, re-share, Spotify follow, and email subscription is super helpful!
Peter: Do you have any encouraging words for Christians in Greater Boston at this time?
Jen: I do! My word of encouragement is something powerful my pastor shared: The key to this season isn’t always doing something new, it’s consistency. In a time where it’s so easy to get discouraged in our faith, our ambitions, and relationships, it’s taking one consistent step in front of the other that will help keep us afloat. You’re doing better than you think.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33
unitebostonKeymaster“Once this health crisis passes, our worst response would be to plunge even more deeply into feverish consumerism and new forms of egotistic self-preservation. If only we might rediscover once for all that we need one another. God willing, after all this, we will think no longer in terms of ‘them’ and ‘those,’ but only ‘us.'”
This week’s blog is written by Father Tom Ryan, director of the Paulist Office for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations in downtown Boston. Father Tom shares about a recent encyclical that Pope Francis released entitled “Fratelli Tutti” which means “Brothers and Sisters, All.” Father Tom expands on the core of this timely message by describing how organizations in the Boston area are living out God’s call to be connected with and care for our neighbors.
Fratelli Tutti (Brothers and Sisters, All) is the encyclical that Argentine Pope Francis released on October 4th, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, after signing it in the previous day in the Italian town where the Franciscan saint lived most of his life.
An encyclical is the highest ranking document of authority that a pope can write on his own. Fratelli Tutti builds on his previous encyclical in 2015, Laudato Si’, which focused on the environment and on the care of creation, and which taught us that everything is connected. It indicates an inherent relationship that extends not only to human beings, but also to the earth.
Fratelli Tutti teaches us that everyone is connected. Its focus is biblical. Pope Francis asks us to look at ourselves and ask: Who is my neighbor?
We need to acknowledge that we are inclined to ignore others. The Pope is challenging us to overcome the individualism in our culture and to serve our neighbors in love, seeing Jesus Christ in every person, and seeking a society of justice and mercy, compassion and mutual concern.
In analyzing conditions in the world today, the Holy Father provides us with a powerful and urgent vision for the moral renewal of political and economic institutions from the local level to the global level, calling us to build a common future that truly serves the good of the human person and of “all of us together.”
We already have some undertakings and networks in the Boston area that show us what this looks like in the concrete and practical. Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries (CMM) is the greater Boston area’s oldest interfaith social justice network. It was founded in 1966 by faith communities to address poverty, housing, and racial justice in Boston and to link urban and suburban congregations in just, transformative partnerships.
CMM has tackled the most pressing issues facing our communities, working to build Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision of a Beloved Community for all citizens. CMM’s members and partners include nearly 100 congregations, nonprofit agencies, and educational institutions in Boston and 16 surrounding cities and towns. CMM’s approach to social action and cross cultural/interfaith partnerships affirms the necessity of collaboration, as well as the dignity and value of all persons in our common quest for justice and peace.
Yet another example of what “all of us together” looks like is St. Francis House in the heart of downtown Boston on Boylston St, which offers basic care and services that make the difference between hope and despair, and for some the difference between life and death.
Many guests come to St. Francis House initially because they need a hot, nourishing meal. They serve breakfast and lunch 365 days a year. Meals are free, no questions asked. St. Francis House is also the largest distributor of clothing to the poor and homeless in Boston, and provides nearly 10,000 showers a year to its guests, along with toiletries, including shaving cream, razors, toothbrushes and toothpaste.
And in its Atrium and Resource Center, a safe, comfortable alternative to spending the day on the street is provided. Here, guests can escape the elements, enjoy the company of friends, and watch the local news or a movie. The Resource Center also features a library, telephones, and computers with Internet access, vital tools for keeping in touch with loved ones and job-hunting.
On yet another front, the Park Street Church and UniteBoston have joined together in a Love Thy Neighbor Grocery Delivery program in which Christians throughout the Greater Boston area can assist families with basic food needs. This program is focused on families and households who have someone that tested positive for COVID-19, by providing them with groceries. Their goal is 100 per week, and as of January, 126 volunteers from 31 churches have been able to provide 14,438 meals to families! In fact, 14% of families requesting groceries through the State of Massachusetts have been served by this program! And just down the street at the Paulist Center, there is a weekly Wednesday eve supper offered for the homeless and the hungry. You would be welcome to participate in one of these ministries.
In another project, UniteBoston recognized the need to address the sin of racism and the pervasive inequities that persist in our city and nation. Justice is not peripheral, but intrinsic to the gospel, and Christians should be leading the way in the movement towards racial justice today. In it’s Be the Bridge for Boston program, UniteBoston is actively working against racism and towards reconciliation, equity, and justice in our day-to-day lives.
In short, says Pope Francis, the Church “in the power of the risen Lord, wants to give birth to a new world, where all of us are brothers and sisters, where there is room for all those whom our societies discard, where justice and peace are resplendent.” The encyclical overturns the perspective of “we and they.” The perspective is “all of us together,” and the Church has a public role in working for universal fraternity and sorority.
Pope Francis sets out his vision for a post-COVID world. The pandemic offers us a unique opportunity for conversion. If anything, we have seen how interdependent we are on every level, political, social and economic. We have no choice but to truly live as brothers and sisters, with humanity as well as with our ravaged planet Earth.
From the outset the encyclical makes clear how Francis of Assisi extended fraternity not only to human beings – and in particular to the abandoned, the sick, the discarded, the least, going beyond the distances of origin, nationality, color or religion – but also to the sun, the sea and the wind. The perspective is therefore global, universal.
The perspective is “all of us together.” Solidarity is the core, and he seeks to universalize it. “Once this health crisis passes,” Pope Francis writes, “our worst response would be to plunge even more deeply into feverish consumerism and new forms of egotistic self-preservation. If only we might rediscover once for all that we need one another. God willing, after all this, we will think no longer in terms of ‘them’ and ‘those,’ but only ‘us.’ “
The Encyclical lends itself well to study groups reading it, praying with it, reflecting on it, and discussing it together. Click here to read it.
unitebostonKeymaster“By examining the vocation of pastoral leadership, laity and ministers can come together to better understand, appreciate, and support each other. Through better understanding each other, both pastors and congregants can have a renewed spirit to push forward together in these difficult times.”
This week, we would like to feature a blog written by Joel Putnam, who is a United Methodist and who served as an intern with UniteBoston last summer and fall with his Masters of Divinity program at the Boston University School of Theology. Joel has been interviewing pastors to learn more about pastoral ministry in this unique time. Read below to hear his insights on pastors in the city!
This semester, I chose to do my contextual education experience with UniteBoston to discover more about the vocation of ministry and the unique calling of a Christian leader. Seminary prepares us for the academic study of theology and gives us tools that are vital to various ministry settings, but I wanted to know what our pastors experience and do week to week. It has been a blessing to interview several pastors, all who have been happy to talk honestly about the good and challenging aspects of full-time ministry. As I sat down (virtually) with these faith leaders to discuss the vocation of ministry, sermon writing, and the struggles and blessings that have come with 2020, I wanted to also share these insights with you, the UniteBoston community.
As many of us have experienced, church life has shifted to being remote, virtual, and socially distanced. This has been especially difficult for smaller, rural, and elderly congregations. Without the necessary resources and know-how to radically shift the way we experience congregational and community life together, many churches are struggling with this “new norm.” In shifting to online services, Pastor Devlin Scott of NewCity Church shared with me his struggles with finding ways to record and broadcast using technology they had to purchase and learn how to use. Pastor Scott lives into his idea that “the message and ministry of the church never changes, but our methods ought to.” NewCity church was able to find a local resource for renting video equipment and switched to pre-recording services after technical difficulties with live streaming. Many churches have experienced similar trial and error periods through these shifts, but the pastors I spoke with are encouraged that these new methods will prove useful for their community in the future.
Creating the experience of communal worship and measuring the impact and spiritual growth happening in people’s faith lives happens radically different through our screens and devices. Many pastors shared with me stories of the innovation and resilience that has emerged in this time. Pastor Gregg Detweiler from Intercultural Ministries at the Emmanuel Gospel Center, shared that, “Disruption can be a good thing. It forces you to reexamine and innovate new ways, but the grind and fatigue of this tests that idealism. The fatigue of life on zoom is real.” Churches have begun utilizing virtual meeting platforms for Bible study, hosting social gatherings, and small groups. Many are pre-recording prayers, readings, and greetings for use as various parts of the worship service. As a safe alternative to virtual spaces, congregations have hosted outdoor services and community gatherings in parking lots. Pastor Eungil Cho of Milan Community United Methodist Church stated, “[In regards to going virtual,] everything was from ground zero; I had to build it up. I had to bring everything I had learned into the church.” These and other innovations from church leadership have continued to guide our local congregations through this difficult year.
Yet even with the struggles of 2020, there have been unexpected blessings. Many pastors shared how they have been able to reach people outside of their local communities. Pastor Seth Fortier, United Methodist Pastor of two New England churches, shared, “You have to be in the community as a church. If the community doesn’t know that you exist, you are not going to survive as a church.” The accessibility of online gatherings enables the participation of people locally as well as from across state lines. For some churches, new resources have opened up as they were forced to downsize things like education and community meals. One local church was even able to find a new building that became available through the unique season of quarantine! By redirecting energy and resources towards other important ministries like their food support and financial assistance, churches have responded to the impacts of the pandemic.
I was also particularly interested in sermon preparation and sharing. I recognized the value of sermons to provide spiritual guidance, but I wondered how pastors know what to say when they step in front of the crowd to deliver insight on God’s word. Pastor Robin Lutjohann of Faith Lutheran Church in Cambridge shared “Preaching ought to be sacramental. it ought to do what a sacrament does, to give you Jesus.” Through my interviews, I learned that much of the training necessary to write and deliver sermons comes from a combination of schooling, life experiences, exegetical work, and through years of practice refining the process of writing sermons that works for them.
In my interviews, pastors shared a variety of emotions in their preparation and experience of preaching, from a spiritual connection to God and God’s people, to five years of excruciating work every week. Many pastors are responsible for crafting unique sermons every week with little time off throughout the year. If a leader of a small church takes a vacation, they must find someone to lead the congregation in worship and in the sacramental duties for the community that go beyond Sunday services. Some churches have ministry teams with several talented preachers, and there are often members of the congregation who can step in to fulfill these roles. Assistance from laity, fellow pastors in nearby churches, and retired clergy within the congregation are often called upon to provide a break for the current ministers. Pastor Robin Lutjohann shared that they have partnered with a nearby church to share in worship where leaders share the responsibilities of weekly worship. This has helped with the weekly tasks of each minister, and brings communities together to share in worship.
Writing a sermon takes time. The process for each person is different, but there are many similarities. I found these common elements of weekly sermon preparation:
- Maintaining personal spiritual practices and devotionals to stay grounded in God’s word
- Reading and praying on the selected scripture
- Exegesis on the passages, including contextualizing the historical and present day meanings, language and translation studies, and placing it in conversation with other passages
- Connecting to the community of theologians through commentaries and online resources
In bringing together all of these ideas and listening for God’s message, our pastors continue to bring us valuable insight to the scripture. What is most encouraging to me is that while each person is doing this work individually, they remain in community with thousands of years of past and present theological insight while bringing in our present-day concerns.
There is more to being a pastor than delivering impactful, wise, and contextualized sermons each week. Our pastors serve the entire community in all aspects of life and ministry. However long and whichever school one chooses for seminary, they cannot possibly prepare us for all of the challenges that we will find in ministry. Many of the pastors I interviewed shared with me how they felt unprepared for the training, experience, and education necessary to run a church that is in many ways similar to a small business. Pastor Chuck Smith of First UMC in Pinellas Park shared, “Nothing in seminary prepared me for the nuts and bolts of ministry; the financial challenges and business knowledge necessary.” There is also never an end to the knowledge and insight one can gain from God’s word, and different schools focus more or less on the scripture than other aspects of theology and ministry. A few pastors wished that their seminaries had provided more scriptural courses, while others felt their education lacked practical application skills like maintaining personal well-being, conflict transformation, and budgeting.
Not all of the skills lend themselves to an academic curriculum. An important aspect of preaching and ministry that is difficult to teach is the trust necessary to connect to a congregation. There is a certain amount of respect that comes from standing behind the pulpit, but in order to really challenge people with new hermeneutical insights, there must be trust established between the pastor and the congregation. Pastor Robin shared, “You can’t challenge people until you have proven to them that you love them.” This trust is earned through compassion and presence in the community. It is not easily measured and not often spoken out loud.
It is my hope that by examining the vocation of pastoral leadership, laity and ministers can come together to better understand, appreciate, and support each other. Through better understanding each other, both pastors and congregants can have a renewed spirit to push forward together in these difficult times. My takeaway from these interviews is that school cannot provide all of the necessary preparation for the vocation of pastoral ministry; rather, it is by God’s grace and a continued spirit to serve others that pastors learn and grow into their calling.
February 5, 2021 at 3:33 pm in reply to: Highlights & Stories from the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021 #17651unitebostonKeymaster“Well, all I can say is “Wow”. I just watched the panel discussion on the future of the church, and it is SO on target. This one especially hit me real hard in all the right ways. Top YOUTH leadership needs to be seen very clearly by everyone in Boston now as top Christian leaders in Boston. The next years are crucial – Young leaders need to come together, establish clear-cut goals and lead the way in working for God’s dream in our city. Thanks to the UB team for hosting such an important conversation!”
-Ralph Kee, director of the Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative
We had a beautiful prayer service for Christian Unity on Thursday night at the Paulist Center Boston with clergy representing Catholic, Orthodox, Episcopal, and Baptist traditions.
Pastor Barry Kang from Symphony Church leading Christians in Greater Boston in “all together” prayer in the concluding gathering during the 2021 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, followed by prayers from Pastor Joseph Ardayfio, Pastor David Hill, and Pastor Bill Johnson. In this time of isolation, it’s beautiful to see the Church in Greater Boston coming together in prayer!
On Monday evening, Pastor Davie Hernandez from Restoration City Church shared a message to Christians throughout the area: “How can a divided church speak to a divided nation about unity? God is calling the Church in Boston to rend our hearts and repent in order to more faithfully abide in Christ individually and collectively.” As we go from here, let’s lay hold of this message of repentance and live out these prayers for abiding in Jesus Christ!
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