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Sep 20 2015

Testimonies from 10 Days Boston!

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God has already done so much through these 10 Days of Prayer!

UniteBoston seeks to be an answer to Jesus’ prayer in John 17 “that we would be one.” We believe that our part in this “oneness” is to nurture relational connections throughout the diversity of Boston’s Christian community.

At the center of Christian unity is the agape love that God has for us and that we have for one another. As each of us step outside our comfort zones to become more aware of the various cultures and Christian traditions in our city, we develop stronger relational connections, cultivating mutual respect and honor for the incredible diversity within the people of God in Boston.

Check out these testimonies to see all that God is doing to bring together His church in the city:

Day 1: Healing Miracle in Prayer Room

Night 3: Experiencing the Orthodox Faith – Changed Perspectives!

Night 4: Worship with our Deaf Brothers and Sisters

Day 5: Answered Prayer: Testimony from Prayer Room

Night 6: Changing Perspectives from 10 Days Catholic Gathering

 

Night 7: Photo from Orthodox GatheringScreen Shot 2015-09-20 at 3.45.09 PM

 

 

Night 8: Taize Prayer in MIT Chapelphoto 1-2

Night 8: Food and Fellowship with the MIT Lutheran/Episcopal Ministry
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Night 9: Passionate Worship with Symphony and City Churchphoto 3-2

Night 10: Embracing our Common Identity in Christ

At this gathering, we each placed our name tags with our individual identities at the foot of the cross, so that we were better able to embrace one another as brothers and sisters in Christ:

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Reflection – Aaron’s Story

Aaron shares how listening to a sermon by an Episcopal priest reshaped his perspective of the Christian church

For He himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:14-16)

Praise God for the inseverable and eternal peace that is revealed as we all gaze at Christ’s sacrificial work on the cross!

Written by uniteboston · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: 10 days boston, 10 days.net, ecumenism, godinthecity, uniteboston

Sep 06 2015

Christ, Our Peace

This week, we hear from UniteBoston’s own Kelly Steinhaus, as she shares how the upcoming 10 Days of Prayer provides Boston’s diverse Christian community an opportunity to reconcile differences by remembering Christ as our Peace.

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For He himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:14-16)

What a radical concept Christian unity is! The fact that in Christ, we are one!

This heavenly reality certainly does not appear to be true when we look around the world. We all come from various backgrounds and cultures, life experiences, and we have our own denominational distinctions. Each person sees the world very differently, and because of this, we are inherently prone to disagree with and distance ourselves from those who are culturally, denominationally, and ethnically distinct from us.

Yes, it is easier to worship with people who look like us, act like us, and have the same theological beliefs as us. But as Christians we are called to go beyond this place of comfort to see and value Christ in our neighbor.

Paul acknowledges the difficulty of extending Christian fellowship by exhorting us to “earnestly endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). According to Karl Barth, the Greek word here implies a “full effort of the whole man, involving his will, sentiment, reason, strength, and total attitude”. “Earnestly endeavor” is not simply an outward action of embracing the other, but is first and foremost an inward examination of our hearts.

When you look at your brother or sister, do you see Jesus? What might be hindering your view?

From my experience, one of the chief hindrances to Christian unity is my need to be right. This places walls between me and my brothers and sisters, resulting in a self-righteous attitude. At the end of the day, only God knows those who are His, and so the “right” answer is Jesus’ work and righteousness, extended to all.

During 10 Days Boston, we have the opportunity to step outside our comfort zones to get to know our brothers and sisters from various denominations and backgrounds. As we do this, we learn to respect those that disagree with us. We learn to be confident in the fact that the fellowship of the saints goes beyond a uniform doctrine to involve a unity of Spirit (Eph 4:3) based on the inward spiritual rebirth of those who confess faith in Jesus as Lord. We also learn to value the breadth of Christian traditions rather than promoting a particular expression as having greater spiritual authority over another. Indeed, the deep, difficult work of Christian unity is to respect and honor those with whom we may have significant disagreements.

When we step back, we realize that the one and only thing that makes us one is our revelation of Jesus Christ. It is what Jesus did in his incarnation, sacrifice, and resurrection that has reconciled us to God and to one another, thus forming an inseverable and eternal peace. It’s as we all gaze at Christ’s sacrificial work on the cross that we are one.

Jesus, we confess our tendency to exclude rather than to include, to judge rather than to honor, and to assert our position rather than to love unconditionally. Lord, have mercy.

 

*Note: This devotional is a part of the 2015 daily devotional published by the national 10 Days team.

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Written by uniteboston · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: 10 days boston, christ, peace, Reconcile

Nov 03 2014

10 Days is Changing Lives in Boston and Across the Nation!

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Coordinators and regular participants from 10 Days Boston gathered together on October 17th for a culmination dinner to share stories of how God impacted our lives.  Here are a few testimonies:

Growth in Personal Relationship with God:

“My time alone with God was one of the most personal and intimate that I’ve had.” – Anne Freeman

“Many things were brought into my awareness and things hindering my relationship with God were broken off” – Anonymous

“I had a personal transformation in my understanding of people from the Orthodox and Catholic traditions, and I now understand how important it is to form alliances and friendships based around Jesus, not on our differences." – Sung Yun Lee

Growth in understanding God’s work in Boston:

"Despite what people think, God is alive and well here. I love how God loves on His people.” – Derek Arledge

“I always love to worship with people who are not like myself. There’s a richness and beautiful harmony present when different groups come together.” – Kaci Norman

“I was able to hear of God’s work across churches and different parts of the city. Coming together for prayer and worship was and is what Boston needs.” – Kevin Ortega

“I feel a greater sense of unity and better understanding of cultural attributes and realities of other ethnicities and denominations.” – Nicole Singleton

“My church doesn’t do all that much with other churches; it was new for me to see so many different churches cooperating, especially because Boston is so parochial. I think this is a move of God!” – Anne Freeman

“My biggest takeaway is the splendor and breadth of the church!” – Matt Crane

A Cool Scatterplot

We took the data from the survey that we passed out with the 10 Days participants (n=15) and then correlated the number of gatherings that each person attended with a “Spiritual Growth Indicator." To determine the "Spiritual Growth Factor,” each person answered “Strongly Disagree,” “Disagree,” “Neutral,” “Agree,” or “Strongly Agree" to these three prompts:

1. 10 Days Boston helped me to personally grow closer to God

2. 10 Days Boston impacted my view of what God is doing in the city of Boston

3. Because of 10 Days, I now have a greater sense of respect for Christians of other denominations and ethnic groups.

Each answer was coded with a specific number of points (Strongly Disagree = -2, Disagree = -1, Neutral = 0, Agree = 1, Strongly Agree = 2)  Each person was given a "Spiritual Growth Indicator” based on their answer to these questions and plotted on a chart with the number of 10 Days events that he/she attended:

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As you can see, the number of 10 Days events that people attended is correlated with spiritual growth! The people that went to more 10 Days events indicated more of an impact in their personal relationship with God and corporate understanding of how God is working throughout Boston.

The bottom line is: 10 Days is changing lives. Thanks for being a part of it!

For more details about each of the 10 Days evening gatherings, check out the

10 Days Boston Photo Gallery and Praise Report

I’d also encourage you to read Pastor Dana Baker’s word that the Lord impressed on her, “Are we willing to be interrupted?” I believe this word is the key phrase that God is speaking to us this year with 10 Days.

10 Days Testimonies Across the Nation

10 Days is part of a larger, nationwide movement of cities coming together to seek God. There were over twenty cities that participated this year! Here are some testimonies:

New Hampshire: Repentance and reconciliation between Catholics and Evangelicals; 95 leaders around Manchester coming together for a ministry leader’s breakfast!

Houlton, Maine: Many churches who previously haven’t been interested in partnership are now asking to be involved in praying and building the kingdom together!

Connecticut: This state-wide movement began with a night of worship with over 2,000 people and 100 worship leaders

Chico, California: “Going low” leads to God “lifting us up” – unity leads to Joy!

See the full 10 Days Nationwide report here:

http://www.10days.net/node/101

This is a season of fulfilled promises. God is truly up to great things, and the best is always yet to come.

I want to close with the concluding prayer recited across the nation during 10 Days:

Come, Lord Jesus.

Come, in the fullness of your kingdom!

Come, in the fullness of your victory!

Come, in the fullness of your glory!

Amen.

Written by jasonjclement · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: 10 days boston, 10days.net, jesus in boston, jesus in the city

Oct 24 2014

Are We Willing to be Interrupted?

This week, Dana Baker, Pastor of the new Grace Chapel East Lexington Campus shares how God spoke to her through a unique experience during 10 Days Boston. Her insights are truly something we all can learn from.

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How is it possible for someone to attend something for several years and miss one of the most important things that is being said? This is where I found myself during the most recent 10 Days Boston.

As Jonathan Friz shared his vision during the Northern Suburbs gathering at Mt. Hope Christian Center in Burlington, I heard him say something that I wasn’t sure I had ever hear him say before. He said that one of the things that God said to him in his original vision for 10 Days was, “What would it look like if everyone that was part of a church in Boston, stopped what they were doing for 10 Days, and just came together in prayer and worship?”

But God took that word that night and turned it towards me and asked, “What would it look like if you stopped your normal routines for 10 Days, and joined with others in prayer and worship?” I had always thought that I had participated at a pretty deep level for the past several years, attending multiple evening gatherings, but I have never “stopped” for the 10 days.

I had been a little less involved this year, because of the Grand Opening of Grace Chapel East Lexington where I am the campus pastor. The Grand Opening was on the Sunday right in the middle of 10 Days – September 28th – one of four churches with grand openings that weekend. I remember thinking that perhaps God was stirring in a unique way this year, and I was touched to be leading one of those churches.
Even though I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the details that the Grand Opening entailed, I led one of the prayer segments – “Discerning Brokenness” – at the Northern Suburbs Gathering. I didn’t real feel I had the time, but God had confirmed through several people that I was supposed to say “yes”, even though I had tried to say “no”, several times.

In the week following the Grand Opening, I had signed up to lead one of the morning prayer sessions, thinking I would have more time. But when it came to that morning, I woke up wondering, “Why did I say yes to this?” It was cold, rainy, and the prayer was scheduled to be outside. I kept thinking about all of the follow-up that I had to do. Even Kelly was tired and not sure whether she would go. But despite our feelings, we went anyways.

When we arrived to the nearby church office, it was filled with flowers – centerpieces of beautiful white peonies to be used at a banquet that evening. They were scheduled to be moved right in the middle of the time we wanted to pray. So I offered to stop what we were doing and help move the flowers to the vans when it was time. Sure enough, about thirty minutes later, they were ready for our help. By that point we were deep in prayer, and it felt extremely inconvenient for us to stop what we were doing. I wondered why I had been so quick to offer – but because we had said we would, we went.

As the six of us were carrying the flowers up the stairs from the basement to the vans waiting along the curb outside, the fragrance of the flowers overwhelmed me and I heard in my spirit – “Are you willing to be interrupted to serve one another? If you are, you will be the fragrance of Christ to those that you serve.”

I felt that God was saying that to all of us – and then I remembered Jonathan’s words. I spoke with Jonathan a week or so later and asked, “Have you always shared that part of the vison?” And he said that he had, but I was not the first to miss those words. In fact, one of his discouragements in the early days was that so few people did stop for 10 Days. But God kept telling him to not worry about the response, simply share the vision, and trust God to touch hearts.

God continued to press home this question when I received an e-mail a few days later from the Glory of God in New England – an e-mail about revival. This person said, “An evangelistic campaign or special meeting is not revival. In a successful evangelistic campaign or crusade, there will be hundreds or even thousands of people making decisions for Jesus Christ, but the community remains untouched, and the churches continue much the same as before the outreach. However, in revival, God moves in the district. Suddenly, the community becomes God-conscious. The Spirit of God grips men and women in such a way that even work is given up as people give themselves to waiting upon God.”…even work is given up as people give themselves to waiting upon God…

So I shared with many others since then the question I heard that day in Cambridge as I moved beautiful centerpieces of white flowers for a pastor I had never met before, for an event I would not attend.

Are we willing to be interrupted? And, are you willing to be interrupted?

“In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life.” 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 (Message)

Written by jasonjclement · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: 10 days boston, 10 days of prayer, grace chapel, uniteboston10, uniting boston

Oct 16 2014

10 Days Boston Praise Report

With Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical, and Taize services, the denominations of host churches for this year’s 10 Days Boston evening gatherings was more diverse than ever before. There were 19 different churches present the first night in Cambridge! Additionally, the Indian gathering brought together five different Indian people groups for the first time!

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18 churches represented at the first night in Cambridge

With this diversity, though, comes the difficulty of defining the unity we share in Christ. The 10 Days theme that we chose this year was “One Heart” – When Jesus prays that we would be one as He is one, what does that mean? Who is involved in this oneness?

At one of the evening gatherings, I was sitting down for a time of fellowship, and one of the women asked me what my home church was. I told her that it was an evangelical church called Journey Church in Harvard Square. She turned to another lady at the table and asked, “Is she a Christian?” and then they spoke in five minutes in another language before determining that yes, I was.

This was an external example of the question that I believe we all are wrestling with. Is this denomination really following Jesus? Is this person really “saved?” Who is “in” and who is “out?”

But perhaps this is the wrong question for us to be asking. In engaging with brothers and sisters of different Christian streams, I believe our approach towards one another should be filled with grace and love rather than suspicion or judgement. We should seek to learn and understand, by asking “Who have you put your trust in?” and “What is your relationship with Jesus like?”

The bible describes that the unity we share in Christ as a unity not of doctrine but of Spirit (Eph. 4:3, 1 Cor 12:7, Phil 1:27). When I started to think about it, I’ve discovered that any two individuals don’t agree completely due to the nuances of theological understandings.

As Rev. JP Robins and the Northern Suburbs team grappled with the question: “What unites us and who do we unite with?” they determined that “We are one with whoever confesses ‘Jesus as Lord.’”

Yes, what makes us one is our revelation of Christ – our acknowledgement that before Him we are all desperate for His redeeming grace.

We must never lose the centrality of Jesus in our quest for unity because He is the only one who unites us.

Other testimonies

There’s truly nothing like getting to spend time with God, and one man who was able to join us for the majority of the daytime gatherings, remarked, “That was the best week of my life.”

A young couple was so inspired by the 10 Days vision after the first night in Cambridge that they traveled around the city every evening, making it to eight of the 10 Days gatherings with their young one-year-old son.

Here is a video clip from one of our morning worship sessions out in front of Harvard University. As you can see, God really released His joy over us and many students came to join in the dance!
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At the last gathering of 10 Days Boston, we stood in front of a wall of windows overlooking Boston to make declarations over the city. We also divided into groups and shared about how God was working among our various communities.

Read the insights that Christians throughout the city shared here.

1959231_10100212600668633_1838693138212938728_n Worshipping and praying over the city of Boston

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Night 2 – Pastors in the Northern Suburbs uniting in prayer

Night 4 – Praising God at the Indian gathering in Natick

Taize group photo

Night 5 – UniteBoston friends coming together for the Taize prayer gathering at Trinity Church

Many were blessed to engage in the contemplative Taize prayer for the first time

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Connecting with God at the Fenway gathering on Night 7

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Night 9 – Father Dimitri explains about the history of the Orthodox Church

Daytime prayer at Harvard University

We praise God for the work that He has done to unite followers of Jesus during 10 Days Boston this year. We also celebrate the many other unity-minded initiatives that are bringing together the body of Christ in Greater Boston.

May God continue to bind us together to proclaim that Jesus is Lord over Boston!

Written by jasonjclement · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: 10 days boston, 10 days of prayer, jesus unites, uniteboston, worship and prayer

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