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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.

————–

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!

Screen Shot 2014-10-15 at 9.35.51 PM
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!
Screen Shot 2014-10-15 at 9.40.36 PM
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

Screen Shot 2014-10-15 at 9.51.50 PM

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

Sep 19 2014

What If A City Stopped and Prayed? Join us for 10 Days Boston

Ten Days is an opportunity to set apart a season of seeking God together as the wider Body of Christ, and doing so in a way that moves us beyond the walls of our own local churches, our own denominations, and our own ethnic groups.

What if a city stopped and prayed?
Learn more about the vision behind 10 Days in the video playlist below with 10 Days founder Jonathan Friz

Get involved!

There are many ways for you to get involved with 10 Days Boston:

1. Join Christians throughout the city for the nighttime gatherings.
Attending the evening gatherings is a great way to put your “foot in the door” and see what the ten days is all about.

2. Join us for worship and prayer during the daytime prayer sets Prayer and worship is happening at various times and locations throughout the city, so there is plenty of opportunity to get involved! Whether you work during the day or at night, whether you live in Cambridge or Roxbury, the ten days is taking place in your neighborhood.

3. Tell your friends!
Download the promotional materials to print and distribute to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ

Acts 4:32 says “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.” Yes, Lord, let it be so!

Until we are one,

—
Kelly Steinhaus

Team Leader, UniteBoston
www.uniteboston.com

Written by jasonjclement · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: 10 days of prayer, 10days.net, jesus unites, uniteboston, uniteboston10

Jul 23 2014

Transformation at UMass Boston

For the past five months, the UniteBoston Reps have been engaging in various activities to listen and learn from their communities. These next four weeks, each rep will be writing a brief blog to share their findings with the Greater Boston Christian community. This week, Amanda Green, UB Rep at UMass Boston shares her insights.

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

Most of us spend the majority of our lives with other people, those we work, study and play with. Being a research assistant at the University of Massachusetts Boston, my life is very normal in that way. I spend my time with others, yet as a Christian I seek work and school transformation by the most healing truth that comes from Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, than you will likely agree you would like all spheres of your life to reflect God’s grace and peace.

Being a Unite Boston representative at UMass Boston has inspired me to look at all what God is doing around me. He has been there long before I came and will be there long after, which is a historical perspective that is wise to assume when considering on how to approach work or school transformation. Recognizing God’s work that is already present in other’s lives will help us to take a more effective approach of partnering with what He is already doing. At UMass, there are multiple Christian groups, of various sizes, that already have a mission to reach students with God’s love. Also, individuals who are not in these groups each have a story and their lives have likely been touched by a Christian in the past. As Nehemiah surveyed the land before the action of rebuilding, so must we.

The groups on campus have the same mission to reach students do not communicate or pray very much, as they would admit themselves. Having a united love for students through prayer seems to be a next step for the transformation of this institution. Providing a moment for prayer by students and leaders for the campus will invite more spiritual transformation to this broken campus. Prayer before any work on campus should be a priority, as prayer and mourning should happen in light of brokenness (Nehemiah 1:4). Also, unity will help people at UMass to believe the gospel we proclaim (John 17:23).

Over my time at UMass, I am thankful to say I have met students who did not know Christ when we first met and became believers after many conversations and prayer with many Christians. Often this has taken years. Transformation in individuals and institutions is a progression and is often not done quickly or alone. UMass Boston is a diverse campus, and all of these students have had significantly different backgrounds, and yet God has met them all in a simple way; through the care of individuals who believe in God.

So, the big question is, where is God already working in your workplace? Let us continue to pray for transformation!

Written by jasonjclement · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: 10 days boston, 10 days of prayer, christian unity, community exegesis, community transformation, jesus in the city, jesus on campus, umass boston, uniteboston, united prayer


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