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Nurturing Relational Connections Across Boston's Christian Community

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Aug 06 2014

UniteBoston Reps Share Their Insights

Last Spring, six UniteBoston Reps engaged in various activities to listen and learn from their communities. Each rep wrote a brief blog to share their findings with the Greater Boston Christian community – we encourage you to check them out here:


Crossroads of Peace – Report from Andrew Walker, UB Rep: Back Bay

Transformation at UMass Boston – Report from Amanda Green, UB Rep: UMass Boston

Unity in Diversity: Shalom in the Fenway – Report from Betsy Slate, UB Rep: Fenway

Boston’s South End and UniteBoston – Report from Ralph Kee, UB Rep: South End

Harvard Square: There’s No Place Like Home – Report from Kelly Steinhaus, UB Rep: Harvard Square

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

Written by jasonjclement · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: community exegesis, community transformation, fenway church, harvard square, jesus in the city, shalom, south end, the fenway, umass boston, uniteboston, uniteboston10, unityinboston

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

Jul 02 2014

Unity in Diversity: Shalom in the Fenway

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, Betsy Slate, Director of Community Engagement at Fenway Church is sharing her insights from the Fenway Community.

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


(Photo Credit: www.colleges-fenway.org)

Strolling through the Fenway neighborhood, you’re likely to meet people from all walks of life. You may meet Fatma, who has come from Saudi Arabia to the area for its proximity to the Longwood Medical Center; her daughter is ill with a disease that she’s come to Children’s Hospital with hope for a cure. Continuing down Boylston Street, you meet someone like Mark, a student from California who has come to study music at Berklee, just trying to figure out the ins and outs of adulthood. As you pass the Fenway Victory Gardens, you meet Janine and Bobby, long-term residents who find a sense of community in the very ground of the Fenway. Rounding the bend, you bump into Clara, a resident of the Fenway for over three decades, working to see the community become just that – a community, a people that care about one another and the state of the neighborhood.

The beauty of the Fenway lies therein; a diverse group of people brought together geographically – often for a limited period of time. This neighborhood is denoted by transition, which puts the area at risk for great instability. With the number of families dropping each year, the increase of young, transient residents and ever-rising housing prices, one could look at the Fenway and think it’s headed for disaster. But, if you search for God’s heartbeat in the humdrum of this bustling neighborhood, you’ll hear a different rhythm, one that softly drums hope.

Despite the odds being stacked against the neighborhood, God is bringing together individuals from these different social groups to generate unity for social impact. This is not a community that backs down from a challenge; organizations like the Fenway Community Development Corporation (FCDC) are bringing together students, long term residents, and families to build an “urban village” – a place with ample and affordable housing, healthy local business, shared indoor and outdoor community spaces, and good access to transportation. Further, residents and developers – typically at odds – are partnering to see a Community Center come to fruition. While these may look “practical” and not “spiritual,” they are the instruments God can use to bring about a community knitted together in shalom – community-wide, holistic peace characterized by relationships as He intended.

Though we’re seeing the first signs of partnership between residents and students, there is still much to be done. On the whole, the church in the Fenway can partner to bring peace and reconciliation alongside local community workers. Division seems to always be at work in the Fenway. Even the geography reflects the struggle between unity and division: the Fens – the park system iconic of the neighborhood – is both a space to unite the neighborhood and which separates the Fenway in an east-west divide. Churches in the Fenway must unite across geography and turf, and share a common vision to see this neighborhood transformed. Followers of Jesus throughout the Fenway can then enter community organizations as learners with a sense of peace and unity that will come to the whole neighborhood.

Futher, the church can function as peacemakers between disparate groups in the Fenway. Long term residents sometimes feel at odds with students, the transience of whom lead to increased housing costs and poor living conditions within the neighborhood; whereas students are largely unaware of their place in the community. The church can act as ministers of reconciliation in the Fenway by facilitating the connection between the residential community and the student community. A neighborhood is not one group or another; rather, it includes everyone who lives in that area. Students have a place in and responsibility to the community, and residents have a role in welcoming students to the neighborhood. The church can model the former to students, and introduce students and residents to one another.

Disparate groups are not meant to coexist, in the Fenway or otherwise, but to engage with one another. As God directed the Israelites in Jeremiah 29, so are we to seek the welfare of the city, of the neighborhood, in which we find ourselves. God is already at work in this neighborhood; let us partner with Him as peacemakers to see unity in the Fenway. The church can and must weave itself into the fabric of the community, and help others do the same, with the hope of bringing unity and shalom to the Fenway neighborhood – one step toward seeing unity across Boston.

On the right, Betsy Slate is Director of Community Engagement at Fenway Church

Written by jasonjclement · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: christian unity, community, community exegesis, Fenway, jeremiah 29, neighborhood, shaom, unity

Jun 25 2014

Boston’s South End and UniteBoston

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.

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

By Ralph Kee, UniteBoston Rep: South End

I’ve been encouraged to see how God is working throughout the South End. Recently, pastors or designated representatives of churches that meet in or within a couple of blocks of the South End have been holding 2-hour meetings together every six weeks for the last year, for the purpose of South End focussed Great Commission collaboration. Fifteen churches have attended at least one meeting, with an average of six or so churches and twelve or so people at each meeting. The South End itself is about one square mile with some 35,000 residents, and there are 35 churches of all kinds are listed in the South End, so as you can see, the need is great.

At each of the meetings, individuals representative of various Boston endeavors have presented their work, their needs, as well as their offers to help South End churches, collectively or individually. At recent meetings, there has been discussions on helping South End public schools, helping reduce South End street violence, helping families affected by violence, connecting with Tenants Development Corporation, and helping refugees adjust to Boston. In addition to this, a collaborative outdoor Easter Sunrise Service was held in a South End park, with components of the service led by five of the churches and about forty people in attendance.

There are many realities facing the South End of Boston at this time, such as the ongoing loss of church buildings to high-end condos, the increasing number of millionaires, and the reality that whole new mini-neighborhoods are being constructed in or near the South End. Christians need to address these current realities, and collectively come up with an answer to the question: how do the churches put their expertise to work collaboratively for further South End Kingdom-building? And can we collaboratively be out in the coffee shops and in the parks this summer doing some friendship building and evangelism? These are things for the South End churches themselves to decide. And then, as led, do.

The group is now at a critical point. After a year of meetings, concrete results need to be seen if interest is to continue. Unless this kind of endeavor produces two things at the same time: added strength and growth to individual participating churches and at the same time added additional strength and growth and evangelistic success to the whole Body of Christ in the South End, interest and participation in this endeavor will lapse. We hope this effort to collaborate will be successful.

We praise God for UniteBoston, for its commitment to neighborhood focussed collaborative vision-building and practice. My UniteBoston prayer walk around the INK Block construction was a memorable prayer walk. Getting the UniteBoston Reps that focus on various Boston neighborhoods regularly around the same table is critical. Constantly learning from each other and encouraging each other is basic to success That’s what they did in the Book of Acts and what we need to do in Boston, and UniteBoston is helping enable this to happen.

Written by jasonjclement · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: christian unity, collaboration, community exegesis, kingdomcome, unity

Feb 26 2014

Introducing…the 2014 UniteBoston Reps!

Today, we’re excited to announce the 2014 UniteBoston Reps – Coming to a neighborhood near you!

 How has God been working in UniteBoston?

Great question! Watch this PrayTV Interview with Kelly Steinhaus, UniteBoston Team Leader to learn more.

What are UniteBoston Reps?

UniteBoston Reps facilitate connection between church and community. Through interviews and church visits, UniteBoston reps establish a presence in the community, conveying the attitude that “we care about what God is doing in your midst and are here to serve you.” UniteBoston Reps are also intentional about researching history and demographics to form a comprehensive understanding of the community. By becoming a learner of neighborhoods, UniteBoston reps find out where God is working and how churches/ministries can collaborate together to further that work.

What do UniteBoston Reps do?

Each month has a particular focus around studying the community, such as observation, research, or interviews. UB Reps meet together monthly to share celebrations and challenges of what they see happening in their communities, as well as get trained for the following month. The UB Reps are a tight-knit community of people who prayerfully seek God’s work in Boston together and how churches are a part of the fabric of the city at large.

Why is this initiative important?

While the UniteBoston newsletter and website are helping to spread awareness of what God is doing throughout the city, we realized that it lacked one key component: relationships. Relationships are the heart of unity. Only relationships can instill understanding and help to remove barriers between churches of diverse cultures, denominations, ages and socioeconomic status. UniteBoston Reps devote their time and energy to building relational connections within one specific neighborhood, which makes uniting the city of Boston more manageable.

What are you hoping to accomplish with UB Reps?

Success as a UniteBoston Rep is to connect two independent churches or individuals for a larger purpose. Like a jigsaw puzzle, each piece only makes sense when it is in relationship with the other pieces. A greater sense of awareness will draw on the collective wisdom of the entire body of Christ. This will also improve each church’s aim to make strategic investments with ministry resources, so we fight the right battles and reduce duplication of efforts.

As relationships and trust are fostered, UniteBoston Reps will help to guide the missional activities of the Church within a specific community. This information will be made public to better aid in our efforts to pray for Boston and strategically mobilize the Christian community to meet the needs of the city.

Who are the 2014 UB Reps?

UB Rep: Coolidge Corner – Lex Carroll

UB Rep: UMass Boston – Amanda Green

UB Rep: Jamaica Plain – Bond Hsu

UB Rep: South End – Ralph Kee

UB Rep: Mattapan – Deneen Levy

UB Rep: Fenway – Betsy Slate

UB Rep: Harvard Square – Kelly Steinhaus

UB Rep: Back Bay – Andrew Walker

UniteBoston Reps Informational meeting, January 2014 UniteBoston Reps Informational meeting, January 2014

The current communities that are covered by the 2014 UB Reps - Could your neighborhood be next? The current communities that are covered by the 2014 UB Reps – Could your neighborhood be next?

How can I get involved?

Email Kelly Steinhaus, UniteBoston Team Leader at kelly@uniteboston.com to learn more!

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work (Ephesians 4:16)

If you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go far, go together – African Proverb

Long interview with Pray TV:
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Written by jasonjclement · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: boston, cambridge, christian, christian unity, community, community exegesis, jesus, presence, synergy, uniteboston, unity


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