We will have an incredible line up of live music being performed, a message by the pastor and testimonies by Teen Challenge. We have seen tremendous breakthroughs and miracles during the first two events. Testimonials by people declaring they have surrendered their lives over to the care of Jesus and were healed from the bondages of addiction, mental health and abuse. This is a free event and all are welcome. Join us to celebrate the joy of life and the power of Christ. We stand together with God believing to break chains and generational curses.
Sharing the Afghan Refugee Experience: Voices, Culture & Cuisine
Learn about the local Afghan refugee experience through engaging conversations and authentic Afghan cooking demonstration.
Compassion in Action Conversation
Be Inspired – Explore Afghan Food & Culture – Make a Difference
Let’s come together to:
- Have interactive dialog with people affected by and interested in Afghan resettlement in Metrowest and Greater Boston.
- Connect with other curious and compassionate neighbors who want to make a difference.
- Support Hospitality Common’s mission to serve and support immigrant and refugee families while building bridges of hope, understanding, and opportunity.
- Support and encourage a local food business owner during this challenging pandemic crisis.
You’re invited to our first Compassion in Action event and fundraiser. Have fun and make new friends in a virtual cooking class while engaging in a conversation experience. Learn about Afghan culture, food, and traditions from an Afghan family. This is a Zoom event curated by activist Gary Moorehead, founder of Kataluma, and Najeeb Rostami, owner of Ariana Restaurant in Boston.
Hospitality Common, Inc. (HCI) is a faith-based non-profit providing educational and charitable programs to underserved communities. Accordingly, we are compelled to build bridges of hope into our community through education, volunteer programs, and service opportunities. We are an inclusive Christian organization committed to serving and partnering with people of all faith traditions as well as those having no faith tradition. We believe every human being is made in the image of God, and, therefore, is to be cherished and treated with the greatest dignity.
Fundraiser for BHCHP
A team from Park Street Church has been trying to support a local healthcare program for the homeless in their support for the homeless population especially during this season of COVID-19. In meeting their needs, we also hope to find ways to gently share the gospel of Christ to both the staff and the homeless individuals and families. One such need is raising funds to continue serving the homeless. We have a facebook group going to help us both sell and buy items in which all funds raised will go towards supporting this organization. This is an ongoing event. If you are interested in joining us and participating in any way, please contact me at ahava137@gmail.com. Thanks!
Christians Respond to Neighborhood-Based Trauma and Pain
As we see the wounds in others, we gently encounter our own. And in growing in our relationship with each other, we grow in Christ. We offer no quick fixes or guarantees but by admitting our brokenness and lovingly bearing the pain of others, somehow, we all become more open to God’s grace.”
The Cory Johnson Program for Post-Traumatic Healing, led by Rev. Liz Walker with her team at Roxbury Presbyterian Church in Roxbury, MA, has been providing community trauma healing services for four years. Each week people are invited to the program that addresses the mind, body, and spiritual impacts of trauma. Below is Rev. Liz Walker’s pastors’ statement about God’s healing work that is taking place through this ministry. Through this program, eight participants have now become members of the congregation, which she describes is “a testament to God’s healing draw.”
To learn more, you can contact Colleen Sharka at colleensharka@rpcsic.org or attend their “Abiding in the Community” national-level conference on Saturday 11/3!
I have often wondered why there are so many churches along Roxbury’s busy Warren Street corridor between Dudley Square and Grove Hall and still so many lost souls on the streets; the homeless, drug and alcohol addicted and the mentally ill. This is the reality not only in our neighborhood but in many others overrun by poverty, violence and hopelessness. The problem is not that urban churches neglect our neighbors. We all commit to revivals, prayer walks, and door to door evangelism. The problem is a growing disconnect between the sermon and the streets. We are big on sin but too often we ignore the symptoms of profound pain.
The Cory Johnson Program for Post Traumatic Healing (CJP) is Roxbury Presbyterian Church’s way to bring light and air to these collective wounds. Trauma is a modern term for the deep suffering that has always been part of the human experience in a fallen world. It is considered an epidemic in urban American, rivaling far-away war zones. While psychologists and sociologists have tried many strategies in caring for the mentally, emotionally and spiritually wounded, we believe Christ’s redemptive words offer the true healing foundation, “Abide in me and I in you”.
By abiding or remaining with our wounded neighbors week after week in CJP trauma events, we, like Jesus, welcome them as they are. The program invites all, without entry requirements or judgment, to enter a circle of love made up of our trauma companions (trained church members), many of whom are struggling with their own wounds. After we break bread, we “open the floor” encouraging our guests to share their stories of violence, loss and healing…stories that are too often left festering and unspoken. Sometimes our guests speak and sometimes they sit quietly. Our most important role is simply to be with them in their darkness, as God is with us. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death….thou art with me.”
We never deny or try to fix someone’s suffering in CJP gatherings. We are there to “witness” through intentional listening. Our companions provide Kleenex and compassion. Our musicians, the balm of song. Our licensed onsite clinicians provide counseling when requested (the requests are growing) but above all our presence assures the suffering they are not alone. There is no preaching, no pat answer, no three-step redemption plan. We allow God’s Spirit to move. And people come, on average about 40 each week. Many join us based on word of mouth. Strangers walk in off the streets, others from far away. People return week after week. The community grows. As we see the wounds in others, we gently encounter our own. And in growing in our relationship with each other, we grow in Christ. We offer no quick fixes or guarantees but by admitting our brokenness and lovingly bearing the pain of others, somehow, we all become more open to God’s grace.
Just this year, a dozen program participants have started attending services at RPC and eight have actually joined, a testament to God’s healing draw. We are now in the process of replicating in seven faith communities around Boston and, amazingly enough, in Gary, Indiana. Our doors are open every Thursday evening at 6. We invite you to join us.
In Christ,
Reverend Liz Walker
