UniteBoston

Nurturing Relational Connections Across Boston's Christian Community

Jen Aldana at Soulfest 2022

We invite you to come see Boston’s own Jen Aldana perform this year at New England’s largest Christian Music Festival: Soulfest 2022!

If you don’t know Jen, she’s a talented Christian artist, member of the UB fam, one of the directors for UB’s upcoming concert, and a worship leader at Impact Church! She’s graduated from Berklee, was awarded the Season 5 Winner of The Voice on Snapchat, and can be found performing, leading worship, and influencing the next generation all over the New England area.

Visit Jen’s website here.

Listen to her music here.

Get your tickets to see Jen (and tons of other acts) at Soulfest here. 

 

Want to learn more about Soulfest?

With 4 stages, delicious food vendors, and the biggest names in Christian music you’ll find yourself in a relaxing and life-giving atmosphere around like-minded believers. This will be Soulfest’s last festival at its historic Gunstock Resort, so it will be one to remember. The music continues in 2023 at a new venue. 

What are you waiting for?! Fun for the whole family, onsite camping, worship sessions, panel discussions, and even a magic show for the kiddos, there is something for everyone in your group. You deserve a relaxing getaway in the mountains of NH- and what better reason to get away than to WORSHIP!

Watch Jen Aldana perform twice at Soulfest:

  • Thursday, August 4th at 4:30PM – Deeper Well Stage
  • Saturday, August 6th at 4PM – Mountain Top Stage

For more info visit Soulfest’s website here.

Tickets:

Purchase your *Discounted Tickets* with Jen’s link for friends & family (that’s you!) here. 

Stay connected! Follow her journey at @jenaldanamusic

See you at Soulfest!

Hope Is Rising

NewCity Church, in collaboration with local community leaders, organizations and businesses, is hosting, HOPE IS RISING. Join us for a free drive-in concert event designed as a safe space for people of color and allies to recharge and be inspired.

Enjoy listening to a live band with special musical guests, celebrate the Black culture, and listen to a panel discussion, “My City and Me,” moderated by Rev. Devlin Scott with panelists, Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller, Newton Police Department Chief David MacDonald, Newton Police Department Public Information Officer Lt. Bruce Apotheker, METCO Specialist and Newton Public Schools Teacher Katani Sumner, and members of Newton’s Coalition of Black Residents.

UniteBoston is a key partner for this event and will be coordinating volunteers – contact Joel Putnam at joel@uniteboston.com if you’d like to volunteer.

Social distancing will be observed. Masks are required. Limited spots available – sign up here!

Two Dozen Pastors Are Already Collaborating About the UB Summer Worship Night

The UniteBoston Summer worship night will take place in August, but the planning has already begun! On Tuesday March 19th, two dozen pastors and leaders gathered into a room at Park Street Church to collaborate together about the UniteBoston worship night. Special thanks to Pastor Michael Balboni from Park Street Church for hosting us, as well as The Well Coffeehouse for donating the coffee and pastries!

The gathering was led by Kelly Fassett, UniteBoston’s team leader, and Chloe Gaydos, UniteBoston’s worship night coordinator and band manager. The afternoon began with sharing why Christian unity matters and the history of the UniteBoston worship night. Tom Baskett also shared a powerful testimony from his experience directing last year’s worship team. Click here to check out the photo gallery and a video from last year’s summer worship night.

The ministry leaders also broke up into collaborative groups to dream about what each person wanted to see at a public worship night, and how participating in the worship night might impact local congregations. Here are a few key ideas that people shared:

  • Testimonies and spoken word
  • Highlighting the diversity to understand what we’re seeing/experiencing through different forms of worship
  • Incorporate building relationships across churches/traditions
  • Evangelism – Prayer tent, potentially part of a serve weekend
  • Supporting young adults and their role in the leadership of the church
  • Organizing the evening around God’s big story, including creation, the fall, lamenting our disunity publicly, and redemption in Jesus Christ
  • Do you have any other ideas? Please email kelly@uniteboston.com with anything you’d like to see at the UB worship night! 
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Lohones, Park Street Church

 

Key themes from the collaboration time that emerged with the group

Finally, Chloe Gaydos went through the practicals of the worship night, including different options for the budget. Click here to view the Powerpoint presentation from the afternoon.

The beautiful thing about a vision like this is that it will take all of us participating in different ways, through prayer, resources, and finances, so we’d love to have you involved! If you are a pastor or ministry leader, please click here to take our 2-minute survey about how you’d like you and your church to be involved. If you are interested in volunteering on one of the teams, including the musician, logistics, or prayer teams, email Chloe Gaydos, ccgaydos@gmail.com.  We are pleased to share that $3,300 has been pledged thusfar for the worship night – yahoo!

We really appreciate your prayers and support for this opportunity to worship Jesus in the heart of Boston.  We know that a public worship night is just one of many ways by which Christians can attest to the reconciling power of the gospel, for the glory of God and the good of the city – Thank you for joining in!

With hope,

Kelly Fassett and Chloe Gaydos

Transforming Hostility into Enemy-Embracing Love Sermon

Do you want to learn more about the theology behind Christian unity?

UniteBoston’s Executive Director Kelly Fassett preached at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary this past Wednesday. Her sermon was titled “Transforming Hostility into Enemy-Embracing Love.” Jesus redefined who we should associate with and modeled enemy-embracing love, even for the people that were nailing him to the cross. The sermon is centered on the scripture text Ephesians 2:11-22, which emphasizes Jesus’ reconciling peace, and the work of Christ that destroyed hostility between Jews and Gentiles.

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. 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.  He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.” (Ephesians 2:14-17)

As Christians, how can people believe that we are reconciled to God, if we aren’t reconciled to one another? Kelly believes that there is one major component that is preventing unity and reconciliation: hostility. She highlights four steps we can take to uncover the hostility we may be holding towards other Christians by:

  1. Reflecting on which Christian groups we consider to be outside of the “true Christian church”
  2. Going with curiosity to learn from people and worship settings
  3. Reflecting and discerning which aspects of their faith that you want to adopt into your own Christian practice
  4. Speaking well of fellow Christians and treating them as if they were the living, breathing body of Christ

She states boldly that Christian unity is a process by which the church is brought to maturity (Eph 2:21-22, Eph 4:15-16). Our differences even among Christians seem to lead to intractable polarization and division – Listen to the sermon below to reflect, learn and grow together across the diversity of Christian belief and practice.

 

Please join us for Chapel at 11:10am (EST) to hear Kelly Fassett preach the Word.

Publicado por Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary en Miércoles, 13 de febrero de 2019

 

Divided We Stand? Evangelicals and Catholics Search for Common Ground

Big News! UniteBoston is featured this week on the Neighborly Faith Podcast!

Neighborly Faith Podcast hosts Kevin Singer and Chris Stackaruk searched nationwide for the cutting edge of Evangelical-Catholic ecumenism, the work towards unity among Christians. They traveled to Boston and Chicago to investigate the status and future of Evangelical-Catholic relationships in these cities, interviewing pastors & priests, professors, laypersons, seminarians, and musicians from both traditions. In their extensive and exclusive interviews, they investigate: What can today’s leaders in ecumenism teach us about the future between these two traditions?

Episodes include:
  • Evangelicals, Catholics, and Jesus’ Call for Unity: How should Christians follow the NT command for the Church to be one as Jesus and the Father are one?”
  • First Impressions of Evangelicals/Catholics…and Why They Changed: Leaders talk about their first impressions of the other, and how those impressions are changing.
  • Why is Christian Unity Difficult?: What are the hindrances Evangelicals must overcome in order to engage better with Catholics?
  • What Does Christian Unity Look Like?What does unity realistically look like in our world today?
  • Evangelicals and Catholics Working Together:  How are Evangelicals and Catholics working together now for the betterment of their churches, communities, and societies?

Here are links to the series: SERIES // SITE. These episodes would be great to listen to on a morning commute!

Featured Guests from UniteBoston include:

  • Kelly Fassett, the Founder and Executive Director of UniteBoston
  • Korleen Sheridan, member of UniteBoston’s Worship Team
  • Dr. Elizabeth Smith, Catholic scholar and ecumenist
  • Chloe Gaydos, UniteBoston Worship Team Band Manager
  • Rev. Dana Baker, Pastor of Social Justice and Multicultural Ministry at Grace Chapel and UniteBoston Board Member
“Ecumenism is us functioning as a body in which each part is playing its own role, yet there is synergy, conjunction, and coordination. I do what I can to promote a sense of honor and respect across the differences. Not that we would erase our differences but recognize them and be challenged by them. This giving and receiving is in the nature of God the Trinity”
-Kelly Fassett
Executive Director, UniteBoston
Please share this resource as widely as you are able. We’d love for the series to reach all who care about the future of Evangelical-Catholic ecumenism.
You can keep up with Neighborly Faith here: TWITTER // FACEBOOK // NEWS

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