UniteBoston

Nurturing Relational Connections Across Boston's Christian Community

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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City-Wide Martin Luther King Service

Today, Ruth Nkemontoh from Abundant Life Church shares her reflections from last month’s city-wide service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man who practiced his faith
wholeheartedly. I look to his life as an example of putting faith into action, or as I recently equated it, being comfortable with uncertainty. Each year, around January 20th, people across the US pay homage to this man by hosting a day of community service or holding memorial dinners, film viewings, or other events.

On Sunday, January 19th, 2014, the Black Ministerial Alliance (BMA) and the Cambridge Black Pastors Alliance (CBPA) came together to honor this well known dreamer with a worship service. The service included both Boston and Cambridge-based churches of various denominations. The program created a space for a multitude of pastoral voices to be heard. Even worship followed suit as we were graced with the presence of a gospel choir made up of individuals representing choirs throughout the Boston area. The unity of the entire evening was a beautiful sight to see, an image I am still now left with, two weeks later.

Having moved to Boston over a year ago, I’ve noticed many things – one in particular being how segregated and territorial the city can be. When I found my current church home, Abundant Life, it was through an advertisement in the program of United Night of Worship. That evening spoke volumes as I witnessed people from all over the Greater Boston Area being brought together for the glory of God. Attending the BMA/CBPA worship service was a similar experience. It isn’t that ingenious of an idea to come together as a church, made of multiple denominations, with multiple pastors, and yet how often do we do it? In today’s society, it can be easy to get caught up in the individualistic tendencies our world values so highly, yet God calls us to community. Community is not only the community we make for ourselves, but the wider community that God has made for us. This includes our brothers and sisters across the street, across the Charles River, and across denominations. If we can’t model that as believers, as churches who claim to believe in the Church being one body, then how can we expect the rest of the world to?

The MLK service was a joint effort communicating hope: a statement that
churches are united and banding together for a stronger impact. Gathering to remember a man who helped pave the way for us to be there
that night also served as a reminder of why this unity is still so desperately needed today. In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 18 verse 20, the Lord promises that where two or more are gathered in His name, there He will be also. From the life of MLK Jr. and others like him, we’ve learned that making change requires the effort, gifts, and commitment of many. We can’t go it alone and, once we surrender to the promise that we don’t have to do it on our own, we’re able to step into the fullness of community God has called us into. It is then that we will truly begin to live as brothers and sisters, when we have learned to “rise above the narrow confines of individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of humanity.” -MLK Jr.

Note: This article was first published in Abundant Life Church’s monthly e-newsletter


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