UniteBoston

Bridging Divides Across Christians for the Flourishing of the City

Awakening Boston: The Vision and Heart of Pray.Boston

By Yasmin Lountchenko

At UniteBoston, we love seeing churches pray and serve together, which is why we are grateful to feature Pray.Boston, a new citywide movement of prayer to see the city of Boston awakened to life with Jesus.

In this week’s blog, Yasmin Lountchenko (Pray Ministry Lead at Grace City Church) shares her vision for building “altars of prayer” where believers from all backgrounds intercede for our city’s flourishing. Click below to read how a humble prayer room has grown into a collaborative space for people to contend for God’s Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.”

I used to walk through downtown Boston, and I would see the city seal but not think anything of it. Last summer, I was on a prayer walk in the Boston Common, and felt the need to look up the significance of the seal. Inscribed on the seal is the motto of our city, which is “SICUT PATRIBUS. SIT DEUS NOBIS”. 

This translates to “God be with us as he was with our fathers.” Our city motto comes from King Solomon’s prayer when he dedicates the temple as a place to host God’s presence. This has largely shaped how we pray at  Pray.Boston — like Solomon, we are praying that God’s presence would be known here in a tangible way. 

My name is Yasmin Loutchenko, and I am serving as the Prayer Ministry Lead of Grace City Church and Pray.Boston. I moved to Boston for undergrad in 2020, and quickly got involved at Grace City Church. It was at Grace City that I was discipled in prayer and grew in love for the city of Boston. Throughout my time at Boston University, I felt God invite me to pray for awakening in Boston, which eventually led to Pray.Boston being formed out of Grace City. 

Pray.Boston is a movement of prayer to see the city of Boston awakened to life with Jesus. We are calling our city to seek God, love him wholeheartedly, and contend for a move of His Spirit in our time. We exist as a citywide ministry for Boston, aiming to be a resource and a gift to the church in Boston. 

We see prayer as the primary means through which God advances his kingdom on Earth. All throughout Scripture and awakening history, we see God move when his people gather to pray. The Northeast has witnessed significant moves of God, and our own city has a rich spiritual history. Boston was founded to be a “city on a hill,” a vision articulated by John Winthrop, later reinforced by Harvard as a center for training ministers, and dramatically renewed during the First Great Awakening. We have heard of all that God has done in our region, and we believe that God is raising up a praying community of people who are calling on him to do it again in our time and in our city.

In 2019, the Prayer Room started at Grace City Church – it was small and humble, but characterized by a deep dependence on the Spirit and confidence that the Lord responds to those who seek him. Even before Grace City officially launched, prayer was central to the leadership of the church, and the prayer room was born out of the belief that in order for us to faithfully steward our calling as a church, it needed to first come out of a place of total dependence on God. We needed God to do in his power, what we couldn’t in our own strength, so we met consistently every week, asking God to move in Boston and across New England. 

As we continued to meet for prayer, God placed Pray.Boston on our hearts. We wanted to remain faithful with what God had entrusted us with, while seeking God’s heart for Pray.Boston. Over time, the Prayer Room grew and we started to welcome people from different churches and backgrounds. It was a space for people to encounter the presence of God and contend for God’spurposes in our city and world. 

In August 2025, we sensed a clear release from the Lord to formally establish Pray.Boston—formalizing what had already been unfolding. With this step, our vision expanded: not only to cultivate a culture of prayer within Grace City, but across Boston. Since then, we have increased capacity in the Prayer Room, launched Prayer Labs to equip churches to build cultures of prayer in their own contexts, and begun forming meaningful relationships with pastors, leaders, and congregations throughout Boston.

We know that Jesus’s heart is not for one individual congregation, but for his entire body. And while we may have different expressions of our faith, we believe that communion with Christ and one another unites us and fulfills Christ’s desire for his bride. This is why we also started to host Citywide Prayer. Citywide Prayer is hosted bimonthly on Wednesday morning as a space for ministry leaders across the city of Boston to gather in united prayer as we seek God to move in and beyond our city. 

Through Pray.Boston, we are witnessing people catch a vision of the inbreaking kingdom through prayer. One of our involved team members went from not really understanding prayer, to now regularly serving in the Pray.Boston Prayer Room, and now even starting a prayer meeting at his workplace. The Prayer Room is not built around any one personality, church, or method, but around the person and ministry of Jesus. Jesus instructs us to pray for the kingdom to come on earth as it is in Heaven, and the kingdom picture we see in Scripture is the gathering of a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language before the Lamb who is enthroned at the center (Rev. 7:9). 

Our desire is to see each heart, home, and church collectively agree that the Lord is welcome and wanted in our city, knowing that God’s awakening work is greater than any one church. God is raising up a praying community in our city that serves as a promise to our city that there is a new and better way that is centered on Christ. 

Join in! All are invited to join this praying community and commit to seeking revival and awakening in our city. The Prayer Room is open every Wednesday at 7:00 AM and 8:00 AM at 874 Beacon St., with an Evening Prayer Room hosted on the last Thursday of each month at 6:00 PM. Pastors and ministry leaders are also encouraged to attend Citywide Prayer on May 6 from 9:30-10:45am at 874 Beacon St. For additional events and resources, visit pray.boston.

Seeking Music Director (part-time)

The Music Director is a part-time role, 10-15 hours per week. The vision of Christ the King Dorchester is
to be a gospel-driven church seeking the renewal and flourishing of all people in Dorchester and beyond.
As a church based in Boston’s largest and most diverse neighborhood, we are seeking to hire a Music
Director who will help lead our worship services in ways that reflect the beautiful diversity not only of our
congregation, but also the community our church is rooted in. Our Sunday worship services include
varied musical styles drawing from gospel, hymns, and contemporary worship. CTK Dorchester is a
member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).

We are seeking:
– A gifted musician, who is called and able to lead musical worship in ways that reflect the diversity
of our congregation and community.
– A developer of persons, who can lead our current group of music ministry volunteers and
continue to develop and grow this team as you lead worship together.
– A contributing member of our church staff team, who will help shape Sunday worship services, as
well as the broader life and ministry of our local church.
– A committed member of our church, who is energized and engaged in the mission and vision of
CTK Dorchester.

Responsibilities:
– Oversee music for Sunday worship services and special events. Our weekly worship service is at
4pm each Sundays at First Parish Dorchester, however we are currently exploring options to
move to a morning service time.
– Lead and develop a volunteer worship team who help lead each Sunday
– Have creative oversight over all musical and lyrical arrangements
– Organize and lead rehearsals of the music team
– Manage the scheduling of rotations for music ministry volunteers
– Collaborate with the Lead Pastor in choosing songs
– Provide improvisational transition music during services
– Prepare slides for Sunday services
– Lead music for additional special events, such as Good Friday, Christmas Eve, etc.
– Order music and maintain music library and ensure compliance with CCLI copyright laws.
– Attend weekly staff meetings

Qualifications:
– Have experienced the grace of Jesus Christ in your own life and responded in faith
– Be willing to make CTK Dorchester your church home by becoming a communing member
– Gifted in musical ability vocally or instrumentally (piano or guitar preferred)
– Ability to lead a congregation in musical worship both solo or with a team.
– Three to five years experience in leading musical worship
– Residing in, or willingness to relocate to, the neighborhood of Dorchester or surrounding
communities is strongly preferred

RCCI’s Community Gathering & Fundraiser

In the midst of the racism and polarization in our word, the Church must rise up and be a faithful witness. We must choose to model the way of Jesus – who speaks truth, embodies love, and affirms the dignity of every image bearer.

But how are we to do this? And how are we to sustain this work in these challenging times?

You are invited to connect in community, be encouraged, and get equipped to be a faithful witness to Jesus. Come to RCCI’s Community Gathering & Fundraiser at 5pm on June 6th.

Learn how others are resisting racism and sustaining their shalom-building work. You are not alone. Together we can grow in our faith, expand our imaginations, and find creative ways to continue Christ’s redemptive work across racial lines.

Please RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/376355mp.

Hope to see you there!

Megan & the RCCI team



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