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Nurturing Relational Connections Across Boston's Christian Community

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Nov 21 2018

Conversations Around the Thanksgiving Table

Photo from a UniteBoston dinner at Sally’s house in West Roxbury last month

Americans tend to eat with a variety of people around the Thanksgiving table:  neighbors, close friends, and family. Often, there are a variety of religious and political affiliations, and at times, these differences can lead to volatile conversation.

Barna research points out that today, religious views and political views on topics such as patriotism and immigration are especially dicey. They also found that there are generational differences in the aspects of our identity that tie to our sense of self.

The challenge in these settings is to learn how to have constructive conversations with people who are different than you. Younger people tend to be more likely to choose diverse social environments than older generations, yet more often than not, people choose to be with people who are like them.

To capitalize on the learning that can happen through engaging with people different than you, we want to highlight a great resource called “Reaching Across the Divide” from Essential Partners. It offers tips to help people better understand each other’s perspectives, and the hopes, fears and values behind them. As Christians, we need to take the lead in modeling how to love one another across deep divides, and stay in relationship even when it’s difficult, as that is what Christ has done for us.

Click on the link below to download the resource!

https://uniteboston.com/…/2018/11/EP-Red-Blue-Guide-1.pdf

 

Written by uniteboston · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: constructive, conversation, difference, divide, division, essential partners, reaching, table, thanksgiving, unity

Nov 14 2018

2018 UniteBoston Fundraising Party Photo Gallery

We had a great time celebrating all that God has done this year through UB at the UniteBoston fundraising party! There was Greek food, a jazz trio with the musicians on the UniteBoston Worship Team, and featured breakout stories, including:

-Paul Castiglione, UniteBoston’s Somerville Dinner Coordinator on “The Power of Unity in Diversity”

-Cleopatra Muhammad, UniteBoston’s Dorchester Coordinator on “Gaining New Perspective and Hope”

-Caleb McCoy, Christian Hip Hop artist and musician on “The Joyful Noise of Collaboration and a Wider Network”

-Chloe Gaydos, UniteBoston worship night coordinator on “A New Vision for the Future”

-Rev. David Wright, UB Board Member and Executive Director of the Black Ministerial Alliance on “Nurturing God’s Revival”

Thanks to everyone who gave to help us reach our goal of $12,000! Click here to learn why your gift to UB makes a difference. 

Thanks to Deepak Bardhan for the great photographs here. Check out more photos from the event on Facebook! 

Featured Breakout Sessions

 

Written by uniteboston · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: boston, christianity, christians, ecumenism, fundraiser, jesus, party, spirit, uniteboston, unity, worship

Nov 07 2018

Just Released: UniteBoston Worship Night Video

On August 18, 2018, an estimated 1,000 people came out to the second-ever UniteBoston Summer Worship Night in the Boston Common. The worship team was intentionally diverse, with Christians from all different ethnic and denominational backgrounds. There was incredible music, 13 sponsored tables by local churches and organizations, Lori Dupre painting with our theme “One City / One Love,” great fellowship, and even a spontaneous dance party!

Click here to check out the photo gallery from the event and click below to watch the video from the 2018 summer worship night in the Boston Common!

 

Written by uniteboston · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: boston common, christian unity, christianity, denomination, diversity, jesus, night, summer, uniteboston, unity, video, worship

Oct 28 2018

Making A Difference in Allston/Brighton

 

Sisters celebrating 55 years at the Founder’s Day Celebration in September

Did you know that there is a Christian community of vowed women in Brighton, whose mission is to realize Christ’s prayer “that they would be one,” and seek to work for unity and reconciliation where there is brokenness? Since 1873, these Sisters of St. Joseph have worked in schools, parishes, hospitals, nursing homes, retreat and campus ministry centers, refugee services, literacy programs, shelters, food pantries, and more.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston are excited to host the 2018 “Make a Difference in Allston/Brighton” this Monday evening in Brighton. Their press release describes that this event, “seeks to honor the great work of active volunteers in Allston/Brighton and to recruit new volunteers for the 20 different non-profit organizations that will be represented.” These organizations all share the common goal of “loving the dear neighbor without distinction” throughout Allston/Brighton. We encourage the UniteBoston community to support their great work to serve and love our neighbors in Allston/Brighton.

Read their “Make A Difference Day” press release 

Learn more about the Sisters of St Joseph

Read “The Neighborhood as the Unit of Change”  (New York Times)

Written by uniteboston · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: allston, brighton, catholic, john 17, make a difference, nun, sisters, sisters of st joseph, unity, volunteering

Aug 26 2018

What’s Next After the Worship Night And Photo Contest Winners!

Group photo of UB volunteers! Photo Credit: Koo Chung

By Kelly Fassett, UniteBoston Team Leader

When I agreed to Chloe Gaydos’ idea last summer to organize a worship night in the Boston Common, we had no idea what God would do. As she began recruiting for the worship team, we were amazed to see the interest and involvement of Christians from a variety of communities. The attendance at this year’s worship night was over 1,000, which was double or triple the amount from last year, including Christians of all denominations and ethnic backgrounds and many people passing by who were in the park that evening.

 

The worship team did an incredible job leading us in a variety of types of music, including gospel, Christian rap, Messianic Jewish, charismatic, and traditional hymns. I helped to coordinate the sponsored tables of thirteen local churches and organizations that surrounded the perimeter of the premises. There was also great fellowship – a family reunion of sorts – and even a woman who painted canvases throughout the evening and a spontaneous dance party! A sense of joy filled my heart as I saw all these groups come together in worship as we sought to witness to the love found in Christ.  Check out the photo gallery here!

A great crowd at the event, and thirteen sponsored tables! Photo Credit: Elijah Mickelson

 

Worship. Photo Credit: Koo Chung

 

Lori Dupre painting “One City.” Photo Credit: Koo Chung

 

The 2018 UB Worship Team in front of Lori Dupre’s paintings. Photo Credit: Elijah Mickelson

 

One of the greatest joys for me as the Team Leader of UniteBoston is seeing more and more people running with the vision of Christian unity. Unlike other UB events where I’ve been the main person to make everything happen, at the very heart of this event was unity: an amazing team of volunteers, sound technicians, and musicians to plan and implement all of the logistics.  Thanks to the UB community, the event on Facebook was shared 228 times, and over 50,100 people viewed the event (yes, that’s 50 thousand people! Not a typo!)

Below are some stories of people who were impacted; click here to give your feedback and input from the worship night – We would love to hear your input on how this movement can continue to build and grow!

Personal Stories

“You’d be hard pressed to find as diverse a crowd of believers worshiping together in Spirit and Truth as were gathered that night. Some have moved to Boston because they believe the Holy Spirit is not at work. Strange how those people never attend events where the fullness of the Church is being expressed in the diversity of God’s people!”
-Rev. David Wright, Black Ministerial Alliance

“As we gathered on the Boston Common, our ‘common neighborhood backyard,’ the vibrancy, joy, diversity of our common faith came alive. It was truly incarnational, if one had to use a theological term. Although much of the style of the event was different from my Catholic style, I felt welcomed and engaged. Christ is our Center, our Life. Thank you so much.”
-Fr. Michael McGarry, The Paulist Center

“The August 19 evening worship on Boston Common was as filled with God’s Spirit perhaps as the Common has been on a number of historic moments over many years, such as the First Great Awakening there in 1740 or the Billy Graham meetings there in 1950.  We pray God is increasingly filling Boston with His Spirit now in 2018.”

-Ralph Kee, Emmanuel Gospel Center Church Planting Collaborative

Continue the Momentum Towards Unity 

Ephesians 4:16 says that the body of Christ is joined and held together by every supporting ligament. This is Christian unity: Every person has a part to play to build up the body. The participation of every community matters. You have a unique, valuable contribution, by which others can learn and receive from.

Here are some things you can do to continue the momentum towards Christian unity after the worship night:

1. Build relationships with other Christians 

While large events are great, the power of Christian unity comes from relationships. It is relationships across our varied church traditions and backgrounds which empower inter-church collaboration. Thus, one of the greatest things you can do is to set up a time to meet with someone from a different background than you – perhaps ethnically, denominationally, or socioeconomically. To do this, you can visit a worship service from another church in your neighborhood, asking, “What can this form of Christian worship teach me about God?” It’s often as we step outside our comfort zone that our false understandings are revealed and we discover the manifold wisdom of God present within the church (Eph 3:10).

2. Join a UniteBoston Neighborhood Dinner

UniteBoston has a team of nine dinner coordinators that are coordinating regular gatherings for prayer and fellowship within neighborhood communities.  The goal for the dinners is to build relationships and to let our relationships inform our shared mission of revealing Jesus’ love within our communities. We gather to hear our personal stories of faith in Christ and to answer two questions: “What is God already doing in our community?” and “What can we together to better demonstrate the love of Christ?”

You can sign up for a dinner in your neighborhood by clicking here. Our neighborhood dinner coordinators are also happy to sit down with you and grab a cup of coffee to learn how we can be supporting you and what God is doing in your midst. Please contact us – We’d love to hear from you!

Neighborhood Dinner at Adam’s house in East Boston

3. Share about UniteBoston on Facebook or Instagram

This year, we increased our marketing strategy and have discovered the power of social media. We encourage you to take one of our photos and share it on Facebook (@uniteboston10) or Instagram (Uniteboston) – or simply email your friends and encourage them to get involved with UB/sign up for our weekly newsletter!

“Organizations have programs. People have friends. Friends trump programs every time…The world has been shouting over the noise of our programs that it doesn’t need more presidents or organizations, what it needs is more friends.” – Bob Goff in Love Does

Photo Credit: Koo Chung

4. Submit an event from your church/ministry to UniteBoston’s weekly newsletter

UniteBoston has a large infrastructure for promotion and advertising. Our website is viewed by 2,000+ people monthly and our weekly newsletter goes out to over 3,000 Christians in the Greater Boston area, so it’s a great way to get the word out about your event and increase visibility. Many people attest that posting on UB helped them to connect with new people and increased their event size!

There are two options for posting:
-Free: Posted on the UniteBoston.com website

-$30/week: Featured on our weekly e-newsletter

Click on the link here to submit your event to UniteBoston!

5. Join our team!

The current UniteBoston team is a tight-knit group of people that is committed to one another and to joining God in His work in this city. If you believe in Christian unity and want to be a part of a community that is working to make the unity we share in Christ visible, please prayerfully consider joining our team!

Right now, we have volunteer opportunities available in finance, journalism, and neighborhood dinner coordination.

Photo Contest Winners!

And here are our photo winners from our photo contest! Each of the three people below will receive a gift card to Neighborhoods Cafe, which is a cafe run by David and Betsy Hill from CityChurch. Neighborhoods is a local coffee shop in the Fenway/Kenmore neighborhood that has organic fair trade direct trade coffee and crepes. Thank you Betsy Hill for donating the gift cards to UniteBoston!

Harim @Hrl88 from Highrock Cambridge wrote “One day, we will remember that this was the start of everything.” We loved this photo that highlighted her creativity and graphic design with the worship night theme!

 

Kristine Guo @kristine.guo with her friends Faith, Godwinna, and Elizabeth! Kristine told us that Faith was a close friend that she met at UMass Boston last year and they unexpectedly found out that we were both Christian after following each other on Instagram and seeing that they both had Bible verses in our bios! Kristine attends CBCGB, the Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston.

 

Camille Gaydos @anursewhocares posted this photo. We loved how she caught this moment of worship amidst the hustle and bustle of city life, which captured the worship night’s theme of “One City, One Love.”

Written by uniteboston · Categorized: Blog · Tagged: contest, ecumenism, next, photo, uniteboston, unity

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