UniteBoston

Bridging Divides Across Christians for the Flourishing of the City

Exciting Announcement: 500th Anniversary of the Reformation

Today is an exciting day for us at UniteBoston!

When’s the last time that you saw an article on Christian unity published in the Boston Globe?

This morning, it was announced that Catholic and Lutheran leaders will be observing the 500th anniversary of the reformation together.

Below is the press release, and check out the Boston Globe article here: “Groups Vow Unity Ahead of Reformation Anniversary”

UniteBoston will be helping to coordinate united service projects as part of this initiative; stay tuned for more details!

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In the Spirit of a Commitment to the Journey to full unity, Catholic and Lutheran Leaders announce Preparations for the Observance of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation

Braintree, MA – November 10, 2015 – Five centuries after Western Civilization split into two halves, Catholic and Protestant, and more than 50 years of international dialogue, the two sides are using the 500th anniversary of the Reformation to move closer together.  From now until October 2017, with cooperative ventures in service, arts, academics, and evangelization, it is the hope and prayer of Catholics and Lutherans that this effort will contribute to advancing the goal of full unity.

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In a joint letter (above) Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley and Lutheran Bishop James Hazelwood wrote, “Our common ground lies in the life-giving Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We share one baptism into Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior.”  They added, “As we proceed toward this observance, we give thanks for our mutual baptism into Christ Jesus and our irrevocable commitment to full visible unity. For this we must all work and pray.”  The full text of the letter is available at www.nesynod.org and www.bostoncatholic.org.

Recently the USCCB issued a statement stating that “Lutherans and Catholics together have issued the “Declaration on the Way: Church, Ministry and Eucharist,” a unique ecumenical document that marks a pathway toward greater visible unity between Catholics and Lutherans. The October 30 release of the document comes on the eve of the anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting the 95 Theses, which sparked the Protestant Reformation.”  The USCCB noted that at the heart of the document are 32 Statements of Agreement where Lutherans and Catholics already have reached consensus in terms of the church, ministry and Eucharist. The document also indicates differences still remaining and possible paths forward.

Bishop Hazelwood (Lutheran), “This is an opportunity to pursue a shared commitment to the journey to full unity, coming together around our common agreement on the Heart of the Gospel, listening together to our responsibility to the environment, serving together our world, connecting together to the regional, national, international ecumenical commemoration.”

Vito Nicastro, PhD, Associate Director of the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, said, “It is important to understand that this is a mission driven event.  In fact all ecumenism is an evangelization opportunity because our unity is around the gospel.  The opportunity to learn from each other is exciting.  The worldwide observance is turning this event into a sign of hope.”

As the commemoration progresses there are increasing opportunities for participation of all denominations of Protestants.

For more information, contact:

-Andy Merritt, Communications Director of the New England Synod, ELCA, amerritt@nesynod.org, 508-333-1761

-Vito Nicastro, Associate Director of the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, Archdiocese of Boston, 617-435-0019, vnicastro@earthlink.net

 

Unity in Diversity: Shalom in the Fenway

For the past five months, the UniteBoston Reps have been engaging in various activities to listen and learn from their communities. These next four weeks, each rep will be writing a brief blog to share their findings with the Greater Boston Christian community. This week, Betsy Slate, Director of Community Engagement at Fenway Church is sharing her insights from the Fenway Community.

We dream of having every community in Boston connected with a UB Rep! UB Rep Cohorts begin in October and extend to May. If you’re interested in being a UB Rep in your community, email Kelly Steinhaus, kelly@uniteboston.com


(Photo Credit: www.colleges-fenway.org)

Strolling through the Fenway neighborhood, you’re likely to meet people from all walks of life. You may meet Fatma, who has come from Saudi Arabia to the area for its proximity to the Longwood Medical Center; her daughter is ill with a disease that she’s come to Children’s Hospital with hope for a cure. Continuing down Boylston Street, you meet someone like Mark, a student from California who has come to study music at Berklee, just trying to figure out the ins and outs of adulthood. As you pass the Fenway Victory Gardens, you meet Janine and Bobby, long-term residents who find a sense of community in the very ground of the Fenway. Rounding the bend, you bump into Clara, a resident of the Fenway for over three decades, working to see the community become just that – a community, a people that care about one another and the state of the neighborhood.

The beauty of the Fenway lies therein; a diverse group of people brought together geographically – often for a limited period of time. This neighborhood is denoted by transition, which puts the area at risk for great instability. With the number of families dropping each year, the increase of young, transient residents and ever-rising housing prices, one could look at the Fenway and think it’s headed for disaster. But, if you search for God’s heartbeat in the humdrum of this bustling neighborhood, you’ll hear a different rhythm, one that softly drums hope.

Despite the odds being stacked against the neighborhood, God is bringing together individuals from these different social groups to generate unity for social impact. This is not a community that backs down from a challenge; organizations like the Fenway Community Development Corporation (FCDC) are bringing together students, long term residents, and families to build an “urban village” – a place with ample and affordable housing, healthy local business, shared indoor and outdoor community spaces, and good access to transportation. Further, residents and developers – typically at odds – are partnering to see a Community Center come to fruition. While these may look “practical” and not “spiritual,” they are the instruments God can use to bring about a community knitted together in shalom – community-wide, holistic peace characterized by relationships as He intended.

Though we’re seeing the first signs of partnership between residents and students, there is still much to be done. On the whole, the church in the Fenway can partner to bring peace and reconciliation alongside local community workers. Division seems to always be at work in the Fenway. Even the geography reflects the struggle between unity and division: the Fens – the park system iconic of the neighborhood – is both a space to unite the neighborhood and which separates the Fenway in an east-west divide. Churches in the Fenway must unite across geography and turf, and share a common vision to see this neighborhood transformed. Followers of Jesus throughout the Fenway can then enter community organizations as learners with a sense of peace and unity that will come to the whole neighborhood.

Futher, the church can function as peacemakers between disparate groups in the Fenway. Long term residents sometimes feel at odds with students, the transience of whom lead to increased housing costs and poor living conditions within the neighborhood; whereas students are largely unaware of their place in the community. The church can act as ministers of reconciliation in the Fenway by facilitating the connection between the residential community and the student community. A neighborhood is not one group or another; rather, it includes everyone who lives in that area. Students have a place in and responsibility to the community, and residents have a role in welcoming students to the neighborhood. The church can model the former to students, and introduce students and residents to one another.

Disparate groups are not meant to coexist, in the Fenway or otherwise, but to engage with one another. As God directed the Israelites in Jeremiah 29, so are we to seek the welfare of the city, of the neighborhood, in which we find ourselves. God is already at work in this neighborhood; let us partner with Him as peacemakers to see unity in the Fenway. The church can and must weave itself into the fabric of the community, and help others do the same, with the hope of bringing unity and shalom to the Fenway neighborhood – one step toward seeing unity across Boston.

On the right, Betsy Slate is Director of Community Engagement at Fenway Church

Boston’s South End and UniteBoston

For the past five months, the UniteBoston Reps have been engaging in various activities to listen and learn from their communities. These next four weeks, each rep will be writing a brief blog to share their findings with the Greater Boston Christian community.

We dream of having every community in Boston connected with a UB Rep! UB Rep Cohorts begin in October and extend to May. If you’re interested in being a UB Rep in your community, email Kelly Steinhaus, kelly@uniteboston.com
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Photo Credit: Flickr.com

By Ralph Kee, UniteBoston Rep: South End

I’ve been encouraged to see how God is working throughout the South End. Recently, pastors or designated representatives of churches that meet in or within a couple of blocks of the South End have been holding 2-hour meetings together every six weeks for the last year, for the purpose of South End focussed Great Commission collaboration. Fifteen churches have attended at least one meeting, with an average of six or so churches and twelve or so people at each meeting. The South End itself is about one square mile with some 35,000 residents, and there are 35 churches of all kinds are listed in the South End, so as you can see, the need is great.

At each of the meetings, individuals representative of various Boston endeavors have presented their work, their needs, as well as their offers to help South End churches, collectively or individually. At recent meetings, there has been discussions on helping South End public schools, helping reduce South End street violence, helping families affected by violence, connecting with Tenants Development Corporation, and helping refugees adjust to Boston. In addition to this, a collaborative outdoor Easter Sunrise Service was held in a South End park, with components of the service led by five of the churches and about forty people in attendance.

There are many realities facing the South End of Boston at this time, such as the ongoing loss of church buildings to high-end condos, the increasing number of millionaires, and the reality that whole new mini-neighborhoods are being constructed in or near the South End. Christians need to address these current realities, and collectively come up with an answer to the question: how do the churches put their expertise to work collaboratively for further South End Kingdom-building? And can we collaboratively be out in the coffee shops and in the parks this summer doing some friendship building and evangelism? These are things for the South End churches themselves to decide. And then, as led, do.

The group is now at a critical point. After a year of meetings, concrete results need to be seen if interest is to continue. Unless this kind of endeavor produces two things at the same time: added strength and growth to individual participating churches and at the same time added additional strength and growth and evangelistic success to the whole Body of Christ in the South End, interest and participation in this endeavor will lapse. We hope this effort to collaborate will be successful.

We praise God for UniteBoston, for its commitment to neighborhood focussed collaborative vision-building and practice. My UniteBoston prayer walk around the INK Block construction was a memorable prayer walk. Getting the UniteBoston Reps that focus on various Boston neighborhoods regularly around the same table is critical. Constantly learning from each other and encouraging each other is basic to success That’s what they did in the Book of Acts and what we need to do in Boston, and UniteBoston is helping enable this to happen.

Report on United Night of Worship / Cape Cod

by Ed de la Cour, reposted with permission

Whenever the Body of Christ – or a solid representative sampling of that Body – gathers together for worship and prayer, it is a very good thing! Over nearly thirty years, we on Cape Cod have been blessed with a growing appreciation for the whole Church of Jesus Christ. In those early years, such gatherings were tentative and rocky as people sought to find ways to work together. Although those early efforts were bathed in prayer, God’s Church moved exceedingly slowly, frustrating many but energizing some to continue to seek God’s face in prayer. We certainly have a long ways to go, but truly we have seen and we have experienced the blessing of God upon us.

Last year, Cape Cod churches worked to together to hold an outdoor Sunday worship service on the Hyannis Green on September 29, 2013. It was a day filled with joyful worship and the presence of God was noticeably and keenly felt.

This blessing found us again on Saturday, May 10, 2014, as United Night of Worship, led by Zenzo Matoga, came to Cape Cod. Twenty-three churches agreed to join together. The churches and pastors ranged from denominational and non-affiliated, evangelical and Charismatic, liturgical and Pentecostal churches.

The worship music also ranged between modern and loud worship songs, and traditional hymns. The music was fun, enjoyable, and Christ-centered. From the viewpoint of this observer, the greatest moments came when Nick Gatzke spoke on the evangelistic need of this area, when John-Paul Lotz responded prophetically, and when the collected pastors prayed. There were three major movements of prayer during the evening. In the first season of prayer, ten pastors prayed concerning the foundations of our culture. The second season of prayer, seven pastors prayed concerning repentance for our own failure to honor the Lord and for God to move the people of His church in evangelism. In the third time for payer, the whole congregation was asked to cry out to God for Cape Cod. The prayers of the pastors of Cape Cod were deep and passionate and powerful. It was humbling to hear and sense the embrace of God our Father in those moments.

We come together, worship together, and work together because we have come to believe God loves it when He sees His children living in love, walking in harmony, and working in peace. John 17:23 unity brings the manifestation of Psalm 133:3 blessing.


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