For EGC, the 2010 Ethnic Ministries Summit was not a one-time event as much as another step along the way in our participation in and encouragement of the Kingdom of God in Boston expressed in all its cultural diversity. Here are a few of the milestones for EGC as we have watched God building his church in Boston, anticipating the church described in Revelation.
1969: EGC helped run a summer-long evangelistic program in inner-city parks, collaborating with 40 diverse churches and 150 workers; 7,000 hear the Gospel, 500 respond and are followed-up; this program continues for years and neighborhood churches take an increasing amount of responsibility to run their own evangelism outreach programs
1970: EGC opens La Libreria Español-Ingles, a bookstore to serve Boston’s growing Hispanic church community
1972: The Curriculum Project develops culturally relevant inner-city Sunday School curriculum, trains urban Sunday School teachers, coordinates urban education conferences
1976: EGC helps Gordon-Conwell found the Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME), an urban seminary well designed to serve and develop leaders in Boston
1981: Marilyn Mason joins staff, and serves three years to start creating networks with and among Boston’s Haitian community
1985: Rev. Soliny Védrine starts work as Haitian Minister-at-Large to support the growth of the Haitian church system, and is still on staff today
1988: Rev. Alderi Matos joins staff as Brazilian Minister-at-Large and serves until 1993
1988: Rev. Judy Gay Kee starts International Networking ministry, a relationally based ministry to find, encourage, and network Diaspora missionaries serving their homelands from Boston
1989: Rev. Eduardo Maynard joins staff as Minister-at-Large to the Hispanic community and serves 11 years
2001: Rev. Dr. Gregg Detwiler joins staff to develop Multicultural Ministry, now EGC’s Intercultural Ministries
2002: EGC supports the development of Hispanic pastors association, COPAHNI, helping them win a grant to establish the Institute for Pastoral Excellence to train and support Latino pastors
2002: EGC sponsors the Multicultural Leadership Consultation in Roxbury to bring together leaders from major ethnic communities around Boston, and produces a companion research report called Boston’s Book of Acts
2004: Rev. PoSan Ung begins serving Greater Boston’s Cambodian community as Minister-at-Large
2007: Intercultural Leadership Consultation—400 Christian leaders from 45 ethnic and cultural groups gather in Lexington; publishes New England’s Book of Acts to document the various ethnic and cultural streams which make up the church in New England
2007: EGC’s Intercultural Ministries team begins planning for their part in hosting the 2010 Ethnic Ministries Summit in Boston
2010: EGC helped host the 10th Annual Ethnic Ministries Summit: A City Without Walls! (www.citywithoutwalls.net)
[published in Inside EGC, May-June, 2010]
2010: Dr. Bianca Duemling joins staff as the Assistant Director of Intercultural Ministries
2011: David Kimball begins serving as Minister-at-Large, Christian-Muslim Relations
For EGC, the 2010 Ethnic Ministries Summit was not a one-time event as much as another step along the way in our participation in and encouragement of the Kingdom of God in Boston expressed in all its cultural diversity. Here are a few of the milestones for EGC as we have watched God building his church in Boston, anticipating the church described in Revelation.