This year, the Emmanuel Gospel Center celebrated 80 years of fruitful ministry in urban Boston! By the grace of God, and through your prayers and generous support, we continue to invest in Christian leaders and work to see God glorified through his church in our city. I am excited about the opportunities and challenges that are before us as we enter our next 80 years, and our vision for this work continues to grow.
We have a vision for increased unity and impact among churches in Greater Boston, manifested through collaborative learning and collective action. Our projects are designed to result in more and better connections among Christian leaders, and sense a deeper pulse on the needs and resources of Boston communities and churches. As a research hub, EGC investigates on-the-ground, changing realities using a community-based approach that is practical and actionable.
For example, at the request of and in partnership with the Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston and the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, we are launching the Boston Black Church Vitality Project. This multi-year, in-depth project will work with many partners to enable Black Christians and church communities to identify assets and growing edges as well as areas of need and innovative models for addressing them.
We have a vision the Church will gain a reputation for developing innovative solutions to the city's most intractable problems. As an innovation lab and coaching collaborative, EGC instigates and incubates new and innovating ministries, providing training, consultation and spiritual mentoring to help Christian leaders nurture collaborative action for relevant and sustainable gospel impact in the city.
Our approach, called Living System Ministry (LSM), incorporates systems thinking into urban ministry. We have taught LSM concepts for 40 years, and people say it changes the way they do ministry. One of our recent students called this approach "revolutionary" and "the favorite class I've ever taken." We are committed to making LSM more accessible by developing an online course and practical ministry tools.
We have a vision for an expanded narrative about Boston Christianity that includes underrepresented yet vital parts of the community, such as immigrant churches, women-led churches, churches that are majority Black, and communities happening outside the walls of the formal church. Compelling storytelling about what God is doing in and through Christians inspires and catalyzes change.
As story tellers, we will continue to increase our collective storytelling capacity through our publications, EGC Films and continued development of the Filmmakers Collaborative (a grass-roots gathering of videographers from across Boston's church community). We will tell stories, and help others tell stories, of God at work in our midst.
Our prayer, hope and expectation is that EGC's next 80 years will be even better than the first 80. We are doing all we can to position EGC for a fruitful future, and your faithful giving will help turn these visions into reality. You can make a year-end donation at egc.org/give or clicking the button below. You can also send a check to Emmanuel Gospel Center PO Box 180245, Boston MA 02118.
Thank you for your partnership with us in this work!
Sincerely,
Jeff Bass
Executive Director
PS. We could not do our work without you. Your support empowers our staff to dedicate themselves to partnering with others to turn these visions into reality. Thank you for joining us in this important mission!