Where to Plant a Church in Boston: Areas of Growth

Where to Plant a Church in Boston: Areas of Growth

by Rudy Mitchell and Steve Daman

Want to know where to plant a church in Boston? You might consider Boston’s newest or soon-to-be-built residential growth sites. New neighborhoods and new residents mean new opportunities for planting new churches.

Take a look at these eight neighborhoods of current or immanent growth, based on public and private development plans. Given the general population trends, these are priority areas for outreach and new churches.

Map showing plans for potential expanded neighborhoods, from Imagine Boston Expanding Opportunity, City of Boston, Draft November 2016, p. 25

Neighborhood change is ongoing. Boston’s new neighborhood development will not happen all at once. Some areas have residential developments in process or already completed, like the Seaport District, the South End, Jamaica Plain, and to some extent Allston-Brighton. Other areas, like South Boston and Charlestown, already have many new young professionals and some new housing, but much more will be built in the next five years. Other areas, specifically Suffolk Downs and the Beacon Yards part of Allston, will most likely take more than five more years to develop.

Your geographic and demographic focus. Of course, reaching into newer neighborhoods is not for everyone. Ministry leaders should prayerfully select their geographic focus and adapt their strategies to the types of residents they are called to serve. The church in the city can be adapted in countless ways, and church planters can reach and serve a diversity of current and newer residents because the Gospel is for all people. Congregations may—by their form, style, or language—be better equipped to reach specific groups of people with whom they can make the most impact.

Church planters seeking primarily to reach specific immigrant groups like Nigerians, Brazilians, or Vietnamese, for example, need to know where these nationalities are more concentrated. Churches seeking to serve college students need to find meeting space within walking distance of campuses or in reach of public transportation while being sensitive to the needs, concerns and culture of students. Leaders seeking to reach and serve Boston’s new population growth areas will need to take the time to understand the characteristics, cultures, work, and interests of the people who will be living there.

Here’s a look at eight of the bigger residential development areas across the city:

1. Seaport District by the Waterfront. While there are many new high-rise housing and office buildings being built here, there are very few churches in the area.

2. South End. The northeastern and eastern parts of the South End from the Ink Block to the Boston Medical Center between Albany and Washington Streets will soon have hundreds of new apartments and condos which are being planned and built. Will the South End churches be ready?

3. South Boston from Andrew Square to the Broadway MBTA stations. Although still in the future, “Plan: South Boston Dorchester Avenue” calls for 6,000 to 8,000 new housing units. DJ Properties is also building Washington Square, a mixed use development near Andrew Station with 656 residential units. The nearby Widett Circle and New Market/South Bay areas are also potential major development sites proposed by the City of Boston. Currently there are already many new housing units and new residents around Broadway and in South Boston generally. The neighborhood has few Protestant churches.

Nine-building Washington Square Development with 656 residential units approved and to be completed in the next four years.

4. Charlestown – Sullivan Square and other areas. The Sullivan Square area is one of the six main areas the City of Boston has proposed for major housing expansion. Meanwhile the 1,100 units of the Bunker Hill Housing Development will be totally redeveloped into 3,200 units of mixed housing. Charlestown has very few Protestant churches.

Bunker Hill Housing Development Plans

5. Allston Brighton – Beacon Yards. This is one of the six major areas proposed by the City for development into new expanded neighborhoods. The Boston Landing Campus of New Balance is an area with new residential units and Stop & Shop will be building 1,000 new housing units. Other major housing developments are in the works as well.

Boston Landing in Allston near New Balance (NB Development Group and HYM)

Residential development with 295 units for 2018 opening.

6. Roxbury – from Dudley Square area to Ruggles MBTA station. Coming up in the next several years is the recently approved $500M Tremont Crossing development with over 700 apartments. The nearby Whittier St. Housing Project received funding for a full redevelopment into an expanded mixed income development. Other significant residential developments are also in the works, and Northeastern University is expanding in the area with high-rise dorms.

Tremont Crossing, just one mile from EGC

Whittier Choice redevelopment with 387 units of mixed income housing in three new buildings.

Whittier Choice redevelopment near Ruggles Station.

7. Jamaica Plain – Forest Hills Station. This area is booming with several large new housing developments in various stages of planning and completion. Also, the nearby Washington Street corridor recently completed a new (and controversial) plan which includes potential new residential development in addition to what is already being built in the area. Although there are some thriving churches in this area, because there will be so many new residents there is room for more churches not only here, but throughout Jamaica Plain.

The Residences at Forest Hills

8. Suffolk Downs. In the future, this former racetrack will likely become a whole new community. This massive 161-acre site is one of the six major areas proposed by the city for expansion, and was recently purchased by a developer, HYM Investments. This could become one of the largest developments in the whole region.

Planting now for future harvest. As these new communities emerge across the city, the need to plant new congregations should be high on the list for Christians in Boston as we think about the witness and work of the Kingdom of God over the next few decades.

Take Action

Learn more about the City’s plans for housing new residents.

Connect with the Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative.

Local Youth Insights: Community Youth Survey Lower Roxbury

Local Youth Insights

Community Youth Survey Lower Roxbury on Violence, Employment, and More

Youth are a resource to their community. The DELTA Youth (Diverse Excellent Leaders Taking Action) are a group of nine youth participating in the South End/Lower Roxbury based Making Youth Voices Heard initiative, a collaboration for community learning among youth, social work students, youth-focused non-profit programs, and community members.

In the spring of 2018, the DELTA Youth conducted a Community Youth Survey, using the Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) model. The survey gathered insights from 55 youth aged 13-24 living in the Lenox/Camden area of Lower Roxbury, Boston, MA.

Survey Insights

The Community Youth Survey gathered insights about violence, employment, poverty, drugs, and gangs. The DELTA Youth team further explored responses on violence and employment.

Have any close family members or friends been killed in violence?

Source: Making Youth Voices Heard Community Youth Survey of youth in Lower Roxbury, Boston, MA, by the DELTA Youth, 2018.

Community Presentation

In June, the DELTA Youth made a presentation of their findings to local residents, to facilitate community conversation.

 

Partner Stories

Ruth Wong - Director, EGC's Boston Education Collaborative

“It’s a learning process. This can be a launch pad—that’s the prayer and the desire."

Brent Henry - Founder and Director, VibrantBoston

"Rather than gentrification, there should be integration."

Sarah O'Connor - St. Stephens Youth Program's Lead Organizer for Lenox Community

"I want the young people who live there to see themselves as being a part of the future of that neighborhood."

Cherchaela Spellen, CrossTown Church partner, BU Social Work student, EGC Intern with Boston Education Collaborative

"Who knows best about the community but the members who are living in the community itself?"

Urban Youth Culture Research [Resource List]

Urban Youth Culture Research [Resource List]

by Rev. Dean Borgman, Professor of Youth Ministry

How are people of faith to understand urban youth culture? How can the Church best interact with urban youth?

This post provides qualitative research resources for the urban youth practitioner to develop a framework and approach for more effective ministry.

Current Resources

“Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship,” by Gregory Boyle (2017)

Though not social science, Barking to the Choir offers what I call “qualitative research snapshots”. This spiritual and biblical reflection on the lives of L.A. homies illustrates what is required for effective qualitative research: time spent and trust felt.  Urban researchers will see possible results of their work, as this book describes how homies from negative origins can transform into effective workers and young entrepreneurs.

“Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion,” by Gregory Boyle (2010)

Though Father Boyle is not a social science researcher, what this white, adult, professional (a priest) displays in the way relationships can provide the most "human" kind of information, and serve as a passage from gang-ridden neighborhoods to positive community development (a thriving bakery business). This book is about a God who shows up in surprising ways and places with unconditional compassion, sense of humor, strength and firmness.

Urban Research Network

This site includes description of “Community-Based Participatory Research,” “Research, Action, Activism: Urban Gathers for Third National Meeting: ‘critical solidarities and multi-scalar powers,’” and “From Youth Organizers to Social Justice Activists' Experiences of Youth Organizers Transitioning to Adulthood.”

Emmanuel Gospel Center, Boston

Teens of the Making Youth Voices Heard program meeting with students of Boston College School of Social Work in Roxbury, MA, February 2018.

EGC has engaged in urban applied research in collaboration with other agencies for decades.

• EGC Youth Resources

• Youth Violence Systems Project

• Making Youth Voices Heard

 

 

 

 

Resources on Economic Systems

Without understanding economic realities surrounding urban youth, we do not have a complete picture of what drives youth culture. Employment challenges and informal/underground economic systems are two of these realities. For a recent study of global informal underground economic systems, see Edgar L. Feige and Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria.  

“Defining and Estimating Underground and Informal Economies: The New Institutional Approach,” by Edgar L. Feige (10 Jun 16)

“Measuring Underground Economy Can Be Done, but It Is Difficult,” by Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria (Jan 2015)

Classic Resources

Article:  “The Code of the Streets,” by Elijah Anderson (May 1994), The Atlantic

Understanding the influences, behaviors, and motives of urban communities and their youth has been greatly furthered by the work of African-American sociologist Elijah Anderson, Professor at the University of Pennsylvania (and now Yale). Anderson’s work is must-reading for urban street workers and should be understood by all serving urban neighborhoods. It is worth quoting from this insightful article:

“Of all the problems besetting the poor inner-city black community, none is more pressing than that of interpersonal violence and aggression…. The inclination to violence springs from the circumstances of life among the ghetto poor—the lack of jobs that pay a living wage, the stigma of race, the fallout from rampant drug use and drug trafficking, and the resulting alienation and a general lack of hope for the future.”

Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City by Elijah Anderson (1999)

Anderson’s book further builds on his 1994 article and describes the details of the code of the streets that so strongly influences inner-city life. Inner-city youth come out of their apartments to “Win-Win/Lose-Lose” street situations… as part of a “zero-sum game.” They are forced into a “campaign for self-respect,” where “juice” (or power over others) are crucial. Code of the Street details the bigger picture—the systemic context for what average citizens see as a stereotype of urban lives from the evening news.

Streetwise: Race, Class and Social Change in an Urban Community by  Elijah Anderson (1990)

Anderson’s earlier book, Streetwise, is a careful analysis of social neglect and intrusion (gentrification) in urban life.

Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum by William Foote Whyte (1993)

Back in the late 1930s William F. Whyte, on a fellowship from Harvard, lived in Boston’s North End. As an early social scientist he attempted to describe life in that Italian-American community of first-and second-generation immigrants. First published in 1943, it was entitled Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum. Whyte’s work is important to us as it pioneered what he described as “participant observer research,” and provides a foundation for systems thinking ministry.  

Street Corner Research: An Experimental Approach to the Juvenile Delinquent by Ralph K. Schwitzgebel (1993)

Also coming out of Harvard and influenced by the work of William Whyte is Ralph Schweitzgebel’s Streetcorner Research: An Experimental Approach to the Juvenile Delinquent. Its considerations of qualitative research emphasizes the importance of genuine relationships for urban study of youth, and describes delinquency as having a variety of psychological and sociological causes.

Ain’t No Makin’ It: Aspirations & Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood by Jay MacLeod (1995)

Any urban program using interns, and certainly urban interns themselves, should be interested in the story of three students wandering into an urban housing project seeking to set up a youth program.

Working with youngsters in a poor neighborhood for several summers, the author decided to write his undergraduate thesis on the occupational aspirations of two contrasting cliques of older teenagers in the project—the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers: “I immersed myself in their peer cultures for a year and tried to understand the two groups from the inside. Exploring their aspirations led me into a thicket of enduring social issues about the nature of poverty, opportunity, and achievements in the United States.” MacLeod’s book continues to be a classic sociology text.

In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio by Philippe Bourgois (1995)

A study emphasizing the importance of urban economics is Philippe Bourgois’ “In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio”. This anthropologist and urban researcher moved into Spanish Harlem, NYC, and established long-term friendship and trust with Puerto Rican, street-level drug dealers... spending many a night in crack havens. “I was interested in the political economy of inner-city street culture…. I wanted to probe the Achilles heel of the richest industrialized nation in the world by documenting how it imposes racial segregation and economic marginalization on so many of its Latino/a and African-American citizens.”

Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago, by LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman with David Isay (1997)

Community programs hoping to use youthful residents for urban research can learn from Jones and Newman, two young teenagers who retrieve a story about the incomprehensible dropping of a five-year-old boy from a 14th floor window by 10-and 11-year old kids because he wouldn’t steal candy for them. With transistor recorders and some coaching from Isay, these teens collected what can be considered informal, qualitative research for two years—when they were thirteen and fourteen years old. Reading their report allows for a better understanding of inner-city values and attitudes.

“Constructing Meaning About Violence, School, and Community: Participatory Action Research with Urban Youth,” by Alice McIntyre (2000), The Urban Review, Vol.32, No.2, 2000.

A scholarly article describing how a group of adolescents were equipped to study and report on “a toxic environment, limited social services, poverty, crime, drugs, and inadequate educational resources.”

Final Note:  Most of the above suggest going beyond relief and incarceration and even prevention to community development. But few go as far as to suggest what needs to be changed in the realm of what might be called systemic injustice, which includes racism and classism. 

God Met Me in Boston [Interview]

God Met Me in Boston: Interview with Cherchaela Spellen

If you’re ministering in Boston, you’re probably familiar with the well-worn “godless New England” narrative. Academic reports and popular publications have cited Boston as one of America’s most “post-Christian” cities, reinforcing this image in the national consciousness.

But there’s another reality—of today’s Boston Christian vitality—that such reports do not capture.

We sat down with Cherchaela Spellen, Lead Facilitator of the Making Youth Voices Heard initiative in Roxbury.  She shares that despite being raised in a ministry family she didn’t personally connect with God until she moved to Boston. Here are excerpts from our conversation.

Tell me a little bit about yourself and what brought you to Boston?

I’m 21. I’m from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. I grew up there. I came to Boston through a student exchange. I did a semester at UMass Boston, for my undergrad in Biology. I went back home, graduated, and was like, “Hmm, I really like Boston!” So I decided to take a risk and apply to grad school in Boston.

Tell me a little bit about your spiritual background growing up.

My grandfather started a church called Zion Assembly in St. Thomas. Honestly, I was just going to church because I sort of had to, not really because I had a personal relationship or experienced God in some sort of magnificent way.

Then my grandmother fell sick with Alzheimer’s Disease, and my mother ended up taking over the ministry, which was mind-blowing! My mom had wanted nothing to do with preaching. She was like, “I’m NOT going to be a preacher!” But she ended up taking over the ministry.

But I feel as if I really started understanding God at a better level when I came here to Boston. Christianity was always my parents’ faith. When I came to Boston, I had the freedom to choose whether I wanted to keep a relationship with God, or I wanted to explore other things. Then the Lord just moved in my life magnificently.

“I feel as if I really started understanding God at a better level when I came here to Boston.”

I had done my undergrad in Biology, but I ended up switching to social work for grad school because I felt Him calling me to do that.  Also, I had met some really cool people at CrossTown Church International. I started volunteering there, just as an administrator, and then God was telling me to do more. So I did an open mic night for the youth in the Roxbury community.

What are some challenges you’ve experienced on this journey?

There were some relationships that I’ve had to let go of, and I believe that God brought me here to make it easier, because those relationships were back home. So it was a transition state for me. I just put my full attention on Him and I was like, “Lord, lead, me, direct me, wherever you want me to go, I’ll go.”

And honestly, when I accepted BC’s package to me, I was like, “Why am I going to BC? I’m not equipped to go to BC! I’m just this island girl! I don’t even know how to talk the lingo. I know nothing about social work.”

But He was like, Trust me. And I trusted Him. I still trust Him. I have a better relationship with Him now since I’ve been here. I feel like God is using this time to minister to me, telling me to focus on Him, and get to know Him better.

What would you say is your passion?

I hope it doesn’t sound too cliche. But I feel like my passion right now is to honestly win souls for Christ. I feel like that only started like January or February of this year.

I was just reading Scripture and praying, and I was like, “You have to show me some sort of direction, Lord! I feel as if I’m just going about my life, not knowing what I’m going to do. It has to be more than a career that you have me on this earth for.”  I just heard, evangelism.

“I just really want people to give their lives to Christ. It’s the best decision I ever, ever, ever made.”

My pastor preached that we have to choose whether we’re serving Christ or we’re going to serve someone else—we can’t have two masters.

I was thinking, “Lord, I think I’ve made fear my biggest idol. I’m so fearful of what people will think of me. I don’t want to go out and say, ‘Oh, do you know Jesus?’ I know You’ve done so much for my life. But I’m the type of person who wants people to love and accept me. Not everyone loves and accepts God. So how will they embrace me if I’m outside prophesying about You, Lord?”

But that message kept ringing in my head, “You can’t serve two masters.” I want other people to experience the same joy and contentment that I have, just developing my relationship with Him. So I was like, “Ok, Lord. If they don’t like me, then that’s fine.”

Now I’m being more keen to listen to Him and who He wants me to speak to. I just really want people to give their lives to Christ. It’s the best decision I ever, ever, ever made.

3 Movements Against Gender-Based Violence in the Church

3 Movements Against Gender-Based Violence in the Church

by Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher

The #MeToo movement has brought unprecedented public awareness of the scope of sexual assault against women in the U.S. experience. These three additional movements bring to light sexual and gender-based violence in the Church.

#ChurchToo Movement

Image from #ChurchToo: A Conference on Responding to Professional Sexual Misconduct, Columbia Bible College, March 25-46, 2018.

A nod to the extremely popular #MeToo movement, Emily Joy and Hannah Paasch coined #ChurchToo to emphasize that sexual grooming and abuse happen in church too, and are often covered up or sometimes even rewarded by those in power.

Read about the origin of the Twitter #ChurchToo movement

Read a Sojourners reflection, "Listening To and Addressing the Reality of #ChurchToo," from December, 2017

#SilenceIsNotSpiritual

The #SilenceIsNotSpiritual Twitter movement “calls on evangelical congregations and leaders to speak up and act on behalf of victims of gender-based violence who fear their stories will end up ignored or marginalized.”

“This moment in history is ours to steward. We are calling churches, particularly those in our stream of the Christian faith [evangelical churches], to end the silence and stop all participation in violence against women,” the statement reads.

WeWillSpeakOut.US

WeWillSpeakOut.US is a movement of diverse faith groups from across the U.S. joining together with other leaders for action and advocacy to end the silence around sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). 

WeWillSpeakOut.US produces "One in Three: Preventing Sexual Violence in Our Communities. A Guide to Help Faith Leaders Educate Congregations and Communities about Sexual and Gender-Based Violence." It includes guides and ideas for three sermons.

What Are We Missing?

2018 Fundraiser Recap [Photo & Video Journal]

2018 Fundraiser Recap [Photo & Video Journal]

God Party!

On April 7, 300 of our friends and ministry partners gathered to celebrate 80 years of EGC ministry in Boston! Our theme for the evening was ABIDE—a reminder both of our ongoing need for God's power and of God's faithfulness for eight decades and counting! We also highlighted the work of two of EGC's ministry teams, Greater Boston Refugee Ministry and Starlight Homelessness Ministry.

But the event also felt a little different this year. We at EGC find ourselves called by God to enter hard spaces in deeper ways. We felt led to give a prophetic challenge to the church in Boston.

So this year's event included two presentations that challenged us all to abide with Christ in the issues facing the Church today. God continues to prune us, His branches, for greater fruitfulness. 

Thank you to everyone who attended, donated, and volunteered to make the evening a success!

PHOTO Gallery

This year's theme was ABIDE—a humble reminder that Christians who abide in Jesus are fruitful only because of God's power. Watch Rev. Dr. Emmett Price give God glory for 80 years of His faithfulness to EGC and Boston:

Rev. Dr. Emmett Price, EGC Board member and Director of the Institute for the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, gives God thanks for his faithfulness and asks the guests to give to the ongoing work of EGC.

Team presentations and videos by EGC Films also highlighted the work of two EGC teams—the Greater Boston Refugee Ministry and Starlight Homelessness Ministry. 

Greater Boston Refugee Ministry

Saffron, by EGC Films.

GBRM trains and accompanies churches forming holistic, "wrap-around" communities for refugees in the Boston area. These communities of 8-12 members from local churches form a loving team of "ambassadors" to walk alongside our refugee friends as they adjust to life in a new place and culture.

Starlight Homelessness Ministry

Rev. Cynthia Hymes-Bell, Director, and team representing Starlight Ministries.

Starlight Ministries Video, by EGC Films.

For over 28 years, Starlight Ministries has equipped individuals to build life-changing relationships with people affected by homelessness. Starlight trains individuals and groups to build communities where all can experience personal transformation through Jesus Christ. 

 

ABIDE: Past, Present & Future

The event included two presentations that challenge the church to abide with Christ in the issues facing the Church today.

““I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.””

— John 15:1-5

Lament & Challenge

Stacie Mickelson delivered a brief reflection and lament based on Nehemiah 5. The message implores Boston Christian leaders to consider ways we have been sabotaging or hindering each other across the city. She laments lingering inequalities and abuses among the Christian community, and she envisions how much stronger the gospel's impact could be if we addressed them.

EGC's Director of Applied Research & Consulting Stacie Mickelson delivers a message from Nehemiah 5.

Spoken-WorD Prayer

Caleb McCoy, EGC Development Manager and OAK Music hip-hop artist, delivered a prayer for EGC and city. This spoken-word piece reflects on God's faithfulness, our hope in Christ, and the work we still have yet to do.

Spoken-word prayer for EGC by hip-hop artist Caleb McCoy.

If you would like further conversation with Stacie or Caleb about their messages, they would love to connect with you.

Connect with Stacie Mickelson

Connect with Stacie Mickelson

Connect with Caleb McCoy

Connect with Caleb McCoy

Our heartfelt thanks to the many leaders who have attended, donated, volunteered, prayed for, supported EGC in obeying God's call over the decades. Thank you for your partnership with us in ministry!

2018 Resources for Urban Youth Workers on Cultural Trends

2018 Resources for Urban Youth Workers on Cultural Trends 

by Rev. Dean Borgman, Professor of Youth Ministry

While nothing can substitute for personal relationships of understanding and trust with youth, we also need to get a grip on the bigger picture. We need to see beyond our kids, family, church, and community—to what’s going on in the society and culture. These resources provide a wide angle lens on what our kids step into when they leave the house.

BEST GENERAL RESOURCES

Watch the watchers. Way back in 1980, I found out that the people who know the most about youth in this country are not the youth ministry professors (of which I am one), but the marketers. 

So I’ve been following the marketers and what they find out about young people. YPulse is one of the marketing sources I regularly visit. They regularly update information on trends in youth culture.

The Diversity Tipping Point, Experiencification, Adulting

Two scholars I’ve looked to for information especially in the last few years on trends in youth culture are MIT's Sherry Turkle and San Diego State University's Jean Twenge. 

Jean Twenge uses four major youth studies that come out every year from the government and universities, so her research is based on a sampling of 11 million teenagers—ample data to back up her conclusions.

Finally, the Barna Group, a broadly reputable Christian organization, does generational research.

 

SPECIAL FOCUS

If we're talking about youth in 2018, we're already talking about Black Panther and activism against gun violence. But two other issues deserve our special focus this year. These are depression and cell phone use.

DEPRESSION

 

CELL PHONE USE

Half of Teens Think They're Addicted to Their Smartphones

Teens and Dangerous Levels of Cell Phone Use

Teen cellphone addiction: How bad has it gotten?

We Need to Talk About Kids and Smartphones

Parents' Guide to Teens and Cell Phones

A Bigger Fire: 2018 New England City Forum

A Bigger Fire: 2018 New England City Forum

By Kelly Steinhaus, Director of UniteBoston

New England has the reputation of lacking a Christian presence. But my experience shows otherwise—Christians in New England are some of the most faith-filled, gospel-driven people I’ve ever met.

At times, I get discouraged by what I think I should see of gospel impact in New England. But when I come together with other Christian leaders, my perspective changes. I get filled with faith and excited about how God is at work in our midst.

For this reason, I love working with UniteBoston and the New England City Forum. Within the walls of our churches and church networks, we can feel isolated. Coming together, we can see the larger story of God’s movement emerging.

 

Learning Together at the New England City Forum

This year’s City Forum brought together 96 leaders from 17 cities throughout New England. Many participants expressed to us how refreshing it is to be with people from different settings with similar visions and goals.

We heard city presentations in the morning from New Haven and Springfield. In the afternoon, we hosted a “world cafe” style discussion, where people chose topic tables to discuss and collaborate on how to advance the gospel in New England.

We then asked participants in the forum to share with us what they took from the day that would most impact their ministry. Here’s what we learned.

1. God is on the move across New England—but we don’t hear about it.

We asked participants why they came to the forum. The most frequent reason they shared was to discover what God is doing more broadly in New England.

“I felt led to get out of my comfort zone and engage with others,” said one, wanting to “know New England better and what God is doing here.” Another attended “to learn about what God is doing in New England and meet some of the people He’s doing it through.”

Looking back over the day, one participant responded with the observation, “God is doing much in terms of our cities/movements. Most Christians are unaware beyond their own church, much less in other New England cities.” Another came away with the conviction that “God is moving—stay the course.”

2. Collaboration is the next normal.

Both of the city reports from New Haven and Springfield stressed the need for collaboration. Collaboration is celebrating the uniqueness of each community while partnering across differences.

“God has given charisma to all the churches, so we need to ask for them and each other,” shared one, acknowledging our need, “to humble ourselves and stop saying to other parts of the body, ‘I don’t need you.’”

Another added that we need collaboration across denominational, racial and socio-economic lines for the Church to “fulfill her calling and fully grow into her potential,” so that “revival can become a reality.”  

Through Christ, we're all adopted into God’s family, and thus we are all on the same team—like it or not. So we have to be intentional about partnering across the beautiful diversity of Christ’s Church: across race, denomination, and generation, to name a few.

Rather than individually blowing on our own fires and hoping for success, it is time for us to take down the walls and come together to build a bigger bonfire. As we humbly open our hearts for greater partnership, a vision bigger than preserving our individual ministries will emerge.

I believe such unity is a tangible sign of the “revival” for which many have been longing and praying. To this end, the Luis Palau Association’s City Gospel Movement website was recently launched to help people to connect with gospel-oriented collaboration throughout the nation.

3. Building diverse leadership and sharing power are essential.

Building kingdom collaboration requires diverse leadership. To make this goal a reality, we must commit both to racial reconciliation and power-sharing.

After viewing a video of Christena Cleveland, which emphasizes Jesus’ way of the first to be last, many participants echoed the need to develop diverse leadership.

Watch Video

“Racial reconciliation can be modeled by pastors becoming friends,” wrote one participant, “learning to trust one each other and serving together as individuals and churches.”

Another responded in the form of a prayer, “God, please give me the heart and mind that is curious to genuinely seek to hear the power and truth of the person in front of me.”

Working together across our differences isn’t easy. As Pastor Todd Foster of the New Haven multi-church collaboration Bridges of Hope observed, “Being in the same room doesn’t mean you’re on the same page.” In his experience, we need to deal with the issues intentionally if we are to tear down the necessary walls.

But a fuller movement of God will come when we take the next step beyond mutual understanding. Real momentum will come when, as one participant shared, we become “ruthless about developing diverse organizational/neighborhood leaders,” with a commitment to “share the airtime.”

I’m convinced that if there is one thing needed in New England, it's a humble willingness to lay down our power to serve one another. I believe now is a God-ordained season where we must recognize we need one another like never before.

When we asked how we could improve the forum, many people suggested taking steps towards greater diversity among forum participants on various dimensions—ethnicity, vocation, and cities represented.

Internally, we’ve also held multiple conversations about what it could look like to develop more diverse leadership within the forum and ways we have not yet hit our own marks.

Looking Forward

Each Christian—each church—is a part of something much bigger than we can see. A united vision emerges the more we come together. The Emmanuel Gospel Center, Vision New England, and UniteBoston are committed to supporting unity-focused collaborations and creating spaces to learn from one another.

We’re grateful to NECF hosts and participants for fruitful conversations over the past three years. We’ve been encouraged to hear what God is doing and privileged to connect leaders in a shared learning space.

At this point, we do not plan to reconvene the New England City Forum next year.  Instead, our team would like to take some time to reassess God's leading as we support more learning opportunities for Christians across ethnicity, vocation, denomination, and New England geography. We welcome your input.

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We are grateful for your participation in the New England City Forum and are eager to see how the Lord will bring us together again in the future.

Hard Steps Toward the Light: Meet Bonnie Gatchell [Interview]

Hard Steps Towards the Light: Meet Rev. Bonnie Gatchell [Interview]

Welcome to EGC's Leader Profiles, where you can get to know the unique stories of Boston area Christian leaders. Our vision is for a surprisingly well-connected Christian community across cultural, generational, and denominational lines throughout the city.

Rev. Bonnie Gatchell is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the Director of EGC’s Route One Ministry. Route One ministers to women exploited in the sex industry in Massachusetts.

Rev. Gatchell also raises awareness among Massachusetts churches about the realities and systems of sex trafficking, exploitation, and abuse, and where the Church can intervene. 

TEDx Wellesley

Interview

Tell me a little bit about yourself and your family.

My parents just celebrated 48 years of marriage. They live in Michigan, that’s where I grew up. My brother is my only sibling, and I’m the oldest. 

Tell me a little bit about your spiritual journey and relationship with Jesus now.

I think, “constant.”  I’m thankful, grateful, that He is constant with me. Constantly shows up, constantly forgives, constantly meets with me despite my own flawed-ness, my own wanting to be distant from Him, forgetting about Him.  So there’s this constant peace in me now of just being more honest about where I messed up the day before with Jesus. This is different than a couple years ago.

What’s a food you can’t live without?

I’ll give you two. M&Ms have always been my Achilles’ heel. Health-wise, anything avocado. I could eat it raw, I could just crack it open and sprinkle a little salt on it, make it into guacamole, mix it with some tomato, and make a salad. 

What’s your most treasured possession?

My grandmother’s journals. When I open them I read of events that happened before me, like commentary on family members and things, which is funny. Most of the people in the journals have passed away. The journals connect me to my family's past in a powerful way.

Tell me about your work in Route One Ministry.  What is your role in that?

I started the ministry. But my role now, 8 years later, is training the trainers and facilitating conversation around, What is trafficking? How are women in strip clubs trafficked? What is exploitation, what does that look like?  What would freedom look like for women who are currently working in strip clubs?

What would you say is your passion?

I think my passion is the Church. In particular, for women to have more of a voice within the Church, and more of a voice more often.

What would you say is your greatest joy in ministry?

When a light bulb comes on – and that may be in a church leader, or a volunteer, or a woman in the strip club.  It’s just this moment where you can almost watch the person’s face shift. Also, any time a woman in the club asks for any type of connection with us, like “Can you come to my daughter’s birthday party?” “Instead of you coming here, can we meet at my house for prayer?”  “Am I allowed to go to church and still work here?”

“He held me together and He whispered in my ear, “Not yet. Don’t give up yet.” And so we move on.”

What do you find challenging?

Helping the church understand that women who work in clubs are victims of exploitation—not perpetrators, not offenders—is challenging.  Getting the Church to come behind us financially can also be slow. I first have to get Christians to understand who strippers really are, and then to understand why we need their support.

What’s been the greatest lesson for you in this ministry so far?

I’m learning about longsuffering. There were so many points where I’ve wanted to throw in the towel. So many points where I thought, What are we doing again?  So many points where I thought, I’m not the right person to lead this team, or, I don’t have anything more in me to give. And yet, He held me together and He whispered in my ear, Not yet. Don’t give up yet. And so we move on. 

What’s your prayer for the people amongst who you work?

My prayer for women who are sexually exploited is that they would find healing.  I pray that they would not walk around with shame, or a jaded perspective of themselves, but that they would be able to take steps to a place of healing, self-confidence, a place of hope, light, fresh air.  

I also pray that women wouldn't suffer silently with the abuse that's happened to them, but that they’d be able to find safety—in the Church and Christian counselors—to start digging that up and handing it over to Christ.

“I pray that they would not walk around with shame, or a jaded perspective of themselves.”

My prayer for the Church would be for a shift in posture in how they understand and see women who are sexually abused and exploited and trafficked, and women experiencing domestic violence.  Sometimes we can be stingy with love, and stingy with forgiveness, and stingy with listening. But in Christ we have this endless bucket of resources. My prayer is that we draw on Christ better to bring people to healing and life.

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[Video] 2018 Trends in Youth Culture

[Video] 2018 Trends in Youth Culture 

What are the most pressing issues shaping youth culture today? From gun violence activism to cell phone addiction, these national trends call forth the need not only for new answers but, in some cases, a new set of questions.

Prof. Dean Borgman gives an overview of current issues, along with conversation starters and resources in this class at Gordon-Conwell Seminary’s Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME).

For parents, pastors, youth ministers,  youth workers, and all those interested in the development of the next generation.

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Homelessness & Collaboration: Starlight Ministry [VIDEO]

Homelessness & Collaboration: Starlight Ministry [VIDEO]

We need each other. Churches need to work together to address the homelessness crisis in the Boston area. 

Starlight Ministries also sees that life-giving relationships with people affected by homelessness are mutually transforming. Christians can learn from our neighbors experiencing homelessness. Hear from those in Cambridge and Boston in regular relationship with unhoused friends and neighbors.

Making Youth Voices Heard: Teens Work Against Gun Violence in Lower Roxbury

Making Youth Voices Heard: Teens Work Against Gun Violence in Lower Roxbury

By EGC Boston Education Collaborative

Youth from Boston’s Roxbury say gun violence is an ever-present threat in their neighborhood. The eleven teens of the Making Youth Voices Heard initiative are determined to do something about it.

On a freezing February day, eight dauntless youth guided shivering Boston College graduate students on a tour of the Lenox/Camden area. The tour route included their own housing complexes, a shiny new hotel, and other neighborhood gems, including where to get the best pizza.

But they also shared with these future social workers how gun violence has impacted their friends and loved ones. In a later shared listening session, the teens opened up.

“I have to worry about my family walking outside and getting shot in our own neighborhood,” says one student who grew up there. “We don’t feel safe.”

“Violence affects the people I care about,” says another teen. “I have a couple of friends that passed away through gun violence.”

As a group, three boys and eight girls, ages 14-19, now meet together twice a week at CrossTown Church, as part of the Making Youth Voices Heard program. CrossTown Church, located on Lenox Street in the Lenox/Camden area, is part of the Melnea Cass Network, a local collaboration of leaders “dedicated to ending family poverty and violence, one neighborhood at a time.”

Teens of the Making Youth Voices Heard program meeting with students of Boston College School of Social Work at CrossTown Church in Roxbury, MA, February 2018.

The youth began their team effort by sharing insights from their own experience.  “Violence affects the neighborhood as a whole,” said one. “The crime rate keeps increasing and many teens have been dying lately.”

They also discussed poverty—its causes and effects in the neighborhood. “Most of the people in my community [are] suffering from poverty,” shared one teen. Another reasoned, “There is gun violence because youth don’t have money to get what they want.”

But these courageous young people hope to learn more—they want to hear the voices of other youth who live in five housing developments in Lower Roxbury.

They plan to survey students not only about gun violence but also a host of related issues. Their goal is to hear from the community which issues feel most pressing, to help guide the team to action steps that they can take to strengthen the community.

The whole experience is an empowering process for the youth. The graduate students and collaborators are facilitating, but the teens are making all the decisions. The youth will decide what question they’re going to research, and they will present the results of what they learn.

““We just need better ways to protect the youth.””

— Making Youth Voices Heard youth participant

Making Youth Voices Heard

The Making Youth Voices Heard (MYVH) program trains youth in community research for action. It is a collaboration between EGC’s Boston Education Collaborative (BEC), the Vibrant Boston program for youth, St. Stephen’s Youth Programs, CrossTown Church, and Boston College’s Graduate School of Social Work.

A summer 2017 pilot program with three young people provided early results, paving the way for full-year grants from the Church Home Society of the Episcopal Diocese, and the Paul & Edith Babson Foundation. The MYVH initiative does not yet have full funding for their proposal, which includes work stipends for the youth. The BEC is working on securing the remainder of the funding.

Youth Hub Surveys

Vimeo

The students will be replicating Youth Hub Boston's model of Youth-led Participatory Action Research and Innovation (YPARI). Youth Hub Director Rachele Gardner and youth residents of Codman Square, Dorchester, co-created the YPARI model based in part on UC Berkeley's Youth Participatory Action Research Hub.

In YPARI, youth learn how to design, implement, and analyze a survey, and then create action steps out of it. Ms. Gardner is serving as a consultant to the MYVH project, prepping the team every week to know how to structure the program sessions. Youth learn how to design, implement, and analyze a survey, and then create action steps out of it. Ms. Gardner is serving as a consultant to the MYVH project, prepping the team every week to know how to structure the program sessions.

After a welcome pizza party in December, students kicked off the program in January, getting to know one another’s stories. After a time of team bonding, setting expectations, and orientation to the program, they discussed:

• What issues do you care about most for the community?

• What issues have most impacted the neighborhood?

• What issues are you most passionate about?

“The issue I care about is violence because it leads to peer pressure,” responded one teen. “We do certain things to express how we feel, and use violence to fit in with other people, or just for fun.”

“Violence affects me and the people I care about,” said another.  “Violence is killing people who are 16 and 17, or just anyone. We just need better ways to protect the youth.”

After the youth chose to learn more about local gun violence, they started by exploring its causes and impacts. They identified other issues related to the level of gun violence in the area. So they decided to design a survey about five related topics: gun violence, poverty, drugs, employment, and education.

The teens will next be paired off to conduct the surveys. The group is aiming to survey 100 youth who live in five housing developments in Lower Roxbury—Mandela Homes, Roxie Homes, Lenox, Camden, and Camfield Estates.

Eight students from Boston College’s Graduate School of Social Work are committed to helping. They’re doing some added background neighborhood research and will guide the youth in survey design and analysis. They’ve also contributed food and supplies for the youth.

Cherchaela Spellen is the Lead Facilitator of the program. Studying Social Work at Boston College, she is an EGC intern with BEC and a member of CrossTown Church. She works with the assistance of Amber Ko, an EGC intern with BEC and Greater Boston Refugee Ministry.

 

Our Goals for Community Impact

“It’s a learning process,” says Ruth Wong, BEC Director. “This can be a launch pad—that’s the prayer and the desire. Our end goal is a group of youth asking what steps they can take to help strengthen their community. We hope the youth come to see themselves as change agents, where they can impact the community by coming up with the action steps.”

Practically, through their participation in this year-long experience, the teens are developing bankable skills—in community research, critical thinking, team-building, leadership, and general job readiness. When the youth go into the community to conduct the surveys, they’ll be developing their social connection skills.

“I’ve been impressed with the leadership skills among these youth, “ says Wong.

These young people also have access to what would otherwise be a somewhat closed community to the graduate students. Our teens themselves represent three of the five complexes.  

“I went with some of the girls to visit the community in the summer,” explains Wong. “I went into their buildings with them, and they were saying ‘hi’ to people left and right. We were able to enter the homes of people that they knew. They have a lot of connections!”

““This can be a launch pad—that’s the prayer and the desire.””

— Ruth Wong, BEC Director

While they already know some peers, the youth are also creatively thinking of how to connect with more youth. They’ll reach out to property managers and leverage other community connections. That kind of networking will be new for them.

MYVH sees the youth as developing leaders for the health of the community. They plan to host a closing presentation and celebration event to invite the adults in the community to hear the youth present their findings. Such an event can be a catalyst for more cohesion and collaboration within the community.

Ruth Wong (left)   Ruth is the Director of EGC's Boston Education Collaborative and a founding member of the Melnea Cass Network in Lower Roxbury.

Cherchaela Spellen (right)  Cherchaela is the Lead Facilitator of the Making Youth Voices Heard program. Cherchaela is studying Social Work at Boston College and attends CrossTown Church in Lower Roxbury.

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Organizations Against Gender-Based Violence in the Church

Organizations Against Gender-Based Violence in the Church 

by Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher

Do you feel called to help survivors of gender-based violence (domestic abuse, sexual assault, etc.)? See these recommended local and national organizations and see how you may be able to get involved.

Casa de Esperanza

This organization helps to develop effective responses to domestic violence and facilitates support systems in the lives of Latinas where they live.

Christian Coalition Against Domestic Abuse

This organization’s mission is to empower the community and its leadership by bringing awareness to the issue of domestic abuse so that through prayerful collaboration, education and intervention we end and prevent abusive behaviors.

Faith Trust Institute 

FaithTrust Institute is a national, multifaith, multicultural training and education organization with global reach working to end sexual and domestic violence. provides multifaith and religion-specific intervention and prevention training, consulting, and educational materials for national, state, and community faith-based and secular organizations in the following areas:

• Domestic and Sexual Violence

• Healthy Teen Relationships, Preventing Teen Dating Violence

• Child Abuse, Children and Youth Exposed to Domestic Violence

• Healthy Boundaries for Clergy and Spiritual Teachers, Responding to Clergy Misconduct

• Trafficking of Persons

FOCUS Ministries - Faith-Based Domestic Violence Help for Women and Families

The two purposes of Focus Ministries are (1) To help women and families who find themselves in these difficult circumstances. The organization offers counseling by phone, email, or in person; FOCUS support groups; educational material, including a website with resources.

(2) To educate and train churches, organizations, support group leaders, and concerned friends and family members about the dynamics of domestic violence and abusive relationships.

Futures Without Violence 

“Futures Without Violence is a health and social justice nonprofit with a simple mission: to heal those among us who are traumatized by violence today – and to create healthy families and communities free of violence tomorrow.

From domestic violence and child abuse, to bullying and sexual assault, the organization’s groundbreaking programs, policy development, and public action campaigns are designed to prevent and end violence against women and children around the world.”

The website contains a large number of resources including audio webinars, blog articles, and materials which can be ordered as free downloads or free plus shipping (see “Resources”).

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence 

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) is the voice of victims and survivors. We are the catalyst for changing society to have zero tolerance for domestic violence. We do this by affecting public policy, increasing understanding of the impact of domestic violence, and providing programs and education that drive that change.

National Domestic Violence Hotline- 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

The National Domestic Violence Hotline connects individuals to help in their area by using a nationwide database that includes detailed information about domestic violence shelters, other emergency shelters, legal advocacy and assistance programs, and social service programs.

The RAVE Project

RAVE is an initiative that seeks to bring knowledge and social action together to assist families of faith impacted by abuse. This website includes online training sections, links to resources including videos.

Restored 

Restored is an international Christian Alliance that aims to transform relationships and end violence against women (VAW) by working through and with the church and Christians worldwide. The website offers many free resources including the following:

Aune, Kristin, and Rebecca Barnes. In Churches Too: Church Responses to Domestic Abuse: A Case Study of Cumbria. Cumbria, Eng.: University of Cumbria, University of Leicester, 2018.   The research report, In Churches Too, provides a helpful literature review and reference list, along with conclusions and recommendations that can have general application.

Ending Domestic Abuse: A Pack for Churches. (By Restored. 2016.) Although this material has sections that are specific to the United Kingdom, some parts are equally relevant in other countries (available in seven languages including Spanish & French).

VAWNet 

For over two decades, the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence has operated VAWnet, an online network focused on violence against women and other forms of gender-based violence. VAWnet.org has long been identified as an unparalleled, comprehensive, go-to source of information and resources for anti-violence advocates, human service professionals, educators, faith leaders, and others interested in ending domestic and sexual violence.

What Are We Missing?

[Video] The Power of Story: Defying the 'Godless New England' Narrative

[Video] The Power of Story: Defying the 'Godless New England' Narrative 

If you’re ministering in New England, you’re probably familiar with the well-worn “godless New England” narrative. Reports such as this one by the Barna Research Group about America’s most post-Christian cities reinforce this view. But there’s another narrative of New England spiritual vitality that a Barna report doesn't capture. 

God is on the move in New England cities. When we share our stories of God at work, we glorify God—and we build one another's faith and vision. 

Listen to this brief talk by EGC’s Stacie Mickelson and Caleb McCoy about the importance of story in Christian witness.

Stacie Mickelson and Caleb McCoy of Emmanuel Gospel Center, GO Conference, Springfield, MA, February 17, 2018.

Homelessness by the Numbers: 2017 Boston & Beyond

Homelessness by the Numbers

2017 Boston & Beyond 

by Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher

For the first time since 2010, US homelessness went up slightly in 2017. A one-night count in January 2017, found 553,742 people across the country living outside or in shelters.

To reduce homelessness among our fellow Massachusetts residents, we must have a clear picture of who is currently affected by homelessness. If we understand the Who? of homelessness, we are one step towards understanding the Why? and the How is this best addressed?

Who is currently experiencing homelessness in our local area? The numbers below might surprise you—they may not represent who first comes to mind when you hear the word 'homeless'. 

MASSACHUSETTS

17,565 people

Total number of people experiencing homelessness in Massachusetts in January 2017

21,112 students

Number of students identified and served by Massachusetts public schools during the 2016-2017 school year who had experienced homelessness in the past year.

3,580 families

Number of families with children, including pregnant women, in Massachusetts’ Emergency Assistance (EA) shelter program in September 2017. About 51 of these families were living in motels as of August 31.

 

BOSTON, MA

2,379 single adults, 3800 people in families

6179 people were found to be experiencing homelessness in the 2017 City of Boston Homeless Census. This includes 2,379 single adults and 3,800 people in 1,239 families.

Boston Homelessness Winter Trends

Data from City of Boston Annual Homeless Census Reports (point-in-time counts).

Cambridge, MA

463 people in shelters, 67 people sleeping on the street

530 people were counted in the 2017 Census of the homeless population in Cambridge, comprising 135 people in families, and 395 single individuals. This included 67 unsheltered people (on the streets).

Take Action to End Homelessness

"We believe that better cooperation amongst churches and community organizations could better serve the current need," writes Rev. Cynthia Hymes-Bell of EGC's Starlight Ministry. 

"Our vision is that every church and Christian group in Greater Boston who wants to engage people affected by homelessness will be equipped to do so wisely." 

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent & End Homelessness

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