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Boston Church Directory
The Boston Church Directory Directory may be used for a variety of scholarly, relational, and spiritual purposes.
The Boston Church Directory lists Christian churches located within the city limits of Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge.
The Directory may be used for developing relationships between members of Boston's Christian community; referrals; finding a church home; research in church planting; and other scholarly, relational, or spiritual purposes.
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Christian Creatives and the Church
The arts are an important opportunity for spiritual formation. How can churches reach unbelievers through the arts while caring for the creatives in their pews at the same time?
Photography by R9 Foto for The Emmanuel Gospel Center
Christian Creatives and the Church
It’s time for the two to support each other.
by Hanno van der Bijl, Managing Editor, Applied Research & Consulting
Armani Alexis Acevedo is an artist, designer, entrepreneur, and hip hop artist. Everything he does is to glorify God, but at one point in his life, he just could not see a home inside the Church for his creative passion.
He is thankful for the spiritual foundation he received from his church growing up but he didn’t feel fully supported in his calling until recently. A lot of that has to do with the buy-in of his pastors, including Davie Hernandez, co-senior pastor of Restoration City Church.
“It definitely is an encouragement to know that your pastors support you in that way, from the little things, even sharing my posts, or my songs, or our collections — he's probably wearing one of our tees right now,” Armani said. “Those things really mean a lot.”
But Armani still hears parishioners voicing their disapproval: “I don’t think this glorifies God” or “This art is too loud.” These moments don’t come without pain as Armani invests hours and heart into his creative projects.
“As artists, I feel like we do see things a little differently and appreciate detail more and the commitment behind it,” he said.
Christian creatives like Armani intentionally pursue their vocations as believers and artists, actively integrating their faith and work.
They live in the tension of a Church trying to stay faithful in a changing world. They’re caught between competing visions of what the Church should look like and how it should operate.
They don’t always feel seen. Many feel like spiritual orphans in a world that neither understands nor values their faith and a Church that neither acknowledges nor appreciates their gifts.
Some church leaders do see them. They say Christian artists are an untapped resource.
Pastor Valerie “Val” Copeland, pastor of Neighborhood Church of Dorchester, said God has given every Christian gifts and skills for a reason.
“Christian creatives sit in church without their gifts being used, without space being made for their gifts, while they sort of dry up on the vine,” she said. “If we need a singer or guitarist or drummer, we'll search them out. But where's the imagination to say if they are gifts that God has given you, then it's incumbent upon us to figure out how to make room for them?”
“Christian creatives sit in church without their gifts being used, without space being made for their gifts, while they sort of dry up on the vine.”
It hasn’t always been this way. Historically the Church has been a driving force for the arts, integrating it in its worship, teaching, and architecture. In some places marked by post-Christianity, the churches may be empty but their beauty continues to bear witness.
The arts have the power to speak to people in ways that sermons can’t. The Christian creatives sitting in the pews could help address some of the biggest challenges facing churches today. This is an opportunity for churches to support creatives while at the same time mobilizing them for mission.
In an effort to help churches do that, we connected with Christian creatives and pastors to learn from them how churches can support and equip the artists sitting in the pews.
A creative God
Christian creatives say they draw inspiration from the Creator — and that churches should too.
“God is the first artist,” Pastor Val said. “The beauty of art and the drama of art calls our hearts to something greater than ourselves and reminds us that God’s design is intentional: the way that he uses color, the way that he uses the drama of thunder and lightning, the way that he calls us to be creative in how we love the world.”
God’s creation is not only beautiful, it's also unique. He made humans in his image to reflect his creativity. For Michael “Mike Mack” McPherson, founder of Elevation Conference, the rich diversity of God’s created order is the “essence of creativity.”
“God is the first artist. The beauty of art and the drama of art calls our hearts to something greater than ourselves and reminds us that God’s design is intentional.”
“He could have easily made every single bug the same — every single ladybug could have the same amount of spots, and he decided that he would splatter and make them all look so different and so unique,” Mike Mack said. “But then we come into the Christian world and we look at art and music and we're like ‘It's supposed to sound like this.’”
Creatives embrace the call to “sing a new song.” They thrive on expressing themselves through their work, improvising to bring something new out of the old.
Many creatives feel that a lot of churches function exactly the opposite way. The familiarity of traditions provide safety and stability; however, if churches hold them too tightly there can be little room for something new. The tension between creative expression and commitment to tradition can often be at odds.
“The overarching problem is that the Church is terrified of so much. The Church creeps around so much,” Mike Mack said. “The Church still has — despite what Paul said — a 'taste not, touch not' mentality (Col. 2:20-23) about almost everything that could be considered sin and is probably not actually sin.”
Christian creatives often face the impossible task of producing art that checks all the boxes for churches theologically and for the world aesthetically. Placing restrictions on artists that don’t concern the core message of the gospel chokes creativity.
A creative Church
The COVID-19 pandemic forced churches to get creative. The crisis compounded the new challenges with long-standing issues that surfaced and threatened division. Many people did not return to worship services after lockdown measures were lifted, and increasingly younger generations don’t want anything to do with the institutional church.
To minister in this new reality, Pastor Val said “our missiology has to shift.”
“I talk to a lot of folks who are just really hanging onto the Church by a string,” she said.
Christian ministry is often geared to preaching that appeals to the head, but it is missing out on the power of the arts to reach the heart.
“This is definitely an area that the Christian Church has fallen asleep on,” Pastor Val said. “We've sort of limited God to the area of our brain: think about it, write about it, talk about it.”
Pastor Valerie Copeland
But with the state of the broader culture, this will not be enough to communicate the gospel effectively to many people. The call of Jesus’ Great Commission is to “go” to people instead of telling them to “come” to the Church.
“I think too often we're waiting for people to meet our criteria — and it's completely backwards,” Pastor Val said. “This idea — I'm willing to do whatever it takes to tell you about God: a God that loves you, a God that inspired all of this beauty, and a God that finds beauty in you — I'm willing to do whatever it takes. You've got to be willing to do whatever it takes.”
Pastor Val said Grace Chapel’s passion week display was a moving example of how God can use the arts to “preach” the message of the gospel. The display included beautiful art installations with quiet spaces for reflection.
“The last installation is just an empty tomb, and I can't tell you how that thing just brought me to my knees,” she said. “I've heard many sermons about the empty tomb that didn't bring me to my knees. Seeing that empty tomb brought me to my knees.”
In addition to proclaiming the Good News in different ways, Pastor Val said Christian creatives have the opportunity to help heal the fallout from broken or false views of God. Images have power, and when they’re not created to look like the people they’re meant for, it can have a lasting negative impact. Creatives can step in to redirect the image and narrative that disaffected people have of God.
“Give them platform, stop hiding them, stop discouraging them, be more encouraging, give them opportunities to present — especially on Sunday mornings. If you look around your congregation, there’s probably people who do all sorts of really cool, really unique things.”
“One of the ways that Christian creatives can be helpful is in bringing these important issues to light but also in correcting the narratives that have been associated with these images, and redirecting the narrative towards what is true and who we are as Christian believers,” Pastor Val said.
For churches that want to take the risk and change their approach to ministry, it will likely mean a painful period of adjustment, she said. But church leaders who worry about how to reach the unbelievers in their community may not realize that God has already provided them with the answer right there in the pews.
God has equipped Christian creatives in their congregations with gifts to preach the beauty of the gospel. But they must be empowered, not exploited.
“Give them platform, stop hiding them, stop discouraging them, be more encouraging, give them opportunities to present — especially on Sunday mornings,” Mike Mack said. “If you look around your congregation, there's probably people who do all sorts of really cool, really unique things.”
Creatives have their own ideas for how churches can begin to support them as they live out their calling to glorify God. They stress that this will mean a change in the usual mindset and approach to ministry. Of the many ways they can help, churches can start praying and thinking creatively about how they approach their finances, building space, and ministry staff.
Creative with support
One of the basic ways churches can begin to think creatively about equipping the artists in their pews is by supporting them financially.
An economy shaped by modern technology and social media has conditioned us to expect things to be free. Coupled with the tendency in churches to spiritualize volunteerism as Christian service, this dynamic puts Christian creatives in a difficult spot. They’re often expected to use their gifts and skills for free. And not complain about it.
“One of the things that does concern me is the inability for creatives, in general, particularly Christian creatives — particularly Christian creatives of color — to make a living,” Pastor Val said.
“We’ve got to start seeing people as an investment in the kingdom versus their output as the investment.”
It’s not fair the way churches impoverish Christian artists as they pursue their ministries, Pastor Val said.
“Christian creators contribute so much more to our economy than they get back,” she said. “They contribute so much more to the economy of the Church than they get back.”
When churches exploit the work of their people, it compromises the Church’s witness to the world.
“Justice starts in the house of the Lord. We cannot be out there fighting for justice and defending the rights of the poor and the exploited and then be exploiting people within the house of the Lord,” Pastor Val said. “We've got to start seeing people as an investment in the kingdom versus their output as the investment.”
Individual Christians can also think creatively about their tithing and giving. Mike Mack is confident that there are believers in the area who want to “make sure that New England’s a hub for artistry” and that Christian creatives have the tools and access they need to thrive.
“Somebody out there has that heart, but they've probably been told that the only way that you can give is to give it directly into the Church,” he said.
Being open to think creatively when it comes to finances is an opportunity to walk in step with the Spirit and partner with what God is doing on the ground.
“Are you listening to the voice of God? Do you ever wake up in the morning and say, ‘What does my city need? What do I gotta do?’” Mike Mack said. “Do you ever see somebody who's a creative and just think to yourself, ‘Wow, this person could really use assistance. I believe in what they're doing — let me help them out’?”
Creative with space
Boston is not kind to Christian artists and creatives looking for event space. They can have a tough time finding venues that will meet their needs at an affordable rate.
Many churches have significant real estate footprints with resources that could be used to support the work of creatives. Stewarding those resources well has kingdom implications.
Mike Mack said that along with everyone else, church leaders will one day have to give an account for what they received and what they did with it — “especially the stuff that we prayed for.”
“You look around and it’s like, what resources is the church sitting on? What young, up-and-coming rapper is actually the greatest preacher in your church, and you’re just not utilizing him because you don’t like the way that he does it?”
“‘Lord, I need this, please give me this.’ And he's like: ‘You just want it for yourself, you wicked servant. You just want it so you can hoard it. Why should I give it to you?’” Mike Mack said. “Somebody's praying for their building fund right now — got money coming in from everywhere — and have no plans of using it for the people who gave to it.”
Churches can use their spaces to host concerts, exhibits, and other artistic events. They can work collaboratively with creatives to further the kingdom in their local communities with the use of their building space.
Creative with staff
Beyond physical assets and resources, churches can build out their ministry staff with Christian creatives who feel called to serve in the church.
“Put the creatives in your church on staff. Pay for their position,” Pastor Val said. “Put people on staff so that they're actually able to do what they need to do and also support the life that they need to live.”
Bringing creatives on staff may not come intuitively to some church leaders. It may mean interrogating our ideas of what a church staffer looks like.
“You look around and it's like, what resources is the church sitting on?” Mike Mack said. “What young, up-and-coming rapper is actually the greatest preacher in your church, and you're just not utilizing him because you don't like the way that he does it?”
“Church” may not look exactly the same anymore. Christian creatives may have interests that don’t naturally align with the way many churches usually approach the arts. They might not play a musical instrument or want to lead the children’s Christmas play.
“It’s glorifying God just in a different approach. I think once people can realize that, they’ll definitely leave more space for more opportunity for creatives like myself and others.”
“We have to start — and I'm hoping even at my church — making room for the ministries — no matter how unique they are — so that this is a place where they can flourish,” Pastor Val said. “This is a place where we will financially invest in that ministry just like we're going to invest in the summer camp, the food pantry, the marriage retreat.”
Pastor Val said church leaders should recognize that creatives are also theologians. They should invite creatives to look for ways they can visually bring to life what is being taught or preached from the pulpit.
“One of my dreams is that someone would do a dramatic piece of the encounter between Jesus and Satan in the desert, where they have this word battle, and Jesus literally drops the mic at the end. It is done. It's a wrap,” she said. “It's so dramatic. This interaction between Jesus and Satan is intense, it's high stakes. And I'm like, why hasn't this been made into a dramatic piece yet?”
Creatives like Acevdeo are confident churches can make use of them and support them at the same time. He encourages creatives to be plugged into a local church community, rooted and grounded in Christ alone. He believes this spiritual vitality will help shift hearts and minds within congregations to make room for artists with unique gifts who relate in different ways.
“It's glorifying God just in a different approach,” Armani said. “I think once people can realize that, they'll definitely leave more space for more opportunity for creatives like myself and others.”
WATCH: Church & Creatives
Have you ever experienced music or art that has helped you feel closer and more connected to God? For many people, creativity and artistic expression have become an important part of their faith. The Emmanuel Gospel Center connected with Christian creatives and pastors to learn from them how churches can support and equip the artists sitting in the pews. Watch this video that dives into this world of faith and creativity while highlighting opportunities for support and collaboration.
Mutual learning is helping Black churches thrive
Two church leaders participating in the BBCVP’s Thriving Initiative shared their strategies for serving the community and keeping their congregants safe from COVID during worship services.
Pastor Jean Louis of Free Pentecostal Church of God and Pastor Bisi Asere of Apostolic Church LAWNA meet for the first time in person after participating in online meetings for half a year. Rosa Cabán with R9 Foto for The Emmanuel Gospel Center
Mutual learning is helping Black churches thrive
Black Church leaders reflect on God’s work in Boston.
By Hanno van der Bijl, Managing Editor, Applied Research & Consulting
“I see God bringing people together, having conversations that are important that we haven’t had. We’re being more open with one another and more transparent about ways that we can partner and collaborate.”
That sentiment expressed by Gina Benjamin was echoed by others reflecting on God’s work in Boston at a recent meeting for the Boston Black Church Vitality Project.
Benjamin, social services director of the community center at Mount of Olives Evangelical Baptist Church in Hyde Park, is part of the project’s Thriving Initiative, a cohort of 10 ethnically and denominationally diverse Black churches that are located in four predominantly Black neighborhoods in the city.
Members of these churches participating in the cohort said God is using the pandemic and other challenges not only to unify and strengthen the Church, but also to create opportunities for compassion and evangelism.
The cohort meets together for two hours every other month for fellowship, peer learning, skills-based workshops and group training, and discussions about opportunities for collaborative ministry. During a meeting earlier this year, two church leaders shared their strategies for serving the community and keeping their congregants safe from COVID during worship services.
Caring for the community
At the onset of the pandemic, Fania Alvarez, who heads up The Greater Boston Nazarene Compassion Center (GBNCC), said the leadership team decided they could not stop. But they knew they would have to do things differently.
The GBNCC runs a food pantry that distributes more than 7,000 pounds of food to families in need every week. When COVID hit, people started lining up hours earlier than usual with little social distancing.
The GBNCC decided to open up a couple of hours earlier to accommodate the crowd.
“It was really challenging, but God was in the midst of it,” Alvarez said.
Launched by the Haitian Church of the Nazarene — Friends of the Humble almost 30 years ago, the GBNCC serves low-income families and individuals who have limited access to services and resources in the community.
In addition to the food pantry, the ministry runs a safety-net program, assisting people with government programs such as SNAP and WIC. The GBNCC also provides English language literacy and workforce development classes.
Once the vaccines became available, the ministry served as a vaccination clinic. The shots were a godsend, but some people were hesitant, Alvarez said.
“We had to find strategies to work with them. We had to go out and convince and educate them on the vaccine,” she said. “It wasn’t an easy time, but we made it. We can say we made it.”
Churches that want to develop a social ministry of their own need a dedicated leader who is able to manage programs and secure resources from donors and charitable organizations.
“Pray to the Lord so you can find somebody that has the heart for it,” Alvarez said.
In a meeting earlier this year cohort participants were asked: “What do you see God doing in the city?” Here’s what they said.
Managing churcH through pandemic
In 2017, the Rev. Kenneth Sims at New Hope Baptist Church started bringing bank machines into the church services.
“Some of our real spiritual-deep folk thought that I lost my mind bringing a machine to receive tithes and offerings,” Rev. Sims said. “But that was the biggest aspect of our giving.”
He also felt compelled Sunday after Sunday to tell his congregants to get a smartphone.
“It didn’t really seem spiritual at the time,” he said. “The church eventually caught on. Every Sunday — especially the seniors — would flash their smartphones and say, ‘Reverend Sims, I have a smartphone. I don’t know how to use it but I have one.’”
Then the pandemic hit. No collection plates were passed around to receive contributions. All in-person services stopped.
“I just thank God … because we weren’t scrambling,” Rev. Sims said. “That taught me one thing: to really listen to the voice of God even when it’s in opposition to what many people are thinking. Listen to God because he knows the future.”
Rev. Sims met with nurses in the church to chart a way forward. An executive committee made up of four teams was formed to oversee the church’s response to COVID.
“We knew we were coming back to church,” he said. “We didn’t know when, so we started planning so that we’d be prepared.”
A security team oversees registration, traffic, and parking. A health-and-hygiene team handles pre-screening, including handwashing, mask-wearing, and seating. A social distancing and redesign team handles seat spacing and equipment. A cleaning and disinfecting team cleans the bathrooms after each use.
Rev. Sims said members of the congregation took ownership of the various teams and made a difference.
“It got the people involved, and it wasn’t all about me. I’ve been trying for the last few years to get away from that — to stay in my role, of course, overseeing — but not having to do it directly,” he said. “People have been empowered, and they have taken off. I don’t get in their way.”
After a five-month hiatus, the church resumed in-person worship services in August 2020. Rev. Sims said the church continues to practice the safety measures it put in place.
“Our main concern was that our people remained safe,” he said.
The executive team spent many hours meeting, praying, discussing, and researching their options to balance out the physical and spiritual needs of the congregation.
“I did not believe that New Hope could survive spiritually being away from the church gathering from March 2020 to now,” Rev. Sims said. “I could not see that.”
While some members have come down with the virus, Rev. Sims said it was not due to their worship services as far as they know.
“We have not had any kind of super-spreader situations going on at New Hope since we’ve returned,” he said. “That’s been a tremendous blessing for us.”
With even more tools at their disposal than they had at the beginning of the pandemic, Rev. Sims is confident the church can keep moving forward.
“I’m just of the impression that, yes, let’s do all that we can to be safe: let’s do everything that we can, and then we’re leaving the rest up to the Lord,” he said. “What I can’t control, what I can’t power over, I leave that to the Lord.”
TAKE ACTION
The Thriving Initiative is a three-year process rooted in learning, discerning, and doing ministry. Participating churches are examining their mission and values in light of shifting social and cultural landscapes in Boston.
By deploying tools such as interview guides, congregant surveys, and ministry inventories that BBCVP designed to support churches in understanding the needs and perspectives of congregant and community stakeholders, the cohort leads in a learning endeavor that seeks to model the work of reflection that is essential in order for the Church to remain relevant and vital.
Through online articles, reports on what is being learned, videos, and data visualization, the Boston Black Church Vitality Project project will share these stories of innovation, successful strategies, and effective use of leverage points that exemplify models of prophetic leadership, community care, spiritual formation, and the pursuit of justice.
The Thriving Initiative is generously funded by the Lilly Endowment with additional support from Boston Baptist Social Union and others. For more information, visit blackchurchvitality.com.
Do you know where you’re standing?
Why EGC’s new “Fact Friday” series explores the church’s history and legacy in Boston one short video at a time.
Updated Feb. 21, 2024
Do you know where you’re standing?
Why EGC’s new “Fact Friday” series explores the church’s history and legacy in Boston one short video at a time.
by Hanno van der Bijl, Managing Editor, Applied Research & Consulting
Did you know that the African Meeting House on Beacon Hill was co-founded by Cato Gardner, a formerly enslaved man born in Africa?
Or that Twelfth Baptist Church was the spiritual home of Wilhelmina Crosson, a pioneering Black school teacher in Boston, who also was instrumental in launching the precursor to Black History Month?
How about this gem: Boston’s oldest church congregation is not downtown — it’s in Dorchester. On June 6, 1630, the First Parish Church in Dorchester was the first congregation to meet in what is present-day Boston. The First Church of Boston did not organize until about two months later.
These are just some insights from the Emmanuel Gospel Center’s new “Fact Friday” video series on Instagram.
“The city’s churches have a rich history,” said Caleb McCoy, marketing manager at EGC. “I think those legacies impact how we view the church today, so it’s important to share that information with as many as possible.”
The Fact Friday team includes Jaronzie Harris, program manager for the Boston Black Church Vitality Project, and Rudy Mitchell, senior researcher at EGC. Since February, this dynamic duo has been creating videos exploring the church’s long history in Boston, leaving EGC’s Instagram followers hungry for more.
“People who live in Boston may walk by church buildings but they may not know, one, what has gone on there in the past and, two, what’s going on here in the present,” Mitchell said.
Bridging that gap between the past and present is one of the project’s key motivators.
“It’s been fun for me to share but also to learn,” Harris said. “Doing this project is engaging me in research. I have to go and find out about these things, which I enjoy doing.”
Harris said learning about St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church’s rich history, for example, led her to discover some surprises about the church’s ministry today as she listened to a recent sermon.
“It was interesting to hear this minister preaching Black theology from a different tradition about a festival I didn’t know about,” Harris said. “I haven’t heard that type of militant preaching in Boston before.”
Caleb McCoy (right) films a recent Fact Friday video with Rudy Mitchell (left) and Jaronzie Harris (center).
The city’s Black churches have a rich legacy of gospel ministry and social action.
“Almost every time you look at one of the Black churches in the 1800s, you see they were deeply involved in the abolitionist movement and advocating for the rights of enslaved peoples,” Mitchell said. “A lot of rich history inspired continued activism in more recent times.”
The team believes the Black church’s spiritual legacy continues to buoy the community as it faces its own headwinds today.
“We are in a time that’s very racially charged right now,” McCoy said, “but it’s important to know that Black Christianity and the Black church has a legacy that’s gone before us and has a rich history in the fight for equality and justice in our own city.”
The team also enjoys parsing out curiosities such as why a church on Warren Street in Roxbury is called “The Historic Charles Street AME Church.”
In addition to digging around the past, the project has a forward-looking orientation. Boston, for example, was home to the first YMCA in the United States. What would such an innovative approach to ministry look like today?
“The Bible often tells us to remember how God was at work in the past, and we certainly can learn from history,” Mitchell said. “Even though the form and methods may change, we can be inspired to be used by God in our own time for similar purposes.”
For decades, EGC has been channeling its research and learning into specific programming and events. The Boston Church Directory, for example, demonstrates how its use of applied research is a dynamic process, bringing people in along the way.
But learning is ongoing, and it’s important to share that process, Harris said.
“I’m learning these things for Fact Friday, sure, but I’m also learning these things to better support my churches, to better understand the Boston landscape,” she said.
EGC also tries to provide a larger perspective on Christianity in Boston not just across different denominations and cultural groups but also over time. At times that research has uncovered illuminating insights.
“Historically, we saw that, between 1970 and 2010, more new churches started in Boston than in any other comparable period in Boston’s history,” Mitchell said.
Many of those churches have important stories to tell, known only by a few. Through various research projects, EGC tries to get those stories out in the open.
“We have all this historical information,” Harris said. “So how can we tell a story that is digestible for a broader audience?”
Here are some of the churches, institutions, sites, and individuals the team has covered so far:
TAKE ACTION
Follow EGC on Instagram @egcboston and watch for new reels and videos on Fridays.
What would you like to know about the history of the church in Boston? Let us know by filling out the feedback form below.
Additional Resources
Curious to learn more about the story of the church in Boston? Give these resources below a try.
Daman, Steve. “Understanding Boston’s Quiet Revival.” Emmanuel Research Review. December 2013/January 2014. Accessed January 22, 2015.
Hartley, Benjamin L. Evangelicals at a Crossroads: Revivalism and Social Reform in Boston, 1860-1910. Lebanon, N.H.: University Press of New England, 2011.
Hayden, Robert C. Faith, Culture and Leadership: A History of the Black Church in Boston. Boston: Boston Branch NAACP, 1983.
Horton, James Oliver, and Lois E. Horton. Black Bostonians: Family Life and Community Struggle in the Antebellum North, rev. ed. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, 2000. See chapter 4: “Community and the Church.”
Johnson, Marilynn S. "The Quiet Revival: New Immigrants and the Transformation of Christianity in Greater Boston." Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation V 24, No. 2 (Summer 2014): 231-248.
Mitchell, Rudy. The History of Revivalism in Boston. Boston: Emmanuel Gospel Center, 2007.
Mitchell, Rudy, Brian Corcoran, and Steve Daman, editors. New England’s Book of Acts. Boston: Emmanuel Gospel Center, 2007. The New England Book of Acts has studies of the recent history of ethnic and immigrant groups and their churches and a summary of the history of the African-American church in Boston.
Investing in Haitian churches and communities
The Emmanuel Gospel Center is partnering with the Fellowship of Haitian Evangelical Pastors of New England on “Pwojè Rebati” to raise funds for restoration efforts in Southern Haiti.
Investing in Haitian churches and communities
How Haitian leaders are working together to counter a broken legacy of relief aid to the battered country.
By Hanno van der Bijl, Managing Editor, Applied Research & Consulting
Four earthquakes. Four hurricanes. A cholera outbreak. Political and social upheaval. The COVID-19 pandemic.
These are just some of the crises to hit Haiti since 2010.
Billions of dollars in foreign aid remain unaccounted for, with little of it going into the hands of Haitians.
This is part of the reason the Emmanuel Gospel Center is partnering with the Fellowship of Haitian Evangelical Pastors of New England (FHEPNE) on “Pwojè Rebati” — “Project Rebuild” in Haitian Creole — to raise funds for restoration efforts in Southern Haiti. The fellowship’s partner on the ground, Ligue des pasteurs du Sud D’Haiti (LIPASH), is a group of pastors in Les Cayes, representing 3,000 churches in about 20 municipalities.
Haitian leaders identified several important needs: rebuilding churches, providing housing for families, and distributing food.
“We would like to impact the lives of people in the area spiritually, socially, and mentally, because at the end of the day, people will gather together, they will feel gratified to have a place of worship where they can express their spiritual gratitude to God,” said Pastor Varnel Antoine of FHEPNE. “From a Haitian cultural perspective, they are very religious, and they believe in worshiping God regardless of their situation. You cannot take that away from them.”
People are walking or driving for miles to go to church. More than just a place to meet on Sunday mornings, the church serves as one of the primary forms of social infrastructure for Haitians. It provides a place to worship, safety and shelter, social support and community, a second family.
“Churches are such a pillar of community in Haitian culture,” said Marjory Neret, a member of the Pwojè Rebati fundraising team. “The churches are providing far more than just the place of worship — they’re really connecting people to a lifeline. So this is actually a far more significant project than it might seem on the surface.”
In addition to rebuilding church buildings, Pastor Antoine said the team hopes to get families off the street and into two-bedroom homes to live in.
“We hope that this project, Pwojè Rebati, will be a catalyst that will motivate other organizations to help in their rebuilding efforts so that people can go back and focus on God in adoration and exaltation for who he is,” he said. “That’s what we can tackle right now.”
‘You have a big faith’
Raising money is not easy. It takes time and effort. Often the Haitian leaders who are in the best position to effectively allocate and use the funds are tied up with important and urgent demands on their time. A chasm lies between those with financial resources in countries like the United States and those experienced Haitian leaders in the middle of the action. EGC works to bridge that divide.
After an earthquake and tropical depression hit Haiti last August, FHEPNE and EGC began raising funds.
They had collected about $112,000 when EGC’s executive director, Jeff Bass, was approached by an old friend, a Boston pastor he has known for several decades. The pastor serves on the board of an organization that wanted to donate $250,000 toward Haiti relief. “That’s awesome,” Bass said. And they wanted it to be a matching gift. “That’s challenging,” Bass said with a nervous chuckle.
After some further conversation, the organization agreed to count the $112,000 that had already been raised toward the matching amount, making the challenge considerably more manageable.
Bass presented the proposal to FHEPNE. Pastor Antoine said the group had never raised that much money before.
“It’s going to be a drop in the bucket for all that has to be done,’” he told his colleagues.
Many churches in the Les Cayes area — not to mention other regions of Haiti — had been impacted. So he decided to set a goal of not just making the $250,000 matching challenge but to prayerfully push for $1 million.
Pastor Antoine’s colleagues hesitated. “‘Hmm, I don’t know, you have a big faith,’” he said they told him. But given the high construction costs, they decided to take the plunge.
FHEPNE launched the fundraiser, and EGC signed on as a fiscal sponsor as well as fundraising consultant free of charge.
EGC hired Neret, a Haitian-American leader who graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. With her extensive connections in the Haitian community, Neret brings a critically important perspective to the project.
Neret has broadened the team’s outlook and experience and helped strengthen how it describes the project in addition to reaching out to hundreds of people as part of the fundraising effort.
“A lot of people, especially those who are Haitian, are pretty receptive,” she said. “They’ve been more than willing to help — most of them right away.”
A big break came when the Imago Dei Fund in Boston donated $85,000. As of early May, the team has raised $213,000. It is now pushing to get to the full $250,000 matching amount by the end of June, and hopefully further toward Pastor Antoine’s bigger vision.
“It’s a blessing. It’s the work of the Lord,” Pastor Antoine said. “I believe that he’s got his hand on it, so we need to do our due diligence, waiting for him to use us as instruments in his hand.”
Half of the challenge is raising the funds. The other half is making sure it’s spent well in Haiti.
Half of the challenge is raising the funds. The other half is making sure it’s spent well in Haiti.
The Pwojè Rebati team is discerning how it can have a distributed impact in several communities.
Part of the process is securing accurate quotes from architects and contractors for building temporary church structures. That has not come without its own heartache. The chauffeur of the architectural firm working on the project was taken hostage, and an architect’s son took his own life in despair over the situation in the country.
Pastor Antoine said the team will be accountable to small and large donors alike. The Haitian pastors in Boston and Southern Haiti are working together to create mechanisms of accountability and for wiring the money safely, which will not all go out at once.
The first phase of the project includes a church building, housing, and food distribution in one community.
“We will start with one project, one region, and see the outcome of that first project,” Pastor Antoine said. “From that point on, we will decide on the next step.”
0.6%
While billions of dollars in relief aid has been promised to help communities like Les Cayes in Haiti, success has been elusive.
The damage inflicted by the 2010 earthquake was assessed at $7.9 billion. The government of Haiti requested $11.5 billion in aid for a 10-year plan that would have helped the country not only recover but also redevelop. International donors pledged a total of $10.76 billion toward that end.
From 2010 to 2012, several countries gave $6.43 billion in humanitarian and recovery aid for Haiti. Non-governmental organizations raised an additional $3.06 billion from private donors.
Of the $6.43 billion, less than 10% went to the government of Haiti and less than 0.6% of it went to Haitian organizations and businesses in the form of grants, according to data collected by Dr. Paul Farmer’s U.N. office.
Dr. Farmer, who passed away this year, had served as a special adviser on community-based health and aid delivery to the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 2009 to 2019. His U.N. office tried to track down how much aid money was pledged, committed and disbursed to Haiti. Billions of dollars remain unaccounted for.
Without greater transparency, Dr. Farmer’s office was left to theorize that not enough aid was requested and pledged and that, of what was given, the majority of aid did not remain in Haiti. Instead, it went to contractors and non-governmental organizations based in other countries.
Haiti is not the only nation to receive such a small share of incoming aid in a time of crisis. Between 2007 and 2011, 5% of humanitarian aid went toward the public sectors of recipient countries, and of the $4.27 billion that was raised through U.N. humanitarian flash appeals in 2012, only 0.6% went directly to local organizations in various countries. Liberia suffered a similar fate in 2012 when it was struggling with Ebola.
Giving only a tiny fraction of official development assistance, or ODA, directly to a country’s political and business leaders undermines its ability to recover from disasters and thrive.
“An estimated 75% of all ODA to the poorest countries never reaches the recipient country,” Dr. Farmer’s U.N. office’s report stated. “In addition, UN flash appeals almost always do not allow for the recipient government to receive funding. Bypassing of the public sector has a significant impact on development outcomes as there is a correlation between investment in the public sector and a decrease in poverty and disease.”
Countries such as Rwanda, which receive more than half of their ODA through their own national systems, make some of the best development progress in overall wellbeing.
The world’s first independent Black republic
This is not the first time Haiti’s future has been compromised by more powerful institutions and countries.
Originally known as Saint-Domingue, Haiti was France’s most lucrative colony in the late 18th century. The flag of liberty that was raised in the American colonies in 1776 and France in 1789 was also planted in Haiti when the enslaved people revolted against their colonial slave masters in 1791.
At first, President Thomas Jefferson saw Black Haitians’ struggle for self-determination in line with his own idealism and the revolutionary fervor of the day.
“St. Domingo has expelled all its whites, has given freedom to all its blacks, has established a regular government of the blacks and colored people, and seems now to have taken its ultimate form, and that to which all of the West India islands must come,” he wrote to his daughter Martha in 1793.
A depiction of the Battle of Ravine-à-Couleuvres in 1802.
Haiti was the world’s first independent Black republic. The first nation to permanently ban slavery. However, a successful country led by free, former enslaved Africans was too much of a threat to slave owners in the United States. Jefferson tried to isolate the island nation and blunt its economic prospects. The U.S. wouldn’t recognize Haiti as a country until 1862.
But as scholar Annette Gordon-Reed wrote, the U.S. owes Haiti a “debt we can’t repay.” Were it not for Haiti’s successful repulse of Napoléon’s invasion, the French emperor may not have sold the Louisiana territory to the United States for $15 million, or about $18 per square mile.
In 1814, when French King Louis XVIII tried to force Haiti to surrender, Alexandre Pétion, the ruler in southern Haiti, offered to pay France $15 million in exchange for the country’s independence, using the Louisiana Purchase as a benchmark. The king refused.
In what scholar Marlene Daut calls the “greatest heist in history,” French King Charles X sent a flotilla of warships with more than 500 cannons to force Haiti to pay 150 million francs — about 10 times the amount the U.S. had paid for the Louisiana territory. In 1825, Haitian President Jean-Pierre Boyer committed the country to pay the reparations in five equal installments, taking out loans from French banks. The agreement was revised in 1838 after Haiti defaulted on the enormous debt.
The money went to more than 7,900 former slave owners and their decendants in France, but by the time Haiti fully paid off the debt in 1947, none of the originally enslaved people or slave owners were alive. The total amount was more than twice the value of France’s claims, negatively impacting Haiti’s national education, health care and public infrastructure for centuries. In 2020, French economist Thomas Piketty said France should repay Haiti at least $28 billion in restitution.
For its recent project, “The Ransom,” The New York Times spent months studying old documents and consulting with more than a dozen leading economists and financial historians to calculate how much Haiti paid in reparations as well as the larger economic impact on the country over the centuries.
It found that Haiti paid about $560 million in today’s dollars. Had that money remained in the country, it would have added at least $21 billion to the Haitian economy. But experts told the Times the impact of the reparations and the initial loan go far beyond that. Taking into consideration that the country might have grown at a similar rate as its neighbors, Haiti lost about $115 billion.
“Put another way, if Haiti had not been forced to pay its former slaves masters, one team of international scholars recently estimated, the country per capita income in 2018 could have been almost six times as large — about the same as in its next-door neighbor, the Dominican Republic,” according to the Times.
“Overall, Haiti is just being punished for being the first republic of slaves to overthrow slave masters.”
In addition to not recognizing Haitian independence for decades and trying at times to annex its territory, the United States has repeatedly exploited the country.
From 1915 to 1934, the U.S. installed its own regime, rewrote the constitution, and took control of the country’s finances. During a demonstration in Les Cayes in 1929, U.S. Marines fired on 1,500 people, killing 12 and wounding 23. About 15,000 Haitians were killed during the 19-year occupation. U.S. soldiers pulled out in 1934, but the U.S. maintained control of Haiti’s finances until 1947, diverting about 40% of Haiti’s national income to service debt repayments to France and the U.S.
Since then the U.S. continues to back authoritarian Haitian leaders who appear to be allied with its interests. To reverse this trend, Haitian scholars and others advocate for the U.S. to support a group of Haitian civil organizations called the Commission to Search for a Haitian Solution to the Crisis.
“Overall, Haiti is just being punished for being the first republic of slaves to overthrow slave masters,” Neret told EGC. “They’ve made sure to put lots of political things in place to make them pay for that and to be an example to all of the other places.”
Getting behind leaders God is using
Bass, EGC’s executive director, recalls attending a conference in New York City that included a panel discussion on addressing the problems facing Haiti.
“There wasn’t a Haitian on it,” he said. “I walked out — this can’t work.”
Given the broken legacy of foreign relief aid and exploitation of Haiti, the church must adopt a new model if it wants to help.
EGC has a track record of partnering with the Haitian Christian community since the 1980s. After the earthquake in 2010, a local foundation provided EGC with about $100,000 in relief aid for Haiti. EGC then worked with the Rev. Dr. Soliny Védrine, senior pastor at Boston Missionary Baptist Church and a former EGC staff member, to partner with a dozen Haitian pastors in Greater Boston to distribute the $100,000 as they saw best.
“They created these feedback mechanisms where people reported how they spent the money,” Bass said. “It was very effective.”
This approach stands in contrast to problematic models of aid and development and outside input that unwittingly reinforce the same corruption, paternalism and racism that have caused many of Haiti’s biggest problems. Most aid and development organizations assume they can import solutions from the outside without long-standing relationships with the humanitarian and development ecosystem in place. The people most impacted are often shut out of the decision-making process.
The reality is that, when disaster strikes, there are already local leaders, organizations and systems in place working to address the needs. Excluding these leaders from the table is counterproductive and colonialistic.
“How can you plan a decent reconstruction if you don’t take into consideration the existing building blocks of local setups?” wrote Marie-Rose Romain Murphy, co-founder of the Haiti Community Foundation, in a CDA Collaborative Learning Projects article. “How can you develop effective and sustainable programs if citizens of the country are not included in those plans’ design?”
These dynamics motivate EGC to prioritize local leaders who have the vantage point and perspective needed to assess and innovate. Not placing relief aid directly in their hands and giving them decision-making power perpetuates Haiti’s struggles.
“EGC’s philosophy, and becoming more so,” Bass said, “is to get behind local, on-the-ground leaders as much as possible.”
TAKE ACTION
Give
You are invited into this effort. We are asking you to prayerfully consider assisting us with this challenge. This is a great opportunity for the church to step up and support our brothers and sisters in Haiti and locally in Greater Boston.
You can make a tax-deductible gift for Pwojè Rebati by clicking here and typing “Haiti Relief” in the “For” box. Thanks to the generous donor who has offered a $250,000 matching gift challenge, your gift will be matched 1:1 until the full amount has been met. EGC is passing through 100% of the donations to support the work in Southern Haiti.
Learn More
To learn more, check out the following organizations and resources. The list is not intended to be exhaustive.
Organizations
Fellowship of Haitian Evangelical Pastors of New England
The fellowship provides Haitian evangelical pastors in New England a “platform whereby its members will be provided ministry support, fellowship, spiritual development, cultural awareness, social services and needed resources, for the advancement and the well-being of each individual.”
The foundation seeks to “foster thriving Haitian communities with justice and opportunities for all, and to nurture and support Haitian leadership focused on national self-determination and collaborative development.”
Resources
“What if?” Questions with answers for a paradigm shift in the Aid System
In this CDA Collaborative Learning Projects article, Marie-Rose Romain Murphy, co-founder of the Haiti Community Foundation, casts a vision for how the aid sector can reflect on past mistakes and change course to empower local leaders so that “Aid … would (finally!) be about ending Aid.”
You call it philanthropy, we call it ‘Devlopman Tèt Ansanm’
In this article published by Alliance Magazine in London, Marie-Rose Romain Murphy lays out four critical changes the philanthropy world must adopt moving forward.
The Haiti Community Foundation: the impossible made possible
In this address given at a gathering organized by the South Africa-based Global Fund for Community Foundations, Marie-Rose Romain Murphy tells the story of the Haiti Community Foundation and its impact on Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake.
This article by Chris Herlinger in the National Catholic Reporter includes insights and assessments that go beyond just the facts that much aid did not reach people in need and make a lasting difference.
Owning Our Future: Haitian Perspectives in Film
These 10 short films were produced by Haitians in partnership with Haitian community media and development organizations, Community Supported Film, and international non-governmental organizations.
When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself
Although this book by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert is not about Haiti, it does help people with uninformed, good intentions think through their approach to helping to avoid pitfalls, ineffectiveness, counter-productivity, and paternalism.
Research was contributed by Rudy Mitchell.
Nurturing Black Church vitality
The Boston Black Church Vitality Project (BBCVP) at the Emmanuel Gospel Center is kicking off its Thriving Initiative with a cohort of ethnically and denominationally diverse Black churches that are located in four predominantly Black neighborhoods in the city.
Nurturing Black Church vitality
Black churches in Boston embark on long-term learning initiative
by Hanno van der Bijl, Managing Editor, Applied Research & Consulting
The Boston Black Church Vitality Project (BBCVP) at the Emmanuel Gospel Center is kicking off its Thriving Initiative with a cohort of ethnically and denominationally diverse Black churches that are located in four predominantly Black neighborhoods in the city.
These past few years, churches have faced a compounded crisis without the most essential part of their legacy — the ability to gather, fellowship, pray and worship together. Many Black churches are still grappling with the challenges extended by prolonged closure.
The convening of a cohort committed to learning, growth, and collaboration during times when Christian community has become increasingly siloed due to the isolating effects of the pandemic is a testament to the resilience and dedication of Black pastors in the city.
The initiative is a three-year process rooted in learning, discerning, and doing ministry. Participating churches will examine their mission and values in light of shifting social and cultural landscapes in Boston.
“We’re not here to save anybody. We’re not here to fix anybody. We’re not here to tell anybody what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. That’s not the goal,” said Dr. Emmett G. Price III, CEO of the Black Christian Experience Resource Center and Dean of Africana Studies at Berklee College of Music. “The goal is to bring folks together, who are already doing the work in powerful and meaningful ways, so that you can share best practices with each other.”
“The goal is to bring folks together, who are already doing the work in powerful and meaningful ways, so that you can share best practices with each other.”
By deploying tools such as interview guides, congregant surveys, and ministry inventories that BBCVP designed to support churches in understanding the needs and perspectives of congregant and community stakeholders, the cohort will lead in a learning endeavor that seeks to model the work of reflection that is essential in order for the Church to remain relevant and vital.
“Nobody really wants to talk about what happens on the ground in Boston, because Boston doesn’t fit into the phenotype of the quote-unquote Black Church in the nation — you know that better than anybody else,” Dr. Price said, addressing cohort participants. “So, here’s our opportunity to come together and talk about what vitality and thriving looks like, and not to wait for other people to come tell us about ourselves.”
Through online articles, reports on what is being learned, videos, and data visualization, the BBCVP project will share these stories of innovation, successful strategies, and effective use of leverage points that exemplify models of prophetic leadership, community care, spiritual formation, and the pursuit of justice.
“For us to prepare as the Black Church — broadly defined, narrowly defined — we need data. We can’t just keep doing things on a wing and a prayer,” said Rev. David Wright, executive director of BMA Tenpoint. “We want to gather hard data so that we can assess what’s happening and then begin to prayerfully make plans so that we can prepare for the future.”
“We want to gather hard data so that we can assess what’s happening and then begin to prayerfully make plans so that we can prepare for the future.”
The cohort is made up of a diverse group of church leaders that includes Black Americans, Haitians, Nigerians, and St. Lucians. And the diverse list of churches represents historic neighborhoods in the city, including Dorchester, Hyde Park, Mattapan, and Roxbury.
“We understand that the Black Church is not monolithic,” said Jaronzie Harris, program manager at the BBCVP. “So, I’m excited to hear what kinds of conversations are coming out of that exchange, what we have to learn from each other, what we have to share with each other.”
“I’m excited to hear what kinds of conversations are coming out of that exchange, what we have to learn from each other, what we have to share with each other.”
During the first cohort meeting, pastors and church leaders shared their excitement about the project as well as the places they’re already witnessing vitality.
Mount of Olives Evangelical Baptist Church is addressing food insecurity and digital literacy as well as providing community education on COVID-19 and distribution of personal protective equipment, said Rev. Dr. Joel Piton, senior pastor of the Hyde Park church.
Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury is also focused on communal care with peace walks, a preschool and after-school program, as well as a food pantry and vaccination center. In addition, the church provided financial resources for families negatively impacted by the lengthy U.S. federal government shutdown in late 2018 and early 2019.
“What’s deep in my heart is the proactivity of the gospel,” said Rev. Willie Bodrick II, senior pastor at Twelfth Baptist Church. “I think it is the framework in which Jesus presents to us how we should manifest our words and the words of ministry into the actions of people’s lives.”
“What’s deep in my heart is the proactivity of the gospel. I think it is the framework in which Jesus presents to us how we should manifest our words and the words of ministry into the actions of people’s lives.”
TAKE ACTION
The Thriving Initiative is generously funded by the Lilly Endowment. For more information, visit blackchurchvitality.com.
Capturing the stories of Black senior saints in Boston
The Black Church has a rich and living history in Greater Boston — a legacy that a new oral history project is capturing one interview at a time.
Capturing the stories of Black senior saints in Greater Boston
Boston Black Church Vitality Project’s oral history project
by Hanno van der Bijl, Managing Editor
The Black Church has a rich and living history in Greater Boston — a legacy that an oral history project is capturing one interview at a time.
It’s an initiative by the Boston Black Church Vitality Project in partnership with stakeholder churches that is exploring the intersection of being Black and Christian and the Church’s role in nurturing those identities.
Dubbed “Solos from the Choir,” participants record interviews with senior congregants, clergy, and community members. The project has already clocked in several interviews that have been posted online.
“These stories are centered around the Black church experience and to be honest with you, I would like to see more young people in church, so I’m hoping that these stories will encourage people to go to church because it’s such a place of community,” said Ritajayne Rivera, a member of Greater Framingham Community Church.
“I’m hoping that these stories will encourage people to go to church because it’s such a place of community.”
In addition to documenting the history of the Black Church and the Black Christian experience in Greater Boston, the endeavor seeks to inspire reflection, preserve tradition and give insight into assets and resources within churches.
The Black Church has historically been a place for Black people not only to worship but also to mobilize and organize for social change. It has served as a hub for social services, education, employment, voter registration, child care, and more.
By interviewing senior church members and recording their stories, the project is not only learning Black history but also preserving it.
TAKE ACTION
Is there an elder in your church or family who has a story to tell about the Black Church and the Black Christian experience in Greater Boston? This toolkit is available to guide you in the process of interviewing them about their experiences.
Where to Plant a Church in Boston: Areas of Growth
Want to know where to plant a church in Boston? You might consider Boston’s newest or soon-to-be-built residential growth sites. We’ll take a look at eight neighborhoods where growth is—or soon will be—taking place, based on public and private development plans.
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.
3 Movements Against Gender-Based Violence in the Church
The scope of sexual and gender-based violence in America is coming into the public light—not just in Hollywood and Washington, but in the church as well. Three nationwide movements focus on the church’s responsibility, both in adding to the problem and in bringing healing.
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
#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?
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10 Ways Churches Can Address Boston Homelessness Today
Churches address homelessness best through smart community collaborations. Here are ten ways your church can get connected and trained.
10 Ways Churches Can Address Boston Homelessness Today
By Rev. Cynthia Hymes Bell
Starlight Ministries builds the capacity of churches to minister to those experiencing homelessness. Our goal is to develop relationships amongst churches and ministry groups that desire to develop mutually transformative ministries with people affected by homelessness.
Ideal partners work collaboratively not only to address the physical, spiritual, and practical needs of homeless people—they also build a healthier community. Services are coordinated effectively so that each church can find their unique contribution and no one church is overburdened.
Our target groups are church partners with existing outreach ministries or that want to launch new ministries. We pursue partnerships with churches and ministry groups aimed at achieving sustainable, relational engagement of churches with people affected by homelessness.
Starlight Ministries offers trainings opportunities, where for churches and ministry groups:
serve alongside our staff
develop a basic awareness about homelessness
nurture mutually life-changing relationships that help people affected by homelessness progress through stages of change and transition out of homelessness
How can you learn more, connect and become equipped to serve the homeless? The following is a list of opportunities that can help you get started.
How To Get Involved
Learning Events
1. Attend a Starlight Information & Recruitment Session
We facilitate a one-hour session on the complexity of the system of homelessness and an introduction to Starlight. Following the session, leaders are invited to sign up for in-depth training and consider how their church can engage more effectively.
For in-depth training, we ask that you commit to:
bring several lay leaders and/or clergy from your church to three subsequent training sessions
embrace and engage in a transformational style of relationship with people affected by homelessness
prayerfully and thoughtfully consider moving toward a long-term commitment of your church’s people and resources to launch or strengthen one or more forms of effective ministry to people affected by homelessness, customized for your church and your community
Learning Resources
2. Study Homelessness Check out these resources that can help you understand the complexities of homelessness today:
3. Explore the Local Ministry Landscape See what’s happening across Boston to address homelessness:
Starlight Custom Consulting
Every church community and neighborhood has unique assets and needs. Starlight offers customized training for your church or ministry group, including:
4. Site Visits We visit your site to observe your church outreach program, and meet key leaders and ministry volunteers.
5. Listening Sessions We listen to you to learn about your church’s specific needs and your community issues.
6. Custom Classroom and Experiential Trainings customized training for church partners are provided by request. For committed, partnering churches, Starlight provides:
customized classroom training on homelessness, effective engagement, and intervention principles and practices
opportunities for your group to gain hands-on experience in effective outreach while being coached and mentored by our team of experienced staff
Giving and Fundraising
7. Donate to Starlight Be a matching donor, lead donor, or give to the annual Starlight Ministries fundraiser.
8. Join the 2018 Walkathon Be a sponsor, lead donor, build a team to walk and raise funds or volunteer for Starlight Ministries Spring 2018 Walkathon.
9. Hold a Fundraiser Organize a fundraising event in your church, neighborhood or community.
10. Donate Goods Contribute clothing, coats, shoes and other personal care items to our Resource/Drop-in center.
Cynthia Hymes Bell
Cynthia is leading Starlight Ministries in its mission to build the capacity of Boston’s churches and leaders to create life-changing relationships with people affected by homelessness. She has a degree in mental health from Tufts University, a Master of Public Health from Yale, and a Master of Divinity from Harvard. From 2002 to 2008, Cynthia traveled to South Sudan with “My Sister’s Keeper,” where she participated in the redemption of more than 1,200 slaves. She is a licensed and ordained minister and serves on the ministry team of Morning Star Baptist Church in the Mattapan neighborhood of Boston.
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Ethiopian Churches in Greater Boston [map]
Find Ethiopian churches in the greater Boston area.
Ethiopian Churches in Greater Boston [map]
Map of Ethiopian Churches in Greater Boston. Data source: Emmanuel Gospel Center's Boston Church Directory, 2017. Click for interactive map.
Mekane Hiwot St. Michael Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Boston, MA
Ethiopian Evangelical Church, Boston, MA.
Boston Ethiopian Christian Fellowship, Cambridge, MA
St. Gabriel WelidetaLemariam Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Brookline, MA
Ethiopian Christians in Greater Boston: Diverse Journeys
Newly updated resources for understanding the diverse journeys of Ethiopian Christians in Greater Boston.
Ethiopian Christians in Greater Boston: Diverse Journeys
by Steve Daman
Bostonians celebrate Ethiopians each year when runners sprint up Boylston Street to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
Ethiopians took first place in the men’s open four times in the last ten years. In 2016, Ethiopian men took the top three spots, and Ethiopian women took the top two spots in the men’s and women’s open, respectively.
Photo courtesy of the Associated Press, April 18, 2016.
But many Ethiopians in Boston have also been running another good race—that of keeping the faith.
Boston is home to 9,000 to 12,000 Ethiopians. And like other immigrant groups, Ethiopians Christians have planted various expressions of Christian churches in and around Boston, serving the needs of Ethiopians here today.
Map of Ethiopian churches in Greater Boston. Data Source: Emmanuel Gospel Center's Boston Church Directory, 2017. Click to go to interactive map.
Ethiopian Christianity Today
"[Ethiopia] has maintained its long Christian witness in a region of the world dominated by Islam. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church currently has a membership of around forty million and is rapidly growing,” according to a 2017 history of the Ethiopian Christian church. Western missionaries also planted Protestant churches among the Ethiopians starting as early as 1634.
Religion in Ethiopia
In Ethiopia today, more than half the population identify as Christian, including Orthodox, Protestants, Independents and Catholics. The Ethiopian churches in Greater Boston reflect this diversity, with about a half dozen each of evangelical and orthodox churches and one Catholic congregation.
Leader Profile
Workneh Tesfaye - pastor and church planter with Missions Door
Workneh Tesfaye grew up in a Coptic Orthodox family in Ethiopia. A graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, today Pastor Workneh is a Boston-based, church-planting missionary with Missions Door.
Back in 2008, a group of eight family members began to meet regularly every Sunday afternoon to pray for and raise support for orphans in Ethiopia. By 2011, as this group continued to grow, Pastor Workneh followed God’s direction to plant a new church out of this gathering—the Emmanuel Disciples Church—which continues to hold services in the EGC building in the South End.
Boston Ethiopian Christians
The Ethiopian church in Boston is colorful, diverse, and rich with history, tradition, faith and service. The 2017 revision of “The Story of the Ethiopian Christian Community in New England” explores questions such as:
What is life like for Ethiopian Christians in Boston?
What are the biggest challenges they face in the U.S.?
What are the areas of opportunity for ministry in this region?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Hundreds of biographical stories on Ethiopian Christians throughout history.
A comprehensive recent history of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
Stories of how God has been growing his Church among many people groups and ethnic groups in New England.
Take Action
How are we doing?
The Chinese Church in Greater Boston
From just two Chinese churches in greater Boston 50 years ago, the number has grown to more than 25 congregations serving an expanding Chinese population. The growth of the Chinese church in and around the Boston area is something to celebrate. Its strength and integrity, and the quality of its network—unified for prayer, for youth and college ministry, and for international missions—stand as a model for other immigrant and indigenous church systems.
The Chinese Church in Greater Boston
by Dan Johnson, Ph.D., and Kaye Cook, Ph.D., with Rev. T. K. Chuang, Ph.D.
From just two Chinese churches in greater Boston 50 years ago, the number has grown to more than 25 congregations serving an expanding Chinese population. The growth of the Chinese church in and around the Boston area is something to celebrate. Its strength and integrity, and the quality of its network—unified for prayer, for youth and college ministry, and for international missions, among others—stand as a model for other immigrant churches and indeed for other indigenous churches as well.
Click to open interactive map
What does the Chinese church in Boston look like? What are the strengths and weaknesses as well as the clear opportunities and threats that face these churches at the start of the 21st century?
Students and immigration
In 2016, as many as 350,000 students and visiting scholars from China were actively working in the U.S., a population that dwarfed the number who came from Taiwan and Hong Kong. Over 30% of all international students studying in the U.S. are from China, according to the Institute of International Education (www.iie.org). Not surprisingly, thousands of these are regularly drawn toward Boston-area colleges and universities, as well as to the opportunities available to them in the region’s “knowledge economy.” The 2010 U.S. Census found that the Chinese population of the greater Boston area numbered nearly 123,000, some two and one-half times as many as were present just 20 years before.
Of these, it is estimated somewhere between 5% and 8% identify as Christian. Many of the Chinese newcomers to the area each year are already Christian when they arrive, in which case the Chinese church provides them a primary community to ease the transition to life in a new place. The others are generally quite open to the Christian message. Indeed, to this day Chinese students are routinely found to be the most receptive group to Christian outreach efforts on local campuses. As a consequence, this influx of new immigrants and students from China has brought significant numeric growth to the Chinese church over the last 25 years. Most notably, most of the established Mandarin-speaking congregations experienced 20-80% growth over the decade of the 1990s. Such growth has generally plateaued since then, but new church plants have continued apace.
Church planting
Chinese Church of Greater Boston
Since 1990, more than fifteen new Chinese churches have been planted, mostly Mandarin-speaking, and mostly serving small, geographically distinct communities and congregations. From a mere two Chinese churches in the entire region 50 years ago, today the Chinese church in the greater Boston area includes more than 25 separate congregations. The steady stream of newcomers from mainland China has also reshaped the character of the Chinese church in the region. The most obvious change is the shift from predominantly Cantonese-speaking congregations to predominantly Mandarin-speaking ones.
As noted, most Chinese church plants over the last 25 years have been established to serve newly settled Mandarin-speaking communities. In a few other instances, older churches that originally served Cantonese-speakers have seen their ministries to the Mandarin-speaking community expand dramatically while their Cantonese populations have dwindled or disappeared altogether. This transformation is more than just linguistic in nature. The Mandarin-speaking newcomers from mainland China are mostly first-generation Christians and new converts. Their formative experiences were generally in a more materialist, atheistic culture, and they often identify primarily with the values and orientations of the academic and professional cultures in which they are immersed. This general lack of church experience has made basic biblical education and discipleship a more pressing need in the congregations that serve them. The fact that very few are ready to step into leadership and ministry roles in the church also creates a gulf between the new generation of Chinese Christians and the established church leadership. By virtue of their formal theological training, deep spiritual commitments, and long habituation in the relatively more developed Christian communities of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States, church leaders in Boston’s Chinese communities often find it harder to connect with the felt needs and mentality of their newest congregants. The challenge is made even more difficult by the fact that many of Boston’s second-generation Chinese Christians, who might otherwise be there to welcome these newcomers into the Chinese church, have chosen instead to become members of American or Asian-American churches.
These social dynamics provide the backdrop for the analysis that follows of the current state of the Chinese Christian church in the greater Boston area. Beyond its identifiable strengths and weaknesses, and the clear opportunities and threats that it faces, is the simple realization that this is a seventy-year-old church undergoing a significant growth-induced transformation.
STRENGTHS
Interchurch collaboration
One of the greatest strengths of the Chinese church in the Boston area is that the various churches that comprise it mostly get along and have forged important collaborative relationships. The largely non-denominational character of the churches has minimized theological frictions between them, and the numerous personal ties between individuals across congregations—often forged in common spaces, such as the Boston Chinese Bible Study Group at MIT—help to smooth inter-congregational relationships more generally. The collaborative efforts that have resulted include regular prayer gatherings, shared missions programs, joint sponsorship of career missionaries, evangelistic meetings, and a gospel camp. Such programs are often initiated and organized by individual churches and then opened up to other area churches, as the Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston (Lexington) did for many years with its annual gospel camp. The fact that even the largest churches in the community (including the Boston Chinese Evangelical Church and CBCGB) have been willing to sponsor and participate in such joint efforts has gone a long way toward ensuring their success.
Cultural centers
The Chinese church also serves as a primary reference group for many newcomers to the area, as they have become some of the most active and well-organized social institutions within the Chinese community. Many new immigrants naturally turn to the church for help. The familiar language, cultural references, and social structures they encounter in the church are key factors in securing their sense of identity when all else around them is unsettled. The larger churches’ programs for children and youth also attract immigrant families.
An ethic of evangelism
Another strength of the Chinese church in the area is the ethic of active evangelism that has long been cultivated in its constituent congregations. For many years, this ethic has animated large-scale, seeker sensitive programs that have encouraged and enabled church members to put it into practice, aggressively evangelizing their kinspeople. Many of these programs—such as the CBCGB’s annual gospel camp—have since disappeared, and it remains an open question whether the evangelistic focus of the church can be sustained in their absence. Nonetheless, the inspiring heritage of evangelistic activity is itself a strength of the Chinese church in and around Boston.
A place for Mandarin-speaking immigrants
Lastly, the very fact that so many Chinese churches in the area were either founded to serve Mandarin speakers or have since developed vibrant ministries for the Mandarin community is a significant strength. Not every Chinese community around the world is so prepared to welcome and minister to the steady stream of Chinese immigrants from the mainland that inundates them today. The Boston area’s dense network of Mandarin-speaking churches marked by an intellectual richness and a strong professional class leaves it well positioned to meet the needs of the future church in Boston.
WEAKNESSES
Cultural Isolation
Historically, a lack of interaction with people who are not Chinese has probably been the most significant weakness in the Chinese church in and around Boston. The founding members of the most established churches have minimal contact, if any, with the non-Chinese community. Moreover, Chinese churches have rarely tried to hold joint events with other groups, with CBCGB being the one noteworthy exception. Such isolation from the surrounding society has been an obvious problem for the further development of the Chinese churches. This problem has abated somewhat, however, with the infusion of a larger professional class into the church over the last 25 years. This population generally has stronger ties to the secular professional networks in which they are immersed than to the ethnically-rooted churches they happen to attend.
Yet with this more worldly orientation comes the other problem of a widespread shallowness in the understanding of and commitment to the historic Christian faith. The church is in dire need of addressing this problem through basic Christian education and discipleship.
The generational divide
Another weakness besetting the established Chinese church is the deepening of the generational divides that separate older from younger Christians, first-generation immigrants from second-generation, and so on. While such divides have always been present, in recent years they have grown in ways that lead to the exodus from the Chinese church of those who were brought up in it. As noted, many of those who leave find their way to American churches that seem to address their needs more effectively. Many others, however, end up leaving the church altogether.
Small churches
Lastly, the problem of small congregational sizes hampered by resource constraints remains as prevalent today as ever. While the explosive growth of the last 25 years clearly benefited a handful of churches, the emergence of smaller congregations with an emphasis on ministry to their particular local communities has left many vulnerable. More than half of the Chinese congregations have less than 100 attendees, and these struggle financially with limited personnel. Many of them face such problems as a lack of volunteer workers, limited or no youth and children’s programs, and the difficulty of reaching a minimum threshold size to sustain growth. For some, it is challenging enough to remain viable. In this respect, a revival of the spirit of collaboration among the Chinese churches, with conscientious participation by the larger churches in the area, may be a key to the continued survival of these vital congregations.
OPPORTUNITY
Immigration continues
The steady and deepening stream of Chinese immigration from the mainland shows no signs of slowing in the coming years. The educational environment and the high-tech job market in the area will continue to attract many, providing an ongoing inflow of immigrants. Some of these newcomers are eager to attend a church, but many are not. Given the numbers, the proliferation of Chinese churches over the last few decades may continue, but careful observation and strategic planning will be needed to identify emerging pockets of Chinese newcomers who could be well served by a local Chinese church.
Changing cultures and thought systems
The arrival of more recent groups of graduate school students, scholars, and other professionals pose new challenges based on their distinctive generational experience and worldview. The factors that led many Chinese radicals of an earlier generation to explore and embrace Christianity—namely, the simple impulse to distance oneself from Maoism and communism, or the desire to secure an identity and existential anchor by identifying with “Western” institutions and thought systems, or even the hope of getting ahead in the modern world by adopting ways of thinking that are more prevalent outside China—have all been undermined in various ways.
The Chinese immigrants of today have grown up in a consumerist society that understands itself to have arrived, fully modern and ready to conquer the world. To the extent that such a mindset generates less of a felt need to turn to God, we might expect the boom in Chinese conversions to Christianity in the years following the Cultural Revolution and the massacre in Tienanmen Square will slow. Yet the Chinese church should seize it as an opportunity to develop new ways of sharing the Gospel so that it will be heard by those who have new ears.
Collaborative missions and outreach
Finally, the opportunity still remains for the Chinese church in greater Boston to develop a more aggressive, coordinated missions strategy that reaches beyond New England. These churches have a history of joining together for small-scale, collaborative missions programs, both short-term and long-term. Their initiatives include the now 20-year-old “Boston to Beijing” program for sending teams to teach English in mainland China, short-term missions/outreach groups working in England, and the joint sponsorship of career missionaries by multiple congregations. While all of this represents a good start, more can be done. Especially in light of the common passion of new converts to share their faith with others, a more deliberate mobilization of the Chinese churches to engage missions efforts in China and among the Chinese diaspora could help to draw those new converts more deeply into the activities of the church. Of course, when it comes to engaging in missions work or establishing relationships with churches in communist China, the larger the effort the more carefully its participants must tread. Even so, the opportunities for mutual support, growth, and understanding are too significant to pass up.
THREATS
Curiously, the most significant threats facing the Chinese church in the Boston area may be those imported from mainland China. The general lack of theological training within the Chinese house church movement and the prevalence of Buddhist, Taoist and folk religious traditions in most areas served by the house church make it a potential breeding ground for syncretistic beliefs and practices that can lead their followers away from the historic Christian faith. Insofar as many immigrant Christians from house churches on the Chinese mainland are incorporated into local congregations, the potential exists for such problematic religious understandings to gain a foothold here. While the generally high level of education in the Boston Chinese church of today perhaps mitigates this possibility, it is nonetheless a matter that warrants vigilance.
CONCLUSION
The growth of the Chinese church in and around the Boston area is something to celebrate. Its strength and integrity, and the quality of its network—unified for prayer, for youth and college ministry, and for international missions, among others—stand as a model for other immigrant churches and indeed for other indigenous churches as well. Although the Chinese church is relatively isolated from those around it, its impact is significant. Its unique history in a world educational hub and key center of the early evangelical missions movement has meant mature leadership in a world-wide Chinese church that is relatively young and whose leadership is often relatively untrained. Its extensive growth out of local campus Bible study groups gives it access to a more professional population that poses unique challenges but also unique opportunities. Add in the fact that it has unparalleled opportunities to reach with the necessary care and discretion into mainland China—one of the largest and most receptive populations for evangelical outreach today—and it is clear that the Chinese church in the greater Boston area is poised to play an outsized role in shaping the future of the church world-wide.
_________
by Dan Johnson, Ph.D., and Kaye Cook, Ph.D., both of Gordon College, with T. K. Chuang, Ph.D., former senior pastor, Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston. This chapter was originally written by T. K. Chuang and published as part of Emmanuel Gospel Center’s New England’s Book of Acts (2007). Extensively updated in 2016 by Dan Johnson and Kaye Cook in conversation with Rev. Dr. Chuang.
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More resources:
Map. For an interactive map of Chinese churches in Greater Boston, click here.
Church listing. For a listing of Chinese churches in Greater Boston, click here.
Greater Boston Chinese Church Listing
A listing of Chinese churches in Greater Boston, derived from many online sources and from the ongoing research of EGC. This serves as a resource page to a 2016 article on the current status of Chinese churches in this region. There is also a link to a corresponding map.
About. This listing shows churches in Greater Boston that hold services in Mandarin or Cantonese, or otherwise strongly identify with the region's Chinese population. Last update: March 2017.
Map. For an interactive map of Chinese churches in Greater Boston, click here.
Study. Read a 2016 analysis of the current status of the Chinese church community in Greater Boston, posted here.
Church Directory. You may also be interested in our online Boston Church Directory, with listings for Christian churches in Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Updates. Help us keep these data current by letting us know about corrections and updates. Write Rudy Mitchell by clicking the Contact EGC button on this page, or call (617) 262-4567 during regular business hours.
| Church/Address | Pastor/Phone | Website/Languages Year Founded |
|---|---|---|
| Boston Chinese Church of Saving Grace 115 Broadway Boston, MA 02116-5415 |
Pastor Kai P. Chan (617) 451-1981 |
http://www.bccsg.org Mandarin, Cantonese, English 1985 |
| Boston Chinese Evangelical Church – Boston Campus 249 Harrison Ave. Boston, MA 02111-1852 |
Rev. Steven Chin (617) 426-5711 |
http://www.bcec.net/ Cantonese, English, Mandarin 1961 |
| Boston Chinese Evangelical Church – Newton Campus 218 Walnut Street Newtonville, MA 02460 |
(617) 243-0100 | Cantonese, Mandarin, English 2003 |
| Boston MetroWest Bible Church 511 Newtown Road Littleton, MA 01460 |
Acting Pastor Elder Mingche Li (978) 486-4598 |
http://www.bmwbc.org Mandarin, English 2010 |
| Boston Taiwanese Christian Church 210 Herrick Road Newton Centre, MA 02459 |
Rev. Michael Johnson (781) 710-8039 |
https://sites.google.com/site/bostontcc Taiwanese, English 1969 |
| Chinese Alliance Church of Boston 74 Pleasant Street Arlington, MA 02476 |
Dr. Peter K. Ho (781) 646-4071 |
Cantonese 1982 |
| Chinese Baptist Church of Greater Boston 38 Weston Avenue Quincy, MA 02170 |
Rev. XiangDong Deng (617) 479-3531 |
http://www.cbcogb.org/ Mandarin, Cantonese, English 1982 |
| Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston – Lexington Campus 149 Old Spring St. Lexington, MA 02421 |
Pastor Caleb K.D. Chang (781) 863-1755 |
https://www.cbcgb.org/ Mandarin, English 1969 |
| Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston – City Outreach Ministry 874 Beacon Street Boston, MA 02215 |
Rev. Dr. JuTa Pan (617) 299-1266 |
https://www.cbcgb.org/com Mandarin 2010 |
| Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston – Cross Bridge Congregation 149 Old Spring St. Lexington, MA 02421 |
Pastor David Eng (781) 863-1755 |
http://www.crossbridge.life/ English 2016 |
| Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston – Metro South 2 South Main Street Sharon, MA 02067 |
Rev. Dr. Wei Jiang (781) 519-9672 |
http://ccbms.org/ Mandarin, English 2011 |
| Chinese Bible Church of Greater Lowell 197 Littleton Rd #B Chelmsford, MA 01824 |
Pastor Peter Wu (978) 256-3889 |
http://cbcgl.org/ Mandarin, Cantonese, English 1989 |
| Chinese Christian Church of Grace 50 Eastern Ave. Malden, MA 02148 |
Rev. He Rongyao (781) 322-9977 |
http://maldenchurch.org Mandarin, Cantonese 1993 |
| Chinese Christian Church of New England 1835 Beacon St. Brookline, MA 02445-4206 |
(617) 232-8652 | http://www.cccne.org/ Mandarin, English 1946 |
| Chinese Gospel Church of Massachusetts 60 Turnpike Road Southborough, MA 01772 |
Pastor Sze Ho Lui (508) 229-2299 |
http://www.cgcm.org/ Mandarin, Cantonese, English, Taiwanese 1982 |
| Christian Gospel Church in Worcester 43 Belmont Street Worcester, MA 01605 |
Rev. Daniel Shih (508) 890-8880 |
http://www.worcestercgc.org Mandarin, English 1999 |
| City Life Church – Chinese Congregation 200 Stuart St. Boston, MA 02116 |
(617) 482-1800 | http://www.citylifecn.org/ Mandarin 2002 |
| Emeth Chapel 29 Montvale Ave. Woburn, MA 01801 |
Rev. Dr. Tsu-Kung Chuang (978) 256-0887 |
https://emethchapel.org Mandarin, English 2002 |
| Emmanuel Anglican Church (Chinese) 561 Main St. Melrose, MA 02176 |
(718) 606-0688 | http://www.emmanuelanglican.org/ Cantonese 2014 |
| Episcopal Chinese Boston Ministry 138 Tremont St. Boston, MA 02111-1318 |
Rev. Canon Connie Ng Lam (617) 482-5800 ext. 202 |
http://www.stpaulboston.org/ Mandarin 1981 |
| Good Neighbor Chinese Lutheran Church 308 West Squantum St. Quincy, MA 02171 |
Rev. Ryan Lun (617) 653-3693 |
https://gnclc.org Cantonese, Mandarin 2013 |
| Greater Boston Chinese Alliance Church 239 N. Beacon Street Brighton, MA 02135 |
Rev. Frank Chan (617) 254-4039 |
https://gbcac.net/ Cantonese, English 1986 |
| Greater Boston Christian Mandarin Church 65 Newbury Ave. North Quincy, MA 02171 |
Rev. Paul Lin (720) 840-0138 |
http://www.gbcmc.net/ Mandarin, English 2012 |
| Lincoln Park Baptist Church 1450 Washington Street West Newton, MA 02465 |
Rev. Jie Jiao (857) 231-6904 |
http://www.lpb-church.org/ 2007 (1865, English congregation) |
| Quincy Chinese Church of the Nazarene 37 East Elm Ave Quincy, MA 02170 |
Rev. Sze Ho (Christopher) Lui (617) 471-5899 |
2003 |
| River of Life Christian Church in Boston 45 Nagog Park Acton, MA 01720 |
Rev. Jeff Shu (978) 263-6377 |
http://www.rolccib.org 2006 |
| Saint James the Greater 125 Harrison Ave. Boston, MA 02111 |
Rev. Peter H. Shen (617) 542-8498 |
Cantonese, English, Mandarin 1967 |
| Taiwan Presbyterian Church of Greater Boston 14 Collins Road Waban, MA 02468 |
Rev. David Chin Fang Chen (617) 445-2116 |
http://www.tpcgb.org Taiwanese 1991 |
| Wollaston Lutheran Church - Chinese Congregation 550 Hancock Street Quincy, MA 02170 |
Rev. Richard Man Chan Law (617) 773-5482 |
http://www.wlchurch.org/cm/ Cantonese, English, Mandarin (translation) 1989 |
Understanding Boston's Quiet Revival
What is the Quiet Revival? Fifty years ago, a church planting movement quietly took root in Boston. Since then, the number of churches within the city limits of Boston has nearly doubled. How did this happen? Is it really a revival? Why is it called "quiet?" EGC's senior writer, Steve Daman, gives us an overview of the Quiet Revival, suggests a definition, and points to areas for further study.
Resources for the urban pastor and community leader published by Emmanuel Gospel Center, Boston
Emmanuel Research Review reprint
Issue No. 94 — December 2013 - January 2014
Introduced by Brian Corcoran
Managing Editor, Emmanuel Research Review
Boston’s Quiet Revival started nearly 50 years ago, bringing an unprecedented and sustained period of new church planting across the city. In 1993, when the Applied Research team at the Emmanuel Gospel Center (EGC) began to analyze our latest church survey statistics and realized how extensive church planting had been during the previous 25 years, resulting in a 50% net increase in the number of churches, Doug Hall, president, coined the term, “Quiet Revival.” This movement, he later wrote, is “a highly interrelated social/spiritual system” that does not function “in a way that lends itself to a mechanistic form of analysis.” That is why, he theorized, we could not see it for years.* Perhaps because it was so hard to see, it also has been hard to understand all that is meant by the term.
One of the most obvious evidences of the Quiet Revival is that the number of churches within the city limits of Boston has nearly doubled since 1965. Starting with that one piece of evidence, Steve Daman, EGC’s senior writer, has been working on a descriptive definition of the Quiet Revival. It is our hope that launching out from this discussion and the questions Steve raises, more people can grow toward shared understanding and enter into meaningful dialog about this amazing work of God. We also hope that more can participate in fruitful ministries that are better aligned with what God has done and is continuing to do in Boston today. And thirdly, we want to inspire thoughtful scholars who will identify intriguing puzzles which will prompt additional study.
*Hall, Douglas A. and Judy Hall. “Two Secrets of the Quiet Revival.” New England’s Book of Acts. Emmanuel Gospel Center, 2007. Accessed 01/24/14.
What is the Quiet Revival?
by Steve Daman, Senior Writer, Emmanuel Gospel Center
What is the Quiet Revival? Here is a working definition:
The Quiet Revival is an unprecedented and sustained period of Christian growth in the city of Boston beginning in 1965 and persisting for nearly five decades so far.
What questions come to mind when you read this description? To start, why did we choose the words: “unprecedented”, “sustained”, “Christian growth”, and “1965”? Can we defend or define these terms? Or what about the terms “revival” and “quiet”? What do we mean? And what might happen to our definition if the revival, if it is a revival, “persists” for more than “five decades”? How will we know if it ends?
These are great questions. But before we try to answer a few of them, let’s add more flesh to the bones by describing some of the outcomes that those who recognize the Quiet Revival attribute to this movement. These outcomes help us to ponder both the scope and nature of the movement:
The number of churches in Boston has nearly doubled since 1965, though the city’s population is about the same now as then.
Today, Boston’s Christian church community is characterized by a growing unity, increased prayer, maturing church systems, and a strong and trained leadership.
The spiritual vitality of churches birthed during the Quiet Revival has spread, igniting additional church development and social ministries in the region and across the globe.
From these we can infer more questions, but the overarching one is this: “How do we know?” Surely we can verify the numbers and defend the first statement regarding the number of churches, but the following assertions are harder to verify. How do we know there is “a growing unity, increased prayer, maturing church systems, and a strong and trained leadership”? The implication is that these characteristics are valid evidences for a revival and that they have appeared or grown since the start of the Quiet Revival. Further, has “the spiritual vitality of churches birthed during the Quiet Revival… spread, igniting additional church development and social ministries in the region and across the globe”? What evidence is there? If these assertions are true, then indeed we have seen an amazing work of God in Boston, and we would do well to carefully consider how that reality shapes what we think about Boston, what we think about the Church in Boston, and how we go about our work in this particular field.
Numbers tell the story
The chief indicator of the Quiet Revival is the growth in the number of new churches planted in Boston since 1965. The Emmanuel Gospel Center (EGC) began counting churches in 1969 when we identified 300 Christian churches within Boston city limits. The Center conducted additional surveys in 1975, 1989, and 1993.1 When we completed our 1993 survey, our statistics showed that during the 24 years from 1969 to 1993, the total number of churches in the city had increased by 50%, even after it overcame a 23% loss of mainline Protestant churches and some decline among Roman Catholic churches.
That data point got our attention. At a time when people were asking us, “Why is the Church in Boston dying?” the numbers told a very different story.
Just four years before the discovery, when we published the first Boston Church Directory in 1989, we saw the numbers rising. EGC President Doug Hall recalls, “As we completed the 1989 directory and began to compile the figures, we were amazed to discover that something very significant was occurring. But it wasn’t until our next update in 1993 that we knew conclusively that the number of churches had grown—and not by just 30 percent as we had first thought, but by 50 percent! We had been part of a revival and did not know it.”2 It was then Doug Hall coined the term, the Quiet Revival.
Fifty-five new churches had been planted in the four years since the previous survey, bringing the 1993 total to 459. EGC’s Senior Researcher Rudy Mitchell wrote at the time, “Since 1968 at least 207 new churches have started in Boston. This is undoubtedly more new church starts than in any other 25-year period in Boston’s history.”3
In the 20 years since then, church planting has continued at a robust rate. EGC’s count for 2010 was 575, showing a net gain since the start of the Quiet Revival of 257 new churches. The Applied Research staff at the Center is now in the beginning stages of a new city-wide church survey. Already we have added more than 50 new churches to our list (planted between 2008 and 2014) while at the same time we see that a number of churches have closed, moved, or merged. It seems likely from these early indicators that the number of churches in Boston has continued to increase, and the total for 2014 will be larger than the 575 we counted in 2010, getting us even closer to that seductive “doubling” of the number since 1965, when there were 318 churches.4
Regardless of where we go with our definition, what terms we use, and what else we may discover about the churches in Boston, this one fact is enough to tell us that God has done something significant in this city. We have seen a church-planting movement that has crossed culture, language, race, neighborhood, denomination, economic levels, and educational qualifications, something that no organization, program, or human institution could ever accomplish in its own strength.
Defining terms
Let’s return to our working definition and consider its parts.
The Quiet Revival is an unprecedented and sustained period of Christian growth in the city of Boston beginning in 1965 and persisting for nearly five decades so far.
“Quiet”
The term “quiet” works well here because of its obvious opposite. We can envision “noisy” revivals, very emotional and exciting local events where participants may experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in powerful ways. If something like that is our mental model of revival, then to classify any revival as “quiet” immediately gets our attention and tempts us to think that maybe something different is going on here. How or why could a revival be quiet?
In this case, the term “quiet” points to the initially invisible nature of this revival. Doug Hall used the term “invisible Church” in 1993, writing that researchers tend “to document the highly visible information that is pertinent to Boston. We also want to go beyond the obvious developments to discover a Christianity that is hidden, and that is characteristically urban. By looking past the obvious, we have discovered the ‘invisible Church.’”5
An uncomfortable but important question to ask is, “From whom was it hidden?” If we are talking about a church movement starting in 1965, we can assume that the majority of people who may have had an interest in counting all the churches in the city—people like missiological researchers, denominational leaders, or seminary professors—were probably predominantly mainline or evangelical white people. This church-planting movement was hidden, EGC’s Executive Director Jeff Bass says, because “the growth was happening in non-mainline systems, non-English speaking systems, denominations you have never heard of, churches that meet in storefronts, churches that meet on Sunday afternoons.”6
Jeff points out that EGC had been working among immigrant churches since the 1960s, recognizing that God was at work in those communities. “We felt the vitality of the Church in the non-English speaking immigrant communities,” he says. Through close relationships with leaders from different communities, beginning in the 1980s, EGC was asked to help provide a platform for ministers-at-large who would serve broadly among the Brazilian, the Haitian, and the Latino churches. “These were growing communities, but even then,” Jeff says, “these communities weren’t seen by the whole Church as significant, so there was still this old way of looking at things.”7 Even though EGC became totally immersed in these diverse living systems, we were also blind to the full scale of what God was doing at the time.
Gregg Detwiler, director of Intercultural Ministries at EGC, calls this blindness “a learning disability,” and says that many Christian leaders missed seeing the Quiet Revival in Boston through sociological oversight. “By sociological oversight, I am pointing to the human tendency toward ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is a learning disability of evaluating reality from our own overly dominant ethnic or cultural perspective. We are all susceptible to this malady, which clouds our ability to see clearly. The reason many missed seeing the Quiet Revival in Boston was because they were not in relationship with where Kingdom growth was occurring in the city—namely, among the many and varied ethnic groups.”8
The pervasive mental model of what the Church in Boston looks like, at least from the perspective of white evangelicals, needs major revision. To open our arms wide to the people of God, to embrace the whole Body of Christ, whether we are white or people of color, we all must humble ourselves, continually repenting of our tendency toward prejudice, and we must learn to look for the places where God, through his Holy Spirit, is at work in our city today.
We not only suffer from sociological oversight, Gregg says, but we also suffer from theological oversight. “By theological oversight I mean not seeing the city and the city church in a positive biblical light,” he writes. “All too often the city is viewed only as a place of darkness and sin, rather than a strategic place where God does His redeeming work and exports it to the nations.” The majority culture, especially the suburban culture, found it hard to imagine God’s work was bursting at the seams in the inner city. Theological oversight may also suggest having a view of the Church that does not embrace the full counsel of God. If some Christians do not look like folks in my church, or they don’t worship in the same way, or they emphasize different portions of Scripture, are they still part of the Body of Christ? To effectively serve the Church in Boston, the Emmanuel Gospel Center purposes to be careful about the ways we subconsciously set boundaries around the idea of church. We are learning to define “church” to include all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, who have a high view of Scripture, and who wholeheartedly agree to the historic creeds.
If we can learn to see the whole Church with open eyes, maybe we can also learn to hear the Quiet Revival with open ears, though many living things are “quiet.” A flower garden makes little noise. You cannot hear a pumpkin grow. So, too, the Church in Boston has grown mightily and quietly at the same time. “Whoever has ears to hear,” our Lord said, “let them hear” (Mark. 4:9 NIV).
“Revival”
What is revival? A definition would certainly be helpful, but one is difficult to come by. There are perhaps as many definitions as there are denominations. All of them carry some emotional charge or some room for interpretation. Yet the word “revival” does not appear in the Bible. As we ask the question: “Is the Quiet Revival really a revival?” we need to find a way to reach agreement. What are we looking for? What are the characteristics of a true revival?
Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, has written on the subject of revival and offers this simple definition: “Revival is an intensification of the ordinary operations of the work of the Holy Spirit.” Keller goes on to say it is “a time when the ordinary operations of the Holy Spirit—not signs and wonders, but the conviction of sin, conversion, assurance of salvation and a sense of the reality of Jesus Christ on the heart—are intensified, so that you see growth in the quality of the faith in the people in your church, and a great growth in numbers and conversions as well.”9 This idea of intensification of the ordinary is helpful. If church planting is ordinary, from an ecclesiological frame of reference, then robust church planting would be an intensification of the ordinary, and thus a work of God.
David Bebbington, professor of history at the University of Stirling in Scotland, states in Victorian Religious Revivals: Culture and Piety in Local and Global Contexts, that there are several types or “patterns” of revival. First, revival commonly means “an apparently spontaneous event in a congregation,” usually marked by repentance and conversions. Secondly, it means “a planned mission in a congregation or town.” This practice is called revivalism, he notes, “to distinguish it from the traditional style of unprompted awakenings.” Bebbington’s third pattern is “an episode, mainly spontaneous, affecting a larger area than a single congregation.” His fourth category he calls an awakening, which is “a development in a culture at large, usually being both wider and longer than other episodes of this kind.” In summary, “revivals have taken a variety of forms, spontaneous or planned, small-scale or vast.”10
These are helpful categories. Using Bebbington’s analysis, we would say the Quiet Revival definitely does not fit his first and second patterns, but rather fits into his third and fourth patterns. The Quiet Revival was mainly spontaneous. While we can assume there was planning involved in every individual church plant, the movement itself was too broad and diverse to be the result of any one person’s or one organization’s plan. The Quiet Revival seems to have emerged from the various immigrant communities across the city simultaneously, and has been, as Bebbington says, “both wider and longer than other episodes of this kind.” The Quiet Revival was and is vast, city-wide, regional, and not small-scale.
Since at least the 1970s, and maybe before that, many people have proclaimed that New England or Boston would be a center or catalyst for a world-wide revival, or possibly one final revival before Christ’s return. But even that prophecy, impossible to substantiate, is hard to define. What would that global revival actually look like? Scripture seems to affirm that the Church grows best under persecution. That is certainly true today. Missionary author and professor Nik Ripken11 has chronicled the stories of Christians living in countries where Christianity is outlawed and gives remarkable testimony to the ways the Church thrives under persecution. Yet it would seem that what people describe or hope for when they talk about revival in Boston has nothing to do with persecution or hardship.
Dr. Roberto Miranda, senior pastor of Congregación León de Judá in Boston, has revival on his mind. In addition to a recent blog on his church’s website reviewing a book about the Scottish and Welsh revivals, he spoke in 2007 on his vision for revival in New England.12 Despite the fact that few agree on what revival looks like and what we should expect, should God send even more revival to Boston, the subject is always close at hand.
Again, it is interesting that so many Christians would miss seeing the Quiet Revival when there were so many voices in the Church predicting a Boston revival during the same time frame. Many of them, no doubt, are still looking.
“unprecedented”
As mentioned earlier, EGC’s Senior Researcher Rudy Mitchell wrote in 1993, “Since 1968 at least 207 new churches have started in Boston. This is undoubtedly more new church starts than in any other 25-year period in Boston’s history.” What Rudy wrote in 1993 continues to be true today, as it appears the rate of church planting has not fallen off since then. Never before has Boston seen such a wave of new church development. God, indeed, has been good to Boston.
“sustained”
The EGC Applied Research team will be able to assess whether or not the Quiet Revival church planting movement is continuing once we complete our 2014 survey. It is remarkable that the Quiet Revival has continued for as long as it has. The next question to consider is “why?” What are the factors that have allowed this movement to continue for so long unabated? What gives it fuel? We may also want to know who are the church planters today, and are they in some way being energized by what has gone on during the previous five decades?
Rev. Ralph Kee, a veteran Boston church planter, and animator of the Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative, wants to see new churches be “churches that plant churches that plant churches.” He says we need to put into the DNA of a new church this idea that multiplication is normal and expected. He has documented the genealogical tree of one Boston church planted in 1971 that has since given birth to hundreds of known daughter and granddaughter and great-granddaughter churches. Is the Quiet Revival sustained because Boston’s newest churches naturally multiply?
Another reason the Quiet Revival has continued for decades may be the introduction of a contextualized urban seminary into the city as the Quiet Revival was gaining momentum. EGC recently published an interview with Rev. Eldin Villafañe, Ph.D., the founding director of the Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME), the Boston campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a professor of Christian social ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Dr. Villafañe confirmed CUME was shaped by the Quiet Revival. But as both are interconnected living systems, CUME also shaped the revival, giving it depth and breadth.
“One of the problems with revivals anywhere,” Dr. Villafañe points out, “is oftentimes you have good strong evangelism that begins to grows a church, but the growth does not come with trained leadership, educated biblically and theologically. You can have all kinds of problems. Besides heresy, you can have recidivism, people going back to their old ways. The beautiful thing about the Quiet Revival is that just as it begins to flourish, CUME is coming aboard.”13
CUME was in place as a contextualized urban seminary to “backfill theology into the revival,” as Jeff Bass describes it, training thousands of local, urban leaders since 1976, with 300 students now attending each year.
“Christian growth”
We use the words “Christian growth” rather than “church growth” for a reason. We want to move our attention beyond the numbers of churches to begin to comprehend how these new churches may have influenced the city. Surely it is not only the number of churches that has grown. The number of people attending churches has also grown. One of the goals of the EGC Applied Research team is to document the number of people attending Boston’s churches today.14
But as we look beyond the number of churches and the number of people in those churches, we also want to see how these people have impacted the city. “Christians collectively make a difference in society,”15 says Dana Robert, director of the Center for Global Christianity and Mission at Boston University. Exploring and documenting the ways that Christians in Boston have made an impact on the city, showing ways the city has changed during the Quiet Revival, would be an important and valuable contribution to the ongoing study of Christianity in Boston.
“city of Boston”
We mean something very specific when we say “the city of Boston.” As Rudy Mitchell pointed out in the April 2013 Issue of the Review, one needs to understand exactly what geographical boundaries a particular study has in mind. “Boston” may mean different things. “This could range from the named city’s official city limits, to its county, metropolitan statistical area, or even to a media area covering several surrounding states.” Regarding the Quiet Revival, we mean Boston’s official city limits which today include distinct neighborhoods such as Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, East Boston, etc., all part of the city itself.
Boston’s boundaries have not changed during the Quiet Revival, but when we have occasion to look further back into history and consider the churches active in Boston in previous generations, we need to adjust the figures according the where the city’s boundary lines fell at different points in history as communities were absorbed into Boston or as new land was claimed from the sea.
EGC’s data gathering and analysis is, for the most part, restricted to the city of Boston, as we have described it. However, the Center’s work through our various programs often extends beyond these boundaries through relational networks, and we see the same dynamics at work in other urban areas in Greater Boston and beyond. It would be interesting to compare the patterns of new church development among immigrant populations in these other cities with what we are learning in Boston. There is, for example, some very interesting work being done on New York City’s churches on a Web site called “A Journey Through NYC Religions” (http://www.nycreligion.info/).
“1965”
We chose 1965 as a start date for the Quiet Revival for two reasons. First, there seems to be a change in the rate of new church plants in Boston starting in 1965. Of the 575 churches active in Boston in 2010, 17 were founded throughout the 1950s, showing a rate of less than 2 per year. Seven more started between 1960 and 1963 while none were founded in 1964, still progressing at a rate of less than 2 per year. Then, over the next five years, from 1965 to 1969, 20 of today’s churches were planted (averaging 4 per year); about 40 more were launched in the 1970s (still 4 per year), 60 in the 1980s (averaging 6 per year), 70 in the 1990s (averaging 7 per year), and 60 in the 2000s (6 per year). Again, we are counting only the churches that remain until today. A large number of others were started and either closed or merged with other churches, so the actual number of new churches planted each year was higher.
Another reason for choosing 1965 as the start date was that the Immigration Act of 1965 opened the door to thousands of new immigrants moving into Boston. Our research shows that the majority of Boston’s new churches were started by Boston’s newest residents, and that that trend continued for years. For example, of the 100 churches planted between 2000 and 2005, about 15% were Hispanic, 10% were Haitian, and 6% were Brazilian. At least 5% were Asian and another 7% were African. Not more than 14 of the 100 churches planted during those years were primarily Anglo or Anglo/multiethnic. The remaining 40 to 45% of new churches were African American, Caribbean or of some other ethnic identity.
Throughout the first few decades of the Quiet Revival, most, but not all new church development occurred within the new immigrant communities. At the same time many immigrant communities experienced significant growth in Boston, the African American population was also growing, showing an increase of 40% between 1970 and 1990. Between 1965 and 1993, although 39 African American churches closed their doors, well over 100 new ones started, for a net increase of about 75 churches. Among today’s total of 140 congregations with an African American identity, 57 were planted during those early years of the Quiet Revival between 1965 and 1993. Many of these churches have grown under skilled leadership to be counted among the most influential congregations in Boston, and new Black churches continue to emerge.
The year 1965 was a year of much change. While we point to these two specific reasons for picking this start date for the Quiet Revival (the change in the rate of church planting in Boston and the Immigration Act of 1965), there were other movements at play. A charismatic renewal began to sweep across the country at that time starting in the Catholic and Episcopal communities on the West Coast. Close on its heels was the Jesus Movement. Vatican II, which was a multi-year conference, coincidentally closed in 1965, bringing sweeping changes to the Roman Catholic community. Socially, the civil rights movement was front and center during those years.
It seems obvious from the evidence of who was planting churches that one of the main influencing factors was the Pentecostal movement among the immigrant communities. It may also be helpful to explore some of the other cultural movements occurring simultaneously to see if other influences helped to fan the flames. We may discover that in addition to immigration factors, various other streams—whether cultural, Diaspora, theological, or social—were used by God to facilitate the growth of this movement.
Boston’s population
Some may wrongly assume that the growing number of new churches in Boston must relate to a growing population. This is certainly not true of Boston. The population of the city of Boston was 616,326 in 1965 and forty-five years later, in 2010, was very nearly the same at 617,594. During those years, however, the population actually declined by more than 50,000 to 562,994 in 1980. This shows that this remarkable increase in the number of churches is not the result of a much larger population.
While the population total was about the same in 2010 as it was in 1965, the makeup of that population has changed dramatically through immigration and migration, and this is a very significant factor in understanding the Quiet Revival.
One issue that still needs to be addressed is Boston’s church attendance in proportion to the population. Based on our current research and over 40 years’ experience studying Boston’s church systems, we estimate that this number has increased from about 3% to as much as perhaps 15% during this period. EGC is preparing to conduct additional comprehensive research to accurately assess the percentage of Bostonians who attend churches.
The other indicators
How do we know there is “a growing unity, increased prayer, maturing church systems, and a strong and trained leadership”? What evidence is there that “the spiritual vitality of churches birthed during the Quiet Revival has spread, igniting additional church development and social ministries in the region and across the globe”?
The work required to clearly document and defend these statements is daunting. These issues are important to the Applied Research staff, and we welcome assistance from interested scholars and researchers to help us further develop these analyses. In a future edition of this journal, we may be able to start to bring together some evidences to support these assertions, but we do not have the time or space to do more than to give a few examples here.
We have compiled information relevant to each of these specific areas. For example, we have evidence of more expressions of unity among churches and church leaders, such as the Fellowship of Haitian Evangelical Pastors of New England. We continue to discover more collaborative networks, and more prayer movements, such as the annual Greater Boston Prayer Summit for pastors, which began in 2000. We can point to churches and church systems that have grown to maturity and are bearing much fruit in both the proclamation of the Gospel and in social ministries, such as the Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston. We are aware of several excellent organizations and schools where leaders may be trained and grow in their skills, in knowledge, and in collaborative ministry.16
For the staff of EGC, this is all far more than an academic exercise. We work in this city and many of us make it our home as well. It is a vibrant and exciting place to be, precisely because the Quiet Revival has changed this city on so many levels. Doug and Judy Hall, EGC’s president and assistant to the president, have been serving in Boston at EGC since 1964, and they have observed these changes. A number of others on our staff have also been working among these churches for decades, including Senior Researcher Rudy Mitchell, who started studying churches and neighborhoods in 1976. Doug Hall says that in the 1960s, it was hard to recommend many good churches, ones for which you would have some confidence to suggest to a new believer or new arrival. Not so today. Today in Boston there are many, many healthy and vibrant churches to choose from all across the city. Our understanding of the Quiet Revival is not only a matter of statistics, it is our actual experience as our work puts us in a position to constantly interact with church leaders representing many different communities in the city.
It appears from this vantage point that the rate of church planting in Boston continues to be robust as we approach the 50-year mark for the Quiet Revival. We are looking forward with excitement to see what the new numbers are when the 2014 church survey is complete. It also appears from the many evidences gained through our relational networks across Boston that these additional indicators of the Quiet Revival also continue to grow stronger.
Notes
(If the resources below are not linked, it is because in 2016 we migrated from EGC’s old website to a new site, and not all documents and pages have been posted. As we are able, we will repost articles from the Emmanuel Research Review and link those that are mentioned below. If you have questions, please click the Take Action button below and Contact Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher.)
1We have written in previous issues about these surveys. See the following editions of the Emmanuel Research Review: No. 18, June 2006, Surveying Churches; No. 19, July/August 2006, Surveying Churches II: The Changing Church System in Boston; No. 21, October 2006, Surveying Churches III: Facts that Tell a Story.
2Daman, Steve. “1969-2005: Four Decades of Church Surveys.” Inside EGC 12, no. 5 (September-October, 2005): p. 4.
3Mitchell, Rudy. “A Portrait of Boston’s Churches.” in Hall, Douglas, Rudy Mitchell, and Jeffrey Bass. Christianity in Boston: A Series of Monographs & Case Studies on the Vitality of the Church in Boston. Boston, MA, U.S.A: Emmanuel Gospel Center, 1993. p. B-14.
4We estimate the number of churches in 1965 was 318, based on information derived from Polk’s Boston City Directory (https://archive.org/details/bostondirectoryi11965bost) for that year and adjusted to include only Christian churches. In 1965, many small, newer African American churches were thriving in low-cost storefronts and many of the smaller neighborhood mainline churches had not yet closed or moved out of the city (but many soon would). While there were not yet many new immigrant churches, the city's African American population was growing very significantly and also expanding into new neighborhoods where new congregations were needed.
5Hall, Douglas A., from the Foreword to the section entitled “A Portrait of Boston’s Churches” by Rudy Mitchell, in Hall, Douglas, Rudy Mitchell, and Jeffrey Bass. Christianity in Boston: A Series of Monographs & Case Studies on the Vitality of the Church in Boston. Boston, MA, U.S.A: Emmanuel Gospel Center, 1993. p. B-1.
6Daman, Steve. “EGC’s Research Uncovers the Quiet Revival.” Inside EGC 20, no. 4 (November-December 2013): p. 2.
7Ibid.
8Emmanuel Research Review, No. 60, November 2010, There’s Gold in the City.
9Keller, Tim. “Questions for Sleepy and Nominal Christians.” Worldview Church Digest, March 13, 2013. Web. Accessed January 27, 2014.
10Bebbington, D W. Victorian Religious Revivals: Culture and Piety in Local and Global Contexts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. p.3.
11Ripken, Nik. personal website. n.d. http://www.nikripken.com/
12Miranda, Roberto. “A vision for revival in New England.” April 7, 2006. Web.
13Daman, Steve. “The City Gives Birth to a Seminary.” Africanus Journal Vol. 8, No. 1, April 2016, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Center for Urban Ministerial Education. p. 33.
14We wrote about the difficulties national organizations have in coming up with that figure in a previous edition of the Review: No. 88, April 2013, “Perspectives on Boston Church Statistics: Is Greater Boston Really Only 2% Evangelical?”
15Dilley, Andrea Palpant. “The World the Missionaries Made.” Christianity Today 58, no. 1 (January/February 2014): p. 34. Web. Accessed: January 30, 2014. Dilley quotes Robert at the end of her article on the impact some 19th century missionaries had shaping culture in positive ways.
16A number of educational opportunities for church leaders are listed in the Review, No. 70, Sept 2011, “Urban Ministry Training Programs & Centers.”
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What is the Quiet Revival? Fifty years ago, a church planting movement quietly took root in Boston. Since then, the number of churches within the city limits of Boston has nearly doubled. How did this happen? Is it really a revival? Why is it called "quiet?" EGC's senior writer, Steve Daman, gives us an overview of the Quiet Revival, suggests a definition, and points to areas for further study.