This week’s featured blogger is Kelly Fassett, UniteBoston’s Team Leader. There have been many stories of changed lives that have come out of the Celebration of Worship gathering last month – read the blog below to see the impact of united worship for the city of Boston.

UniteBoston has been building bridges across historic divides in the Christian Church for nine years, and for the last three summers, we have hosted a public worship gathering in the Boston Common. While many people in New England today have a negative view of Christianity, and Christians here often feel isolated and alone, we wanted to change that through coming together in a united celebration of worship that highlighted local Christian artists and organizations contributing to God’s work in our city. John 17 points out that our unity as Christians is meant to be a witness to the world about the reconciling power of Jesus Christ. This summer, we called our summer worship gathering “Engage Boston,” with the focus on ministering to people who might not normally come into a church building. Our goal was to invite everyone, regardless of background, to experience the vibrancy of the Christian faith in a new way. There were a local Christian hip-hop, Latina, and spoken word artists who performed in the first half of the evening, and a charismatic dance group leading the crowd in dance moves. Throughout the evening, an estimated 2,000 people stopped by to listen to the music, learn about the various organizations in the city, or receive prayer. David Wright, Executive Director of the Black Ministerial Alliance describes that a friend he invited, “was singing, waving her hands, and really experiencing the love of God.  She raved about it so much, another mutual friend insists I tell her when it happens next year.” 

There were also 33 different organizations who hosted ministry tables surrounding the perimeter of the gathering. Sean Bowen, the Executive Director of Barnabas Ministries, describes that they interacted with and prayed with dozens of people on the sidewalk at their sponsored table. One young woman had extreme pain in her back, and after prayer, the pain was gone. Sean describes that at the event, “It felt like heaven was open. The worship wasn’t just background music; it provided an atmosphere where God could really move.” There was also a prayer tent where people could learn more about the Christian faith or receive prayer, which was frequented by a stream of people throughout the evening. Jenna Higgins’ highlight moment was ministering to one gentleman who described a lot of things going on in his life. After they were done praying, the man confessed, “For the first time in forever, I have hope.” 

While UniteBoston hasn’t always coordinated large events, we are finding that organizing large gatherings such as our summer worship celebration is also a catalytic opportunity for cultivating inter-Christian relationships. It was amazing to see 80+ volunteers from dozens of local churches join their hands and hearts to contribute to this initiative. The 13 members of the UB worship band came from incredibly diverse backgrounds, displaying the reality of our boundary-breaking God who transcends the culture’s pervasive divisions of race, language, nationality and generation. Guitarist Richard Mussachio describes, “The Celebration of Worship symbolizes the Kingdom of God, as opposed to a homogenous group of people, like so many other worship events. This event incorporates different ages, different cultures, different colors, and that’s really important, in this time especially, because that’s what the Kingdom of God looks like.” 

Last, Lori Dupre coordinated a team of artists to form an “artist’s row” near the stage on the grass. She describes what a blessing it was to paint alongside other artists whom she just met, including one man from Columbia. While he did not speak English, nor she Spanish, she describes that “We had a special time communicating through our art instead. I could never have dreamed up how our amazing God orchestrated this blessing. Now we are FaceBook friends!” 

These are just a few of many stories that I could share about lives that were impacted by this event. Throughout the years of UniteBoston’s ministry, we have seen that God really shows up when we come together from all of our different backgrounds to worship Jesus. While many people have different strategies for greater spiritual vitality and gospel movement in Boston, maybe all that it takes is to come together, as one, and worship! Clearly, Jesus thought so. Together, we can show how human barriers and enmity between people are transformed through Christ’s reconciling work.

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Kelly Fassett is the Executive Director of UniteBoston. She has a graduate certificate from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and recently graduated with her Masters of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology. She planning to be ordained in the American Baptist Churches this fall. She lives with her husband in Dorchester and is expecting her first child this November. 

Here are some things you can do to continue the momentum towards Christian unity after the 2019 Celebration of Worship:

1. Build relationships with other Christians 

While large events are great, the power of Christian unity comes from relationships. It is relationships across our varied church traditions and backgrounds which empower inter-church collaboration. Thus, one of the greatest things you can do is to set up a time to meet with someone from a different background than you – perhaps ethnically, denominationally, or socioeconomically. To do this, you can visit a worship service from another church in your neighborhood, asking, “What can this form of Christian worship teach me about God?” It’s often as we step outside our comfort zone that our false understandings are revealed and we discover the manifold wisdom of God present within the church (Eph 3:10).

2. Join a UniteBoston Neighborhood Dinner

UniteBoston has a team of nine dinner coordinators that are coordinating regular gatherings for prayer and fellowship within neighborhood communities.  The goal for the dinners is to build relationships and to let our relationships inform our shared mission of revealing Jesus’ love within our communities. We gather to hear our personal stories of faith in Christ and to answer two questions: “What is God already doing in our community?” and “What can we together to better demonstrate the love of Christ?”

You can sign up for a dinner in your neighborhood by clicking here. Our neighborhood dinner coordinators are also happy to sit down with you and grab a cup of coffee to learn how we can be supporting you and what God is doing in your midst. Please contact us – We’d love to hear from you!

3. Share about UniteBoston on Facebook or Instagram

This year, we increased our marketing strategy and have discovered the power of social media. We encourage you to take one of our photos and share it on Facebook (@uniteboston10) or Instagram (Uniteboston) – or simply email your friends and encourage them to get involved with UB/sign up for our weekly newsletter!

4. Submit an event from your church/ministry to UniteBoston’s weekly newsletter

UniteBoston has a large infrastructure for promotion and advertising. Our website is viewed by 2,000+ people monthly and our weekly newsletter goes out to over 3,000 Christians in the Greater Boston area, so it’s a great way to get the word out about your event and increase visibility. Many people attest that posting on UB helped them to connect with new people and increased their event size!

There are two options for posting:
-Free: Posted on the UniteBoston.com website OR

-$30/week: Featured on our weekly e-newsletter  

Click on the link here to submit your event to UniteBoston!

5. Join our team!

The current UniteBoston team is a tight-knit group of people that is committed to one another and to joining God in His work in this city. If you believe in Christian unity and want to be a part of a community that is working to make the unity we share in Christ visible, please prayerfully consider joining our team!

Right now, we have volunteer opportunities available in finance, administration, journalism, and neighborhood dinner coordination.

Thanks to each of you for being part of the UB community – it is a joy to serve alongside each of you, as together we seek greater gospel movement in our city!

It was awesome! UniteBoston’s 2019 summer worship gathering celebrated how people are reaching across barriers and engaging one another with the love of Jesus. There were 33 different organizations hosting ministry tables surrounding the perimeter of the gathering, 80+ volunteers, and an estimated 2,000 people who stopped by for a portion of the evening to listen to the music, learn about the various organizations in the city, or receive prayer.

Click here to read a few stories about people who were impacted by the gathering, written by Kelly Fassett, UniteBoston’s Team Leader.

Highlights from this year were a new stage to highlight the diversity of the worship team and an LED screen so that everyone could sing along to the songs together. Music director Bill Mooney McCoy incorporated a songset that highlighted local Christian talent, including hip-hop artist Caleb McCoy, Latina rapper Ada Betsabe, a capella group Boston Found, painter Lori Dupre, and spoken word artist Fugi. The UB worship band came from incredibly diverse backgrounds, seeking to display visibly the reconciling love of Jesus Christ.

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The Celebration of Worship is a great opportunity for artists with mission-driven music to share it with Boston in one of the most public places in the city. I believe the goal of artists is to engage with communities, to be the cultural barometers of the times, and to speak to the hearts of humanity. “Engage Boston” promotes the idea of engaging the city from a Christ-centered perspective, and I’m all about doing just that through my art.

-Shanell Alyssa, Liberty Life Church (Avon)

The Celebration of Worship symbolizes the Kingdom of God, as opposed to a homogenous group of people, like so many other worship events. This event incorporates different ages, different cultures, different colors, and that’s really important, in this time especially, because that’s what the Kingdom of God looks like.

Richard Mussachio, Grace Community Church (Marblehead)

As the Music Director of this event, one of the exciting things for me is seeing people build friendships with others whom they never had met before. The highlight of my night [in our first rehearsal] was watching Rich and Duay talking. They played fantastically, but there’s these two people who never would have met if it weren’t for this event. They found they had so much in common, and if you looked at the two of them, they never would have realized that. It’s a gift to see people who have have nothing but Jesus in common to meet each other and grow in faith.

Bill Mooney-McCoy, River of Life Church (Jamaica Plain)

I was so blessed with the diversity of people and styles of worship, all in harmony to bring the light and truth of Jesus to the greater Boston area. My soul was lifted in praise to the only One who can bring hope to a hurting world. It was an amazing night of seeing how THE church of Jesus Christ is alive and thriving.

Peggy Hothem, Our Savior Lutheran Church (Topsfield)

UniteBoston’s event powerfully reminded me how we are sisters and brothers in Christ despite our differences. I felt nearly an immediate infilling and also receiving of supernatural love and joy as I interacted with all those who were at our event.

Kristine Leung, Symphony Church (Boston)

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It was an incredible blessing to worship paint alongside other artists whom I had just met! One was visiting from Columbia who is incredibly gifted and he did not speak English nor do I speak Spanish. We had a special time communicating through our art instead. I could never have dreamed up how our amazing God orchestrated this blessing. Now we are facebook friends! Other artists from the crowd came up to us afterwards and asked to be a part next year. God is indeed at work in Boston and it is spreading out to the world.

Lori Dupre, Revive Community Church

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I invited 128 people.  Needless to say, they all didn’t show up.  One of my friends did. She is, in my opinion, still looking for Jesus.  She LOVED the event. She was singing, waving her hands, and really experiencing the love of God.  She raved about it so much, another mutual friend insists I tell her when it happens next year. Talking about reaching the world for Jesus.  Who knew that all you had to do was come together, as one, and worship? Well, clearly Jesus did.

David Wright, People’s Baptist Church (Boston)

The UniteBoston gathering impacted my understanding of how God is working in Boston by getting to see hundreds (if not thousands) of people excited and unashamed about worshipping God publicly. It’s easy to worship when we are in the safe confines of our church homes, but getting to see this in the heart of Boston was truly life changing.

Jen Aldana, Impact Church (Medford)

I saw lots of people engaging with each other. People from various churches saying hello and re-connecting as brothers and sisters in Christ. It was wonderful. I was introduced to one or two individuals for the first time. UniteBoston continues to do an excellent job of bringing the church of Jesus together in Boston.

Pastor Dave Hill, Abundant Grace Church (Brighton)

Thank you to our event sponsors: Park Street Church, Pentecostal Tabernacle, Emmanuel Gospel Center, Boston Pide Vida, and Awaken City Church. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the event and helped us reach 100% of our fundraising goals. We also want to thank Park Street Church and St. Paul’s Cathedral for letting us borrow tables and chairs for the event.

Last, thanks to each of you for being part of the UB community – it is a joy to serve alongside each of you, as together we seek greater gospel movement in our city!

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Fall is an influential time for churches to pop up in the city! Two churches are launching next Sunday September 8th – Awaken City Church in Jamaica Plain and Resurrection Church in East Boston. Read below to hear about how their families ended up in Boston, as well as their hopes and dreams for their churches and the broader community.

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By: Kelly Fassett

When did Pastor Melinda Priest first feel a stirring to come to Boston to start Awaken City Church? She describes an encounter with God that she had while attending seminary in Indiana, when she noticed the sun coming up over a field of corn, looking at the “harvest.” She remembered the passage in Luke 10:2 – “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (NIV). Melinda felt God inviting her to consider all the people who didn’t know God and the significance of launching a church that would create a multiplication movement.

Two years later, the district superintendent for the northeast region of the Wesleyan church asked Melinda and her family if they would consider coming to Boston to pray and see if God might call them to plant a multiplying church in the city. On their visit to the city, they were told they needed to go to Jamaica Plain, and particularly J.P. Licks. She started weeping when she saw people in line from all over the world in conversation with one another. She describes, “God has always called us to multi-ethnic ministry. That was the moment we knew God was calling us to Boston and to plant our first church in the city in the neighborhood of Jamaica Plain.”

They started hosting the Alpha Course this past February, started launch team meetings, family vision dinners, then monthly preview services in March, and then weekly preview services this month. In her time in Boston so far, she has learned that “God is on the move! I have met many Christians leaders who were willing to encourage and prayer for us. I do not sense any competition. We are all on the same team. I love the ministry of UniteBoston, because I believe it epitomizes this kind of collaboration in order that the Gospel might reach as many as possible. “

Awaken City Church’s name is based out of Psalm 57: 7-11 “My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, Lord, among the nations. I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens: let your glory be over all the earth.” They desire to be an inter-generational, multi-ethnic, courageous community of Jesus followers who have been awakened to Jesus love and purpose for them. This presence-driven missional community desires to carry the light and hope of Christ into every corner of our city.

Christians throughout the city can support Awaken City by praying for their weekly service launch on September 8th, at 10am at the Boston Teachers Union School (Gym), 25 Walk Hill Rd. You can also be praying for leaders to serve as Children’s Ministry Coordinators at their church. They believe that God has called them to be a family church, and this is crucial for them to serve families well. If you want to send a word of encouragement to their team, you can email them at info@reachboston.org. 

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Rev. Justin Ruddy is a lifelong Northeastener, and has called Boston home for 12 years. He is a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div., Th.M.), and has served as a minister in downtown Boston since 2011. He and his wife Sarah live in Eastie with their newborn son. They are launching Resurrection Church, a new church plant in East Boston on September 8th with the Christian Reformed Church. He describes that the church will be “Hyper local, with deep roots, and strategically small, because we desire to live life with God in community for the neighborhood.” While East Boston is most commonly thought of as the “neighborhood by the airport,” they believe that it really ought to be known for its vibrant immigrant communities, lovely green spaces, passionate community organizations, talented artists, and top-notch cuisine.

However, Pastor Justin and his team also recognize that for all of its loveliness, the neighborhood experiences significant tensions. Whether its economic hardship, racism, environmental strain, illness, isolation, hopelessness, or loneliness, there is brokenness within and around us. They desire to start Resurrection Church not to “resurrect” East Boston; rather, the resurrection in our name is about the hope found in the history-defining resurrection of Jesus over death. They simply want to join in with what God is already doing here so that more people might come to live a satisfying life with God, find meaningful community, and love their neighbors well. Their worship services are predominantly in English, but they welcome Spanish speakers, along with all other language speakers.

We invite Christians throughout Greater Boston to be praying for Pastor Justin and his team for their launch on Sunday September 8th. Launch team member Adam Montalbano suggests that we can be praying for them in the following ways:

• For the launch of Resurrection Church: that it would start God’s church to bring glory to God according to God’s will
• For the core team and hands on deck to be encouraged and strengthened to work with God to build the church in Eastie
• For many in the neighborhood to see and meet with our God personally where they are at

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These are just two of many ways in which God is at work in Greater Boston. If you know about another church starting, or if you have a story that you want to highlight, email Kelly at kelly@uniteboston.com to be considered for publication on UB’s website or weekly newsletter!

This week, Erik Johnson is our guest blogger. Erik lived in Cambridge for 7 years and was a member of the original “UniteBoston Reps” team. Erik is an electrical engineer who recently moved to Oakland CA with his wife Erjona to join a friend’s startup. He is passionate about deep theological conversations, being with friends, hiking, playing rugby and engineering hobby projects. Read his story below to hear how Erik’s experiences inspired him to yearn for greater unity across Christians.

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I grew up in a rather homogeneous area of West Michigan, where my family regularly attended an independent Baptist church. I am eternally thankful to this church and my parents for their genuine example of following Jesus and the education I received early on of the Bible and the Christian faith. Generally speaking, my understanding of the Christian faith was pretty narrowly focused on my experience at this church. Though I did occasionally meet in a formal setting with other Christians as a public school student, I didn’t ever give much thought to the various Protestant denominations. With Catholics, however, I was taught that they were more seriously in error in matters of doctrine related to salvation and the pope.   

As I began college at MIT, I discovered that the world was much bigger and more complex, with both more magnificent beauty and more twisted evils than I had yet known.  Within a couple of weeks, I had somehow or another made friends with many Muslims, in particular one who would become my best friend and roommate for the next 5 years. After about a year or so into college when the excitement of classes and student clubs had waned, I started to consider the reality that the worldview which I grew up with was just one of any number held by my fellow classmates. And, if in fact Christianity is true, what version of Christianity should I be a witness to? Over the following years, I attempted to read about and discuss the big questions of life, and criticisms of Christianity, as I wrestled with the historical and theological Christian claims, especially vis-à-vis the Islamic claims about Jesus. 

Throughout these years in college, I was fortunate to have fairly extensive travel experiences where I could worship and be challenged in different churches. This included attending a Pentecostal church in Ghana for three months, then a Catholic Church in India for five weeks, and finally an Anglican Church in Jordan for two months. During various layovers, I managed to attend services at Westminster Abbey, Notre Dame, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Cathedral of the Ecumenical Patriarch in Istanbul. Finally, during a trip to Jerusalem while I was in Jordan, I was able to experience a representation of nearly every major Christian tradition.

 Through all of these experiences and personal study, I began to realize that I had gained a much deeper knowledge of what it meant to follow Jesus, both in the first century context and in other places around the world. Back on campus, I was able to relate with Christians coming from different backgrounds in a deeper way. For example, I spent any Friday afternoons walking over the bridge to St. Clements to pray with a good Catholic friend. Through my experiences and readings of Christian history, it became ever more apparent to me that the Christian tradition was much bigger and richer than I had previously known, with a saddening amount of painful disunity throughout the centuries. Thus, I had to go beyond associating myself as only within a local like-minded Protestant church, and instead intentionally relate to brothers and sisters in Christ from other backgrounds and traditions. As I got to know these other Christians, I felt the pain of division and disunity more strongly, and desired to make a difference to heal these divisions in some way.

At some point on this journey, I connected with Kelly and UniteBoston. I was super excited to hear that I was far from alone in my yearnings for real connections across Christian traditions.  UniteBoston’s worship and prayer gathering at an orthodox church during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and the mass at the MIT Catholic chapel with a focus on Christian unity was particularly impactful for me. I vividly remember the adoration time after the mass where we all worshiped together—Jesus’s presence was certainly in the room.

So why Christian unity? I have written a more detailed paper on this question, but I see at least four reasons for why we should want unity. First, Christian unity is God’s desire and the final prayer of Jesus in John 17. Second, St. Paul exhorts and even demands us to be united. Third, our failure to be united in our witness of the good news and new life in Jesus is one of the most significant reasons why people throughout the centuries have rejected the Gospel. When I was reading through the Quran for the first time, I was shocked to see that in Surah 5:14, it states that Allah put enmity and hatred in the hearts of Christians towards each other. Considering the fact that Arabia at the time of Muhammad contained various Christian groups ostracized by the Byzantine Orthodox Church, this perspective fits. The divisions would sadly continue to prove true in the following centuries of Islamic expansion and interaction with Christians, up until even today. Given that Islam teaches that Christianity became corrupted in various ways, I don’t have to be a Christian missiologist to see that our disunity is a significant factor in Muslims being historically resistant to the gospel. Finally, the formation of a united “catholic” people of God from all nations is implicit in the kingdom of God that Jesus inaugurated and that the Jewish prophets looked forward to. 

While the road to unity is neither clear nor easy, I think the obvious first step is for more Christians to desire unity. When there is a will, there is a way, especially when that will is motivated by love, and how much more is this true considering Christ’s love and the power of the Spirit. Second, Christians can nurture positive respect for each other. This can be accomplished by purposefully learning more from each other through finding time to serve, worship, study and pray together. We can even try and find ways to support each other financially when one community is particularly in need. We can begin to learn the rich Christian spiritual traditions of one another, and how we have, especially in the last 100 years, come to agree on many, though not all, of our historically divisive issues. Through these relationships, we will better know and love each other, better understand where the real differences lie, and be brought towards the necessary conversion of being more visibly one. 

 “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:1-6)