It was awesome! After a 2-year hiatus, UniteBoston’s 2022 worship concert brought us “together again” to worship Jesus in the heart of Boston. There were 15 different organizations hosting ministry tables surrounding the perimeter of the gathering, 30+ members of a community choir, and hundreds of attendees and passersby 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.

Read on to see photos and read personal testimonies about the impact of this gathering! You can also click on this link to follow the artists on their media platforms click here to listen to the playlist for the concert on Youtube!

All Photos by Rosa Caban

“I really enjoyed the worship and fellowship during “together again”. A highlight of my night was making new friends and praying for a young couple after finishing my set. It’s nice to not just attend a church but take nights like these to go out into the city and be the church… we never know when we’ll meet someone who needs an encounter with the love of Jesus. Thanks Unite Boston, donors, and all those involved in putting this together.” – Ada Betsabe

This year, we brought together the community and had the opportunity to make room for ministries from across the city to share their mission with the city.

There were a lot of great moments of togetherness:

We also had the pleasure of building a community choir that brought together members from Gordon College God’s Chosen Gospel Choir and members of the community who have a passion for worshipping God.

“It was a beautiful glimpse into the true Body of Christ as we worshipped together.  I was especially moved by the Gospel Youth Choir and their fervor for Jesus. And to think that we were right down there at the Boston Harbor proclaiming Jesus!”

-Pastor Richard Rhodes, Grace Chapel

Alexis Monroe and Kika Ghobrial were the MCs for the event and Grain of Wheat Christian ministries brought their musical gifts during the program intermission.

Other testimonies:

“I was visiting from Chicago this weekend and happened upon the choir. It was such a blessing. We were on the way to dinner without reservations. Thankfully we were able to circle back while we waited. May God continue to bless your ministry!” – @acalhy

“My favorite moment was with the lemonade stand owner which was adjacent to where we were setting up. I told him that today is going to be a great day for his business. He said that even when they have concerts here, he doesn’t make any money. I responded, “Today will be different – it’s a different vibe.” He said, “I hope so.” Later I ran into him and told him to make me a lemonade. When I came back to get it, he said, “Oh shoot, I forgot to make yours cause right after you ordered yours, I got so busy with customer after customer. You brought me luck!” I said, “No, God did it.” and he said “Yes he did!” This was a great chance to testify about God to many people who don’t normally go to church!” -Emmanuel Nicolas

“During one of the songs I see an older couple walk across the lawn near us checking things out. They look like tourists from Texas – 2 white people, mid-50s, too nicely dressed for this event. I remember thinking that they looked out of place. Then the man threw both of his hands up in worship and the woman started dancing. They participated until the end and we talked with them briefly after. They are from Texas and are spending a few days in Boston as part of a broader New England vacation. They just stumbled across the event and were excited to see Christian life in Boston. Their son lives in the burbs and hasn’t found a church community, and they didn’t think there was any life here. They were very encouraged by what they saw!” -Jeff Bass, Executive Director, Emmanuel Gospel Center

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Thank you to everyone who contributed to the event and our fundraising goals. 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!

“Together Again” is UniteBoston’s first big concert since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Taking place on September 17th in downtown Boston, this concert is the opportunity for Christians to come together in a public place to worship.

We have an incredible line-up of Boston-based artists who are performing – Meet them below to hear why they are excited about the concert, and find links to follow them on their media platforms!

You can also hear a little bit about the concert and the music being performed by Jalen Williams and Jen Aldana from this Instagram Live session that took place on Friday.

Jen Aldana

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Doully Yang

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Caleb McCoy

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Ada Betsabe

Jalen Williams

Join us to support Boston-based artists and to hear great jams that are glorifying God filling the heart of the city!

By Alexis Monroe

“Together Again” is UniteBoston’s first big concert since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Taking place on September 17th in downtown Boston, this concert is the opportunity for Christians to come together in a public place to worship. Not only that, we also get to help the city of Boston get a glimpse of what a diverse and loving Christian community looks like – This is why we would like everyone who has a heart to see Boston glorify God to come worship with us!

My name is Alexis Monroe and I’ve had the privilege of working behind the scenes to help facilitate the logistics for the concert – and today I’d like to share with you some reasons why you should attend!

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Reason #1: It’s going to be a big reunion!

Over the last two years, we have not been able to gather as a large body of Christians due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While this kept us physically safe, at times, this isolation and social distance brought on feelings of loneliness. “Together Again” is the perfect opportunity to reclaim the feelings of joy, love, and embrace that we find when we are gathered as a community of believers. This year’s concert is a great opportunity to meet up with old friends, stumble upon a work colleague walking through the park, or meet another fellow Christian who also wants to feel and share the love of Christ. 

Reason #2: There’s going to be great music!

We have an incredible line-up of Boston-based artists who are performing, including the Christian hip-hop artists Caleb McCoy & Jalen Williams, the deep soul music of Jen Aldana, rich guitar jams from Doully Yang, and the bilingual rap revivalist Ada Betsabe. This year, we also have a community choir with the core of “God’s Chosen” from Gordon College, as well as our usual united worship band. Join us to support Boston-based artists and to hear great jams that are glorifying God filling the heart of the city!

Reason #3: Boston needs to see the love of Jesus Christ

The Bible says that Christians are a light set on a hill that all the world needs to see (Mt 5:14) – So let’s let our light shine! As our society continues to be divided, love can often seem intangible, but as believers in Jesus Christ, we know the love of God is always around us. “Together Again” is the chance for us to show Boston that love comes in all shapes, sizes, races, ethnicities, abilities, and languages. While we worship and praise our God, the light we hold will shine brightly through the city. We invite you to help us shine this light. 

Reason #4: We have giveaways to help you stay “Together Again”

Our “Together Again” concert is not just about being together for this one night, but we also want to provide you with opportunities to experience the joy of community with some amazing giveaways! All of our giveaways are activities you can do with someone else. Whether that’s learning how to roller skate at Chez Vous with a buddy, grabbing a matching tee or hoodie from Hope Design, a group workout session with a friend, or a photoshoot with your bestie, our giveaways will help you do something new with someone you love. You can enter to win one of these giveaways by RSVPing on our Facebook page and commenting on our giveaway posts.

Reason #5: We get to be a church without walls

As a body of believers, we often meet within buildings in cities and places we are familiar with, but may be unfamiliar and foreign to someone who has never attended church. When we worship in public places, it gives people who normally would not step into a church building the opportunity to witness authentic worship. With a variety of musical performance styles, a diverse band and community choir, as well as community tables with churches and organizations throughout the city, this is a great way for some people to see Christianity!

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Please join us for the concert and help to spread the word! You can RSVP here via Facebook to receive notifications and enter special giveaways we have just for you. – Local organizations and businesses are also invited to host a Sponsored Table during our fall concert to help connect with all the people who attend!

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This is a book about how to equip young people to navigate school, career, and life with joy and excellence. The first step to doing this job well as parents, educators, or life mentors is to know ourselves. We have to be students of ourselves—by learning who we are, where we came from, what we believe, and where these beliefs came from. How we raise and guide our people is deeply influenced by our own stories. If we’re aware of the core values and scripts that were passed on to us from our families of origin, we can be compassionate toward ourselves—understanding our knee-jerk reactions to our students and their life choices. We can be intentional about what we choose to pass on to the next generation. This has been true for us, as you’ll see from our stories.

Belle’s story: I am the middle daughter of first- generation Chinese immigrants who, like their compatriots, sacrificed heroically so that my brothers and I could get an education in the United States. My father borrowed the little money his sister had to come to the United States to pursue his graduate degree on a student visa. This decision came with another, more significant cost: leaving behind his wife and six- week- old firstborn child, my brother. It was two years before they were reunited on American soil. My mother abandoned her career aspirations when she arrived in the United States, leaving her family and home to live in the United States to pursue his graduate degree on a student visa. This decision came with another, more significant cost: leaving behind his wife and six- week- old firstborn child, my brother. It was two years before they were reunited on American soil. My mother abandoned her career aspirations when she arrived in the United States, leaving her family and home to live in a country where she struggled to work, communicate, and feel a sense of belonging.

She pushed through language barriers to befriend neighbors, so I would have neighborhood playdates. She clipped coupons, so I could buy trendy clothes. All of this probably helped me fit in with the popular kids at my affluent suburban high school. My parents relished the thought that I was a teacher’s pet, two-time homecoming princess, student leader in clubs, class government officer, and a graduation speaker at the John F. Kennedy Center. These “achievements” were shamelessly evoked at afternoon tea with the aunties, because they satisfied every-one’s expectations for me. They were proud that I “fit in” so well.

All their dreams and efforts to make ends meet were fueled by hopes that my brothers and I could achieve more. They expected that we would. It was never a question of “whether I would go to college,” it was a matter of where I went and what I did there to become “successful.” I internalized the cultural value that the point of education was to achieve financial security and respect in society. Like other “first-gen” people, we bought into Horatio Alger’s myth that if you worked hard, you could achieve the American dream, not only for yourself, but to validate your parents’ sacrifices. All of this prepared me to be the most successful student I could be. A rule-following, risk-averse, people-pleasing success. I was the opposite of Cheryl Strayed in the wild, driven by a free spirit to conquer the dangers of the Pacific Crest Trail. My ambition was to take the safest path to financial security and prestige.

I had gleaned from my upbringing that there were certain careers that were especially acceptable. Doctor, lawyer, engineer. I later realized that these were actually the acceptable choices for boys, but that there were alternatives for girls.

Up to this point, whenever faced with a big decision about school, work, and life at large, I asked myself: “What should I do?” Often, the answer that felt right to me was the one that matched the expectations of those around me. After two years of bouncing around multiple majors in the hard sciences and internships in health fields, a well- meaning auntie offered me this career guidance: “Don’t work so hard, you’ll prematurely age and lose your beauty. Just take good care of your hair and skin (your best assets), marry a doctor, and you’ll be fine.”

Imagine how those words landed on an American college woman. Yep, just the nudge I needed to begin listening more closely to my own heart. And trusting the wisdom and direction that could be found there. The women in my life were smart and competent, while content to sit in the back seat. Few were trailblazers, civic leaders, public speakers. With the most honorable intentions, they sacrificed personal goals and de-rived their identities from others. I realized that the standard- bearers I had followed were no longer a perfect match with my own journey. My spiritual-faith adventure provided fresh insight and courage for rewrit-ing the script, following my call.

When I announced to the family that I planned to pursue a career as a psychologist, it was as if I had announced that I was dropping out of college. Had I thought this through? Could I get a job doing such a thing? They saw a huge distinction between doctors who focused on people’s mental health versus those who treated their physical health. But they comforted themselves thinking girls shouldn’t work too hard, and that I would be fine as long as I married a real doctor, who could take care of me.

My transformation continued during graduate school, where I met a mentor and role model who believed in me and nurtured my creativity and confidence. She introduced me to community psychology, a field focused on addressing systemic injustices and partnering with disadvan-taged and marginalized people. I felt such a sense of mission . . . Here was a way that my values, strengths, and skills aligned with meaningful work that could make a difference in the world.

I need to say that as I write this, I am so genuinely grateful to my cultural roots, family, and mentors for watering the seeds of my purpose today. At the same time that there are cultural and moral virtues to my story that I deeply cherish (like respect for your elders and sacrifice for others), there are imperfections. And all of it inspires my current work. I see that while the world is progressing, stories like mine reflect an ongoing ethos that reaches beyond the immigrant experience. In hundreds of our research interviews and surveys, adolescents (and their parents) lamented: “I’m living someone else’s life. I don’t know who I really am and what I’m really living for, apart from others’ expectations of me.” Similarly, I’d been basing my identity on what others told me about myself when I was a child. Trying to mold myself into someone’s stereotype of me left me exhausted and confused. But as my understanding of who I am came into sharper focus during my later college and adult years, this understanding became my guide. It continues to shape what I value and believe, and how I feel, act, and connect. Brené Brown calls this embracing of who you really are true belonging:

True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.

She goes on to say: “True belonging is not something that you need to negotiate externally, it’s what you carry in your heart.”* This internal belonging, this sense of understanding who I was—what I stood for, what I had to offer in the world—began to free me from the need for external approval. It’s been a glorious adventure to discover my innermost being, and to realize that what I’ve turned up there can meet a great need in the world.

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This past weekend, UniteBoston hosted about twenty-five BIPOC friends on an retreat to Spectacle Island to take a break from the demanding work of reconciliation, justice and racial dynamics and instead be renewed, recharge and reconnect with other likeminded people who are “doing the work” in their various communities. Read the blog below to hear UniteBoston’s Communications Administrator Rev. Devlin Scott answer questions about this “circle of restoration” retreat and its impact!

Why did you organize this retreat day?

When Rev. Kelly and I read Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil’s book Roadmap to Reconciliation 2.0 earlier this year, the part that stood out to me was how she added the “restoration cycle” to her new book to acknowledge that people of color need restoration to be a part of their journey of reconciliation. UniteBoston wanted to support the BIPOC community by acknowledging that they are constantly doing the work of reconciliation and embodying the tension of living and working in a racialize society. And to respond to the BIPOC community by providing space to “renew, reconnect and recharge.” 

Circles of Restoration are intentional spaces created for the BIPOC community who are weary from the ongoing battle of working for reconciliation to get away for self-care, solitude, and connection in community.

What did the day entail?

This group of justice seekers, cultural drivers and Gospel bearers, traveled out to Spectacle Island for the day to enjoy beachside fun, private massages, food and fellowship with their peers. We even got to enjoy a hiphop dance competition happening on the island at the same time as our visit.

The time on the island started with a devotional that I had put together on laying down our burdens. I reflected on how Jesus willingly displayed His humanity when he dropped the cross on his way to Calvary. This gives us validation that sometimes this cross is too heavy to bear and it also shows that it is okay to put it down at times along this journey. I also ended the day encouraging the group to pick up their cross again and return back to the work set before us knowing that His grace is sufficient for each of us and we all must bear our cross as we have been given the ministry of reconciliation.

Attendees enjoyed time with the group; feeling affirmed in who they are and the shared experience of the work of reconciliation. We also enjoyed solitude time on our own to reflect, pray and recharge.

We closed the evening with food from Brato — a taco and burrito place on the island and attendees were able to pick from a table full of restorative items; soaps, journals, gift cards, etc — all from black owned businesses. And although we had an amazing time on the island — the ferry ride back was the best way to top off the evening; complete with a DJ and party put on my the hiphop dance competition participants.

What did the attendees think of the retreat?

• “It was so refreshing to get out of the city and be on an island!”

• “The devotional was spot-on; it was a great reminder to lay my burdens down and give them to God.”

• “I’m leaving here feeling lighter and encouraged in the work that I’m doing.”

• “The music was so culturally relevant!”

• “I had some great conversations and people I’m excited to get to know better. I am coming away with a sense of solidarity of all those who are on a similar journey of faith and action.”