UniteBoston

Nurturing Relational Connections Across Boston's Christian Community

10 Days Boston Praise Report

With Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical, and Taize services, the denominations of host churches for this year’s 10 Days Boston evening gatherings was more diverse than ever before. There were 19 different churches present the first night in Cambridge! Additionally, the Indian gathering brought together five different Indian people groups for the first time!

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18 churches represented at the first night in Cambridge

With this diversity, though, comes the difficulty of defining the unity we share in Christ. The 10 Days theme that we chose this year was “One Heart” – When Jesus prays that we would be one as He is one, what does that mean? Who is involved in this oneness?

At one of the evening gatherings, I was sitting down for a time of fellowship, and one of the women asked me what my home church was. I told her that it was an evangelical church called Journey Church in Harvard Square. She turned to another lady at the table and asked, “Is she a Christian?” and then they spoke in five minutes in another language before determining that yes, I was.

This was an external example of the question that I believe we all are wrestling with. Is this denomination really following Jesus? Is this person really “saved?” Who is “in” and who is “out?”

But perhaps this is the wrong question for us to be asking. In engaging with brothers and sisters of different Christian streams, I believe our approach towards one another should be filled with grace and love rather than suspicion or judgement. We should seek to learn and understand, by asking “Who have you put your trust in?” and “What is your relationship with Jesus like?”

The bible describes that the unity we share in Christ as a unity not of doctrine but of Spirit (Eph. 4:3, 1 Cor 12:7, Phil 1:27). When I started to think about it, I’ve discovered that any two individuals don’t agree completely due to the nuances of theological understandings.

As Rev. JP Robins and the Northern Suburbs team grappled with the question: “What unites us and who do we unite with?” they determined that “We are one with whoever confesses ‘Jesus as Lord.’”

Yes, what makes us one is our revelation of Christ – our acknowledgement that before Him we are all desperate for His redeeming grace.

We must never lose the centrality of Jesus in our quest for unity because He is the only one who unites us.

Other testimonies

There’s truly nothing like getting to spend time with God, and one man who was able to join us for the majority of the daytime gatherings, remarked, “That was the best week of my life.”

A young couple was so inspired by the 10 Days vision after the first night in Cambridge that they traveled around the city every evening, making it to eight of the 10 Days gatherings with their young one-year-old son.

Here is a video clip from one of our morning worship sessions out in front of Harvard University. As you can see, God really released His joy over us and many students came to join in the dance!
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At the last gathering of 10 Days Boston, we stood in front of a wall of windows overlooking Boston to make declarations over the city. We also divided into groups and shared about how God was working among our various communities.

1959231_10100212600668633_1838693138212938728_n Worshipping and praying over the city of Boston

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Night 2 – Pastors in the Northern Suburbs uniting in prayer

Night 4 – Praising God at the Indian gathering in Natick

Taize group photo

Night 5 – UniteBoston friends coming together for the Taize prayer gathering at Trinity Church

Many were blessed to engage in the contemplative Taize prayer for the first time

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Connecting with God at the Fenway gathering on Night 7

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Night 9 – Father Dimitri explains about the history of the Orthodox Church

Daytime prayer at Harvard University

We praise God for the work that He has done to unite followers of Jesus during 10 Days Boston this year. We also celebrate the many other unity-minded initiatives that are bringing together the body of Christ in Greater Boston.

May God continue to bind us together to proclaim that Jesus is Lord over Boston!

What If A City Stopped and Prayed? Join us for 10 Days Boston

Ten Days is an opportunity to set apart a season of seeking God together as the wider Body of Christ, and doing so in a way that moves us beyond the walls of our own local churches, our own denominations, and our own ethnic groups.

What if a city stopped and prayed?
Learn more about the vision behind 10 Days in the video playlist below with 10 Days founder Jonathan Friz

Get involved!

There are many ways for you to get involved with 10 Days Boston:

1. Join Christians throughout the city for the nighttime gatherings.
Attending the evening gatherings is a great way to put your “foot in the door” and see what the ten days is all about.

2. Join us for worship and prayer during the daytime prayer sets Prayer and worship is happening at various times and locations throughout the city, so there is plenty of opportunity to get involved! Whether you work during the day or at night, whether you live in Cambridge or Roxbury, the ten days is taking place in your neighborhood.

3. Tell your friends!
Download the promotional materials to print and distribute to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ

Acts 4:32 says “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.” Yes, Lord, let it be so!

Until we are one,

—
Kelly Steinhaus

Team Leader, UniteBoston
www.uniteboston.com

God is Uniting Boston with a Nationwide Prayer Movement!

This morning in my time of prayer, I was struck by the words “At that time, people began to call on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26).

I believe we are entering into a time where the Lord is inviting us to call on His name.

These past four months, a team has been forming to prepare and plan for 10 Days Boston, an opportunity to set apart a season of seeking God together as the wider of body of Christ, in such a way that moves us beyond the walls of our own local churches, denominations, and ethnic groups.

We have an exciting line-up of churches this year, including a diverse variety of geographical gatherings (Cambridge, Jamaica Plain, Fenway, Suburbs) ethnic groups (Indian, Korean) and denominational streams (Catholic, Orthodox, Taize, and Evangelical).

This year’s 10 Days takes place from September 24 to October 4 – Mark your calendars and check out the full schedule here: www.10daysboston.com

Also, click here to watch an update video by Kelly Steinhaus about 10 Days Boston.

But that’s not all we have to be excited about. God is uniting hearts on a national scale! We are in a season where God is stirring hearts all around the nation to the place of prayer. Jonathan Friz, founder of 10 Days, is calling it “Divine Convergence.”

The Call Berkeley, Portland’s “Seven” movement, and 40 Days of Hope are all scheduled to end on October 4th – the same ending day for the 10 days of prayer! What a delight to see how the Holy Spirit has coordinated our schedules!

Convergences like these point to the fact that God is at work and to emphasize the importance of the call and the timing. We believe that God is calling us to unite these movements and form a bridge from West Coast to East Coast – here are some ways as to how you can do that.

Please prayerfully consider:

1. Joining in a nation-wide, 40-day fast from August 26 to October 4th with the 40 Days of Hope

2. Attend one of the six times weekly prayer sets that are taking place at the Justice House of Prayer in Cambridge

3. Come out to the daytime prayer and evening gatherings during 10 Days Boston, beginning on September 24th and concluding at the Boston Night of Worship at Lion of Judah Church on October 4th

God is up to great things – It’s a pleasure and an honor to take part in His kingdom coming in Boston with you!

—–

Kelly Steinhaus

UniteBoston Team Leader

Special thanks to our friends at the Emmanuel Gospel Center for sponsoring this year’s 10 Days Boston!

Click on this link to watch a playlist of all the updates for 10 Days this year!

NateDesignStuff: Helping Churches to Better Reach The Community

Last week, I had the opportunity to meet with Gabriel Smith, one of the founders of Nate Design Stuff. Read the article below to learn how Gabriel and his brother Nate are helping churches to better communicate their message to the community through design, web, and media development.
-Kelly Steinhaus, UniteBoston Team Leader


Gabriel and Nate grew up as pastor’s kids in Lynn, and were passionate about the latest technology even as young adults. Yet they began to notice one thing: many churches weren’t utilizing websites and social media effectively. In mid 2000s, their own church had a consistent weekly attendance of about sixty but only an ad in the newspaper and phone book.

“We realized that if you’re not reaching the community, you’re not really doing anything,” said Gabe. “When we revamped our church’s website, we saw our congregation become a tighter-knit family. If you weren’t in church on Sunday morning, you could still hear the sermon and submit a prayer request online.”

A tighter community also bred more effective evangelism. In the days following the website revamping, the church was better able to get the word out to the community and grew in numbers. “Having a quality website today is so crucial to help churches grow and improve communication. It expresses the heart and vision of the church in a way that is easily accessible.”

Finally, Gabe had a few words to share with the Christian community in Boston: “Go Red Sox! No, there’s a lot of people that don’t know God or love; they aren’t in that relationship that won’t let them down. We’re here to help churches communicate this love and passion to the community.”

As you can see, Gabe and Nate are really onto something – as we all can improve our ability to reach the community. NateDesignStuff has a variety of plans and services to bless the Christian community. They are offering a special deal for UniteBoston subscribers. If you mention that you saw this on UniteBoston, they will give you 15% off.


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