Boston Partnership E-Update
July 2006
Dear Friends,
Well, it's official! We're pleased to announce the name of our church as REUNION CHRISTIAN CHURCH. I ran across the idea a few years ago in a Brian McLaren book and thought it would make a great name for a church. There were a few other possibilities, but we kept coming back to REUNION. We ran it past our launch team and friends here in Boston, prayed about it, and the rest is history!
REUNION is taken from Luke chapter 15. It reflects the moment of the prodigal son returning home, the moment of lost people being found. That's what we want our church to be about. We want to have the same missional heart as our Heavenly Father. And we pray our name will be a constant reminder of our mission of helping people finding their way back to God.
We hope you like it. I know we do.
Thank you for your prayers and support,
Hank, Mike, John, and Phil
Busy July!
Less than three months now...
June and July have been busy and the next few months promise more of the same as we ramp up for our launch on October 15th. Here's a brief update:
Small groups meet weekly and we gather monthly with our Launch Community (people aligning themselves with the church) to talk about the vision and future of the church.
Missions teams from New York and Illinois helped us pray for the city, serve organizations in Boston, work on the Brown's home and survey people in the Fenway neighborhood. We continue to ask about the needs of the community and how a church should respond.
We had a cookout to spend time as a community, inviting friends, neighbors and coworkers.
Hank spoke and our band led music three weekends in July, twice for New England churches in the Restoration House Ministry network.
This weekend was John and Anisha's wedding. Anisha has been living in Missouri, so we are all excited that she will join us here in Boston (especially John).
On July 16th, we held our first "preview service". We hope the experience will teach us how we can improve our launch and what roles need to be filled to care for the people God sends our way.
It is a lot of fun...and a lot of hard work. Thanks for making it all possible!
The Movement
Meet Karen Brown
We would like to introduce you to Karen Brown, Mike's wife. Karen had served as a Children's Ministry Director at Community Christian Church in Illinois for over five years before making the move to Boston with her family. She has assisted with the church administratively and will direct Children's and Family Ministries in Boston. We are thankful for her gifts and dedication.
How has the transition to Boston gone?
The transition has gone better than I expected. Boston has quickly become home, although I certainly miss friends and family. There are a few things I'm not sure I'll ever quite understand about New England...like the traffic rotaries. Whose idea were those?
What are you most excited about as launch approaches?
The opportunity to be a part of something so much bigger than myself...something that could truly change the spiritual climate in Boston. It is evident that God is already working here and I am excited about the people He will bring through our doors.
There are significant numbers of single people and families without kids in Boston, so why are Children's and Family Ministries so important?
One of our church values is unity. Our vision is that the entire church works together to support parents in their efforts to raise Godly children. We hope to help the men & women in our community become good husbands and wives and then some day, good parents and leaders of their own kids. I would love to be a multi-generational church with many role models for Aiden & Miles...other kids, students, singles, parents and grandparents.
What is your favorite thing in the city?
I love the Public Gardens next to Boston Commons. The trees and flowers are so beautiful and it has the pond with the swan boats. A perfect place to walk off dinner in the city. Ooh...and of course, Mike's Pastries in the North End. The chocolate dipped cannolies are to die for!
Prayer...
Your prayers are critical to the life and mission of the church. Thank you! This month, please pray for...
- blessings on John and Anisha's marriage (their wedding was July 21st) and for Anisha's transition to Boston.
- direction regarding facilities for offices and gatherings.
- opportunities for spiritual discussions amongst friends, neighbors and coworkers.
- growth within our Launch Community.
- direction on how we might generously reach out to the city of Boston and its people.
"God would never choose for us safety at the cost of significance. God created you so that your life would count, not so that you could count the days of your life."
-Erwin McManus, The Barbarian Way
Lucky 13!!!
We are excited to share that our ministry partner (and the home church of the Wilsons and Browns), Community Christian Church, was recently named the 13th most influential church in the United States. The honor was recently included in The Church Report's list of the 50 Most Influential Churches. It has been amazing to see how God is blessing the vision and mission of our mentors!
