By Tim Hawkins
“I know Catholic, Baptist, and Lutheran, but what is just Christian?”
The professor, teaching a course in public policy at Harvard, stumbled through an explanation, “Well, that is a group of churches like the Disciples of Christ and others that have churches mostly in Indiana and Kentucky.”
Listening to this conversation just a few weeks ago made me realize the difficulty others have in putting the Christian church piece into their puzzle of modern denominations in the United States.
While the professor”s characterization of the Christian churches seems oversimplified, the people of New England would agree.
Dan Clymer, executive director of Restoration House Ministries, says only 24 Christian churches exist in six states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut (this is up from only 10 churches in 2000). Just a few years ago there was not a single Christian church in Boston or Cambridge, Massachusetts, even though this metropolitan area is home to Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts, Boston College, Brandeis, and more than 50 other colleges. There are 300,000 college students within an hour”s drive (when the traffic cooperates).
Churches of the Restoration Movement traditionally begin campus ministries as regional or statewide efforts. However, the lack of Christian churches is a huge obstacle in taking the gospel to the influential campuses in the Northeast. When presidents, members of Congress, and other world shapers attend these colleges, it”s obvious the gospel needs to have a vital presence.
This opportunity is even more compelling when one considers the 50,000 students from foreign countries who come to Boston each year to study. Many of them will return to their homeland as a head of state or prominent leader.
Mission, Not Denomination
Short-term mission trips and prayer walks began in Boston in 2002. As participants were flying home, many couldn”t help but ask, “If college ministry is worth doing anywhere, shouldn”t it be done in Boston?”
The question was evidence of a newly forming missionary vision. Campus Crusade for Christ and InterVarsity, the two largest campus ministries in Boston, both estimate only about 1 percent of the student population is involved in a college ministry in Boston. Louis Giglio, director of the Passion Conference, recently initiated an effort to move thousands of college students to Boston to reach the city with the gospel and plant college churches. Research shows 90-95 percent of Greater Boston does not attend church.
In fall 2005, a team of workers moved to Boston to plant a campus ministry called Sojourn Collegiate Ministry. What we didn”t know was that God had already been at work bringing church-planting partners to Boston through Restoration House Ministries in New Hampshire and NewThing Network in Chicago. New friendships were immediately forged as we shared common vision of church planting and reaching the campuses throughout Boston and New England.
Curt Nordhielm, director of cross-cultural ministries at Restoration House, explains the impact of the mission: “Being a “˜light on a hill” in this city will have impact far beyond its immediate area.”
From Isolation to Collaboration
As Christians rediscover the beauty of collaboration among churches, mission organizations, and church planters, new doors open throughout the nation, especially Boston. Ministries partnering together are so much more effective in reaching out to a lost and seeking city. New church efforts, campus ministries, and inner-city missions can help each other impact a region.
On February 18, Reunion Christian church held its first worship service as the only independent Christian church in Boston. College students played an important part in prelaunch community gatherings and college groups. They spent weeks inviting their friends to capture the vision of helping people find their way back to God.
And now students are starting college-aged community groups and serving in Sunday worship services. Committed students are now working together with an art outreach to share the gospel in impoverished neighborhoods in Boston. So much more can be accomplished through working together!
As a campus minister I”m thrilled to see students take ownership in this mission. Matt, a political science major at Suffolk University, recently began ending his e-mails to me, “Your friend in the bunker” because, in his words, “he”s in.” Matt and his fiancé, Joanna, plan to move back to Providence this summer to be married and help when church planting makes its way to Providence.
Countless stories could be told of students seeing themselves involved in a dynamic mission. They don”t see their role as church planters or campus ministry pioneers, but as ambassadors taking the gospel to a region through every means possible.
Psalm 34:3 says, “Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.” Sojourn and Reunion read that verse with a capital T in “Together.” Sojourn Collegiate Ministry is more than just a campus ministry on a campus in the city, and Reunion Christian church is more than a church in a city of hundreds of thousands of university students. We share the dream and mission of reaching the New England states with the saving message of Jesus. Local collaboration and a common mission of helping people find their way back to God is giving us a fresh reason to exalt the Lord”s name . . . together.
Tim Hawkins serves as regional director/campus minister with Sojourn Collegiate Ministry in the New England states.
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