BCNE News
The latest news from our network of New England churches. Looking for our New England Perspectives Articles? Click here.
New England Hispanic Churches Launch Mission Partnership in Spain
Momentum continues in the partnership between the Baptist Churches of New England and the International Mission Board in Europe. This began with a request from IMB Vice President John Brady, who believes that New England churches are best suited to help in Europe because New England and European Baptist churches have similar postmodern ministry contexts.
Boston Church Planter now IMB Euro Missionary: An interview with Dan Byrd
Boston-region church planters, Dan and Tara Byrd, now serve as IMB Church Planting Catalysts in Manchester, England. They are well known and loved by many New England pastors. Sam Taylor, BCNE Global Engagement Mobilizer, asked them to report on their work in the UK.
Grace Harbor Church, New Bedford: A Gospel beachhead on the South Coast
Located between Cape Cod and Providence, the SouthCoast region of Massachusetts has a population of approximately 350,000. Its largest city is New Bedford. Once home to 500 whaling ships, New Bedford became the wealthiest city in America and was known as "The City that Lit the World." But, today 18.5% of the people live below the poverty line. And the city that lit the world is now receiving a different kind of light.
The kitchen table: A pastor’s secret weapon
One of the most undervalued tools in a pastor’s toolbox is the exercise of hospitality. When listing the characteristics of those qualified to serve as pastors, the Apostle Paul wrote, “An overseer must be . . . hospitable” (1 Timothy 3:2, ESV, Cf. Titus 1:8). Despite the fact that Scripture makes hospitality mandatory, many pastors seldom use their home as a venue for ministry.
Greater Boston: The most Irish city in America
Among New England's many historical points of interest, one of its most poignant is the Irish Famine Memorial located in a small park on the corner of Washington and School Streets in downtown Boston. Cast bronze sculptures depict two Irish families: one emaciated and clothed in rags, starving to death from the famine caused by potato blight that began in 1845, and another family healthy, well-dressed, and prosperous, representing the estimated 100,000 Irish who escaped the famine by sailing to the port of Boston.
Prideful pastors
". . . All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5)
Far beyond any rival, it was the most glaring example of pastoral pride I had ever seen. A pastor invited me to attend a special service to celebrate his ministry anniversary. He invited a long list of community and denominational leaders. Even the mayor and his entourage showed up.
The value of a human soul
Back in 2014, Antiques Road Show came to Boston and a woman brought in a collection of baseball cards to be appraised. She explained that back in 1871 her great-great-grandmother operated a boarding house and provided housing for the newly established Boston Red Stockings. Her great-great-grandfather collected a baseball card from each player and she had a signed note from each one, including future hall-of-famers, Harry and George Wright and Albert Spaulding. The collection had sentimental value, but she had no idea of its actual worth. The professional appraiser, commented that it was the greatest archive that she had ever appraised for the show and estimated the collection was worth at least one-million dollars!
My three biggest ministry mistakes
“Learn from the mistakes of others: You can't live long enough to make them all yourself,” Eleanor Roosevelt.
Looking back over thirty-five years of ministry, I’ve made a few mistakes. (OK, more than just a few.) Thankfully, along the way, I learned from my mistakes and discovered how to be a better pastor. Here are my three biggest ministry mistakes and the lessons I’ve learned from them:
The surprising power of encouragement
Encourage (verb): to help someone feel confident and able to do something; to inspire or motivate.
One of New England’s mission partners, Dean Anderson, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Woodbury, Tennessee, wrote about the power of encouragement: “I recently heard about a man whose paperboy landed the newspaper on the driveway about 75% of the time, and in the wet grass the other 25%. The man wrote a note thanking him for being so accurate and so often hitting the driveway. And from that day forward he never found another newspaper in the grass!” Pastor Dean understands the surprising power of an encouraging word: Recognizing and affirming when people do something well, motivates them to do even better.
Three keys to keeping long-term mission partners
There’s no doubt about it, energetic volunteer mission teams are one of the best resources to give a boost to your church’s ministry. Every year scores of churches, mostly from the South, send teams to New England. Unfortunately, some of these do just one project and never return, while others come back year after year and accomplish an enormous amount of good. What is the difference?
Feeling cared for and staying connected during the pandemic
Health officials predict it will be several more months before social-distancing restrictions can be lifted and life can return to normal. In the meantime, people everywhere, including church members, struggle with pandemic fatigue. Faithful shepherds of God’s people must remain vigilant during the remaining months of this protracted pandemic.
In a recent meeting of Greater Boston pastors, we asked the question: What are you doing to help your people feel cared for and stay well-connected during the pandemic? Here are some helpful insights from these church leaders.
Fruitful ministry hides in plain sight
It’s like searching everywhere for your glasses while wearing them on your head, or looking for your cell phone while holding it in your hand: sometimes we overlook fruitful places of ministry located right in front of us. You could say they are hidden in plain sight.
Come over to Europe and help us
The Bible records how the Gospel was first preached in Europe. While on his second missionary journey, Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia (modern Northern Greece), who called out to him, “Come over and help us!” And Luke the physician, wrote, “. . .we immediately looked for a way to go to Macedonia, because we were convinced that God had called us to tell the people there the good news.” (Acts 16:10)
Seven fast facts about New England for volunteer mission teams
According to the 2017 Gallup Poll, New England is the least religious region in America. In fact, Gallup found that the four least religious states in American are all located in New England: Vermont is the least religious, then Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. According to the Barna Group, the five most post-Christian cities in America are all located in New England: Springfield, Massachusetts; Portland, Maine; Providence, Rhode Island; Burlington, Vermont; and Boston, Massachusetts. There is no place in America in greater spiritual need than New England. That is why mission teams like yours are so important! Thank you for being mission partners with us in New England!
Pestilence: A timely sermon I never expected to preach
In a lifetime of ministry, I never imagined I would ever preach a sermon about pestilence. But I’ve changed my mind. People everywhere have riveted their attention to the Coronavirus epidemic and I don’t know what subject could be more relevant right now. I have a hunch that other preachers agree. So here is a short sermon I never expected to preach.
How should Christians treat illegal immigrants?
Caravans of migrants marching toward our southern border. President Trump promising to build a wall. Sanctuary cities refusing to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Politicians calling to decriminalize the illegal crossing of US borders. Congress’s frustrating failure to reform immigration laws, making a path to citizenship next to impossible for the 11.1 million illegal immigrants currently living in the US.
These events have pressed upon us a question that evangelicals need to answer: How should our churches treat the people who live in our communities without legal status?
Ethnic churches and the challenge of reaching second-generation Americans
Approximately 50% of BCNE churches in Greater Boston are ethnic churches. And God is at work among them. In fact, some of the largest churches in Boston happen to be Asian, African-American and Haitian! Very impressively, most of the pioneers who planted these churches did so without the benefits of special training, financial support or church partnerships that many church planters receive today. Ethnic churches in Greater Boston are robust, and continue to multiply. I love attending the worship gatherings and enjoy having fellowship with the gifted pastors who lead these churches. Yet there is a unique, life-or-death challenge that virtually every ethnic church pastor faces: the challenge of reaching second-generation Americans.
The case for multiethnic churches in Boston
For 10 years I served as the pastor of a church in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. It was an historic church, located in an affluent neighborhood where military families and federal employees lived. And it was almost completely Caucasian. The neighborhood, however, gradually changed. Different ethnic groups moved in and church attendance began to decline.