Church Landscape Review: Pastoring Under Pressure

Church Landscape Review: Pastoring Under Pressure

In the last 10 years, pastors have faced unprecedented challenges in shepherding their congregations. Even veteran pastors admitted they had never seen anything like this during their ministerial careers. 

During the pandemic, almost half of pastors nationwide considered leaving full-time ministry. 

What about pastors in Boston? How many hours a week do they work? What kind of support do they prefer? What type of training do they use to develop other church leaders? What questions would they like to ask other pastors? 

The Emmanuel Gospel Center’s Applied Research team explored difficult questions like these in a study of pastors of new churches in the Boston area from 2014 to 2024. In “Pastoring Under Pressure,” the team analyzed key trends and critical challenges facing these leaders. The report also includes recommendations as well as reflection questions for pastors and church leaders.

This report is part of the larger 2024 Church Landscape Review, a study of newer church communities in the Boston area over 10 years. We will publish the Applied Research team’s findings in a series of reports to be released periodically throughout 2025:

• Executive Summary Report 

• Changing Faces of Faith

• Pastoring Under Pressure

• Evolving Vision*

• Open Doors in Boston*

• Church Sustainability*

*Titles are subject to change.

If the Black Church were to disappear, who would miss it?

(Clockwise from top left: wwing, wwing, timeless, MCCAIG, all via Getty Images)

If the Black Church were to disappear, who would miss it?

“If the Black Church were to disappear, who would miss it?”

That’s the overarching question Jaronzie Harris and her team led with as they began a data-driven study of the Black Church in Boston.

The team tried to answer a series of questions: “Who’s in the Church? What are they doing? How’s the Church doing? How many churches do we have? What are these Black Christians even thinking about or talking about? Do they even talk to each other?”

Jaronzie Harris, Director, Black Church Vitality Project. Emmanuel Gospel Center

In partnership with several organizations, Harris’s efforts helped establish the Black Church Vitality Project, an initiative close to her heart as a daughter of the Black Church. 

“My love for the Church really comes out of my love for Black people, Black communities,” Harris told the Emmanuel Gospel Center’s Curious City podcast. “Always having that sense of service and a faith centered in hope and love.” 

The team’s research found there are about 250 Black churches in Boston facing multiple challenges. To leverage their collective strength, Harris sought to bring some of these churches together to build relationships for the betterment of the community. She gathered almost a dozen Black churches in close proximity to each other in four predominantly Black neighborhoods of Boston. 

Together, they looked at the changes taking place in their local communities, how their mission and values might need to change in light of what they’re learning about their neighborhoods, and how their churches can take action.

These topics made for vulnerable conversations. And while not everyone is on the same page, Harris said the desire is there among the churches to work together. 

These meetings and discussions between these churches make for a dynamic, relational process that’s transformative in and of itself. It holds up a mirror for the churches to assess themselves in the immediate context of their neighborhoods and the broader culture they live in. 

“My love for the Church comes from my love for Black people,” Harris said, “so if the Church is not serving the people, then what are we doing?” 

For this and more from Harris’s conversation with Caleb McCoy, listen to the Curious City podcast. 

Apple Podcasts | Podbean | Spotify | YouTube

Church Landscape Review: Changing Faces of Faith

Churches have experienced plenty of change and faced much upheaval over the last 10 years. If you could take a snapshot of your church before and after that period, what would it look like? Would you see any big structural changes? How would the leadership of your church have changed? What about the congregation? 

That’s just what the Applied Research team at the Emmanuel Gospel Center did with a diverse group of newer churches in Boston between 2014 and 2024. 

They looked at things like attendance, leadership, and demographics. Their findings in the “Changing Faces of Faith” report show time left little untouched. The churches in the study had to be creative when it came to finding meeting space, facing a pandemic, and navigating leadership changes.    

This report is part of the larger 2024 Church Landscape Review, a study of newer church communities in the Boston area over 10 years. We will publish the Applied Research team’s findings in a series of reports we will release periodically throughout 2025:

• Executive Summary Report

• Pastoring Under Pressure

• Evolving Vision*

• Open Doors in Boston*

*Titles are subject to change.

Church Landscape Review: Executive Summary Report

In 2014, the Emmanuel Gospel Center (EGC) conducted a research study of over 40 church plants in the Boston area. It involved in-depth interviews with a diverse group of new churches from different denominations, ethnic groups, and networks. While the study focused on women in church leadership, it yielded a treasure trove of information on the church planters and their congregations. 

Ten years later, EGC’s Applied Research team revisited the snapshot the 2014 data had produced and re-interviewed almost two dozen of the original churches. The team wanted to examine any shifts in the church landscape over a challenging and tumultuous period.

The research team gathered their findings in a series of reports we will release periodically throughout 2025. The Executive Summary Report provides a broad introduction to the study along with major data trends. The other reports revolve around four different themes:

• Changing Faces of Faith

• Pastoring Under Pressure

• Evolving Vision*

• Open Doors in Boston*

*Titles are subject to change.

Boston Church Directory

The Boston Church Directory lists Christian churches located within the city limits of Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge.

The Directory may be used for developing relationships between members of Boston's Christian community; referrals; finding a church home; research in church planting; and other scholarly, relational, or spiritual purposes.

Contact Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher

Contact Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher

Where to Plant a Church in Boston: Areas of Growth

Where to Plant a Church in Boston: Areas of Growth

by Rudy Mitchell and Steve Daman

Want to know where to plant a church in Boston? You might consider Boston’s newest or soon-to-be-built residential growth sites. New neighborhoods and new residents mean new opportunities for planting new churches.

Take a look at these eight neighborhoods of current or immanent growth, based on public and private development plans. Given the general population trends, these are priority areas for outreach and new churches.

Map showing plans for potential expanded neighborhoods, from Imagine Boston Expanding Opportunity, City of Boston, Draft November 2016, p. 25

Neighborhood change is ongoing. Boston’s new neighborhood development will not happen all at once. Some areas have residential developments in process or already completed, like the Seaport District, the South End, Jamaica Plain, and to some extent Allston-Brighton. Other areas, like South Boston and Charlestown, already have many new young professionals and some new housing, but much more will be built in the next five years. Other areas, specifically Suffolk Downs and the Beacon Yards part of Allston, will most likely take more than five more years to develop.

Your geographic and demographic focus. Of course, reaching into newer neighborhoods is not for everyone. Ministry leaders should prayerfully select their geographic focus and adapt their strategies to the types of residents they are called to serve. The church in the city can be adapted in countless ways, and church planters can reach and serve a diversity of current and newer residents because the Gospel is for all people. Congregations may—by their form, style, or language—be better equipped to reach specific groups of people with whom they can make the most impact.

Church planters seeking primarily to reach specific immigrant groups like Nigerians, Brazilians, or Vietnamese, for example, need to know where these nationalities are more concentrated. Churches seeking to serve college students need to find meeting space within walking distance of campuses or in reach of public transportation while being sensitive to the needs, concerns and culture of students. Leaders seeking to reach and serve Boston’s new population growth areas will need to take the time to understand the characteristics, cultures, work, and interests of the people who will be living there.

Here’s a look at eight of the bigger residential development areas across the city:

1. Seaport District by the Waterfront. While there are many new high-rise housing and office buildings being built here, there are very few churches in the area.

2. South End. The northeastern and eastern parts of the South End from the Ink Block to the Boston Medical Center between Albany and Washington Streets will soon have hundreds of new apartments and condos which are being planned and built. Will the South End churches be ready?

3. South Boston from Andrew Square to the Broadway MBTA stations. Although still in the future, “Plan: South Boston Dorchester Avenue” calls for 6,000 to 8,000 new housing units. DJ Properties is also building Washington Square, a mixed use development near Andrew Station with 656 residential units. The nearby Widett Circle and New Market/South Bay areas are also potential major development sites proposed by the City of Boston. Currently there are already many new housing units and new residents around Broadway and in South Boston generally. The neighborhood has few Protestant churches.

Nine-building Washington Square Development with 656 residential units approved and to be completed in the next four years.

4. Charlestown – Sullivan Square and other areas. The Sullivan Square area is one of the six main areas the City of Boston has proposed for major housing expansion. Meanwhile the 1,100 units of the Bunker Hill Housing Development will be totally redeveloped into 3,200 units of mixed housing. Charlestown has very few Protestant churches.

Bunker Hill Housing Development Plans

5. Allston Brighton – Beacon Yards. This is one of the six major areas proposed by the City for development into new expanded neighborhoods. The Boston Landing Campus of New Balance is an area with new residential units and Stop & Shop will be building 1,000 new housing units. Other major housing developments are in the works as well.

Boston Landing in Allston near New Balance (NB Development Group and HYM)

Residential development with 295 units for 2018 opening.

6. Roxbury – from Dudley Square area to Ruggles MBTA station. Coming up in the next several years is the recently approved $500M Tremont Crossing development with over 700 apartments. The nearby Whittier St. Housing Project received funding for a full redevelopment into an expanded mixed income development. Other significant residential developments are also in the works, and Northeastern University is expanding in the area with high-rise dorms.

Tremont Crossing, just one mile from EGC

Whittier Choice redevelopment with 387 units of mixed income housing in three new buildings.

Whittier Choice redevelopment near Ruggles Station.

7. Jamaica Plain – Forest Hills Station. This area is booming with several large new housing developments in various stages of planning and completion. Also, the nearby Washington Street corridor recently completed a new (and controversial) plan which includes potential new residential development in addition to what is already being built in the area. Although there are some thriving churches in this area, because there will be so many new residents there is room for more churches not only here, but throughout Jamaica Plain.

The Residences at Forest Hills

8. Suffolk Downs. In the future, this former racetrack will likely become a whole new community. This massive 161-acre site is one of the six major areas proposed by the city for expansion, and was recently purchased by a developer, HYM Investments. This could become one of the largest developments in the whole region.

Planting now for future harvest. As these new communities emerge across the city, the need to plant new congregations should be high on the list for Christians in Boston as we think about the witness and work of the Kingdom of God over the next few decades.

Take Action

Learn more about the City’s plans for housing new residents.

Connect with the Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative.

Neighborhood Chaplaincy: 8 Open Questions

Neighborhood Chaplaincy: 8 Open Questions

By Steve Daman

Neighborhood Chaplaincy is an innovative approach to ministering the love of Jesus in emerging communities. In High-Rise Gospel Presence: A Case for Neighborhood Chaplains, I share why I believe Boston would benefit from neighborhood chaplains. 

But we have more questions than answers. Here are the major issues we believe will need to be addressed on the way to fostering a Neighborhood Chaplaincy movement in Boston.

1. Culture CHANGES

What shifts in spiritual attitudes and lifestyles are happening with the emerging neighborhood demographics of Boston? How do we as the dynamic Church in this city respond, as we yearn to bring the love and life of Jesus to every Bostonian?

2. BEYOND FIRST CONTACT

If we establish physical space in a new neighborhood, what’s next? Do we plant churches out of that space? Or do we exclusively refer people to existing churches?

3. Online Presence

Is a physical space enough? What kind of web- and social media presence will a neighborhood chaplaincy require in order to generate a flow of people seeking services?

4. Funding

From where might a stream of funding for neighborhood chaplaincy be sustainable?

5. Job Requirements

What would be the duties of a neighborhood chaplain? What about credentials? How and where will neighborhood chaplains be trained and certified? Are local seminaries preparing graduates for nontraditional, outside-the-box, Kingdom-of-God building ministry?  

6. Community Relations

How do we sell this idea to a community development enterprise? Of what value is a neighborhood chaplaincy program to a high-rise development complex? Can it be demonstrated that a spiritually and emotionally healthy neighborhood is a better neighborhood and a neighborhood chaplaincy can produce a healthier community?

7. Recruiting

How will we attract those rare individuals whom Mark Yoon envisions would pursue a contemporary church-planting model “built on vulnerability and surrender, and skill on how to engage, and prayer”?

8. What's Happening Now

Is anyone in the Boston area already doing Neighborhood Chaplaincy, or something similar? Are there leaders or groups regularly praying about it? Has anyone begun work towards such a movement?

TAKE ACTION

Are you interested in joining a follow-up discussion with other Christian leaders on the potential for Neighborhood Chaplaincy in Boston?

Inquire

I would like to learn more about Neighborhood Chaplaincy

What Did You Think?

What's Next: My 5 Dreams For Church Planting in Boston

What’s Next: My 5 Dreams for Church Planting in Boston

by Rev. Ralph Kee, Animator, Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative

Where are we headed as the Church in Boston? What might be some goals, dreams, and potential growth points for the Body of Christ in Boston over the next several decades?

As I’ve engaged with the Boston 2030 initiative, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what it means for Christians in the next several decades. Here are my dreams about Boston’s church planting future:

Dream #1: Holistic Churches Multiplying Churches

I see Boston filled with Gospel-permeated, holistic churches.

By holistic churches, I mean those that serve the city with the whole Gospel by ministering to the whole person. I think that’s what God dreams and wants for Boston, because that’s what he wants for all his created people. Paul writes, “God has made known to us the mystery of his will,” and his will is “to bring all things together in Christ, both things in the heavens and things on the earth.” (Eph. 1:9,10)

Boston is staged to grow. I moved to a Boston of 641,000 in 1971. By Boston’s 400th birthday in 2030, the population is expected to jump to 724,000 or more. In light of this growth, we at the Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative have been asking two key questions:  

1.     Where will these new Bostonians live? Whole new neighborhoods are underway to house several thousand people each, all within Boston’s city limits.

Learn More: Where to Plant a Church in Boston: Areas of Growth

2.     Where will these new Bostonians go to church? Will the Church be ready? Who will lead the way to envision new expressions of Church for new Bostonians? The apostolic task of the Church, a leading task from Ephesians 4:11, is to multiply communities of faith—churches multiplying churches. Let’s do it!

Learn More: Multiplying Churches in Boston Now

Dream #2. Both Gentrifiers and Born-Bostonians Playing a Part

I see Gospel-entrenched gentrifiers and neighborhood-based Christian activists together salting the city.

Boston is becoming more and more gentrified. Researchers spot gentrification where census tracts show increases in both home values and in the percentage of adults with bachelor’s degrees. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that in the neighborhood where I’ve lived for 46 years, I too, am a gentrifier.

Today, gentrifiers include young Christian professionals moving into older neighborhoods all over the city to be salt and light, to love their neighbors, to do Jesus-style thinking and living in that neighborhood. These folks can be “entrenched gentrifiers,” incoming residents who, in their own minds and hearts, want to appreciate and have purposeful “attachment to the local meanings, heritage, history and people” they are now living near.

For example, intentional Christian communities—where several families or singles live together in shared commitment to each other and to their neighbors—are flourishing.

Boston’s "Gospel-entrenched gentrifiers", as I call them, are not pioneers, but reinforcements. They join embedded Kingdom builders—second-, third-, and many-generation Bostonians—Christ-followers who are dreaming big dreams for their neighborhoods.

“Boston’s Gospel-entrenched gentrifiers, as I call them, are not pioneers, but reinforcements.”

One such Kingdom builder is Caleb McCoy, a fourth-generation Dorchester resident and EGC’s Development Manager. Caleb has a homegrown knowledge of and love for the city. He says, “I believe my role in the church is to help make the Gospel relevant and personal to people that may not feel that God’s plan applies to them.”

Caleb’s vision is to use his musical and communications gifts to inspire “a revival of young and middle-aged adults, joined together, exemplifying the Gospel through preaching and the arts.”

I am excited about Caleb’s vision. I have a dream that such neighborhood-based Christian activism will be the engine to drive effective ministry today and tomorrow.

Dream #3. Relevant, Hands-On Ministry of Reconciliation

I see today’s Boston’s Kingdom citizens reconnecting what has been severed by sin.

I am dreaming that Boston’s visionary, prophetic Christians will, with God-inspired imagination, help build new communities of faith. These newly imagined churches will demonstrate the Kingdom of God in today’s urban context.

The prophetic task, as I see it, is to cast a vision for a redeemed creation. Empowered by the Spirit of God, today’s prophets can work to reconnect what was disconnected by sin.

When sin entered the world, it entered the whole world—not just the human heart, but the very heart of the created order. Original sin instantly caused four original schisms, (Learn More: The Prophetic Task):

• humanity separated from God

• humanity separated from the created order

• man separated from woman

• people separated from people

What is to be done about these painful schisms? Thankfully, they are all resolved in Christ, as we the Church fulfill the prophetic task! We proclaim the Kingdom of God, and partner with God in his work of connecting, redeeming, healing, and bringing Kingdom-of-God life and peace to every facet of Boston.

Consider the refugees coming to Boston today. What will they find? Will they experience more schism in their torn lives? Or will some neighborhood church in Boston welcome them, embrace them as valued people loved by God, and begin to effectively reverse the curse of schisms in their lives by loving them well? (Learn more: Greater Boston Refugee Ministry).

And if some Boston residents were to observe Christians living in their neighborhood, reversing the curses of the four schisms, would these observers not be more ready to listen to the spoken Gospel message?

Dream #4: The Good News Proclaimed in Boston’s Heart Languages

I believe God is calling evangelists to speak the Gospel in the languages of Boston.

I want to see Boston gifted with many evangelists, men and women who can speak and live out the Gospel in the languages of Boston’s old-timers, of second- and third-generation Southies, or Townies, or Dorchesterites. Who will speak the Gospel to:

• the retired men of South Boston who hang at the coffee shop every day?

• the women who gather at Ramirez Grocery or Rossi Market?

• the generations of men and boys who gather at the corner barbershop?

• the freshmen or grad students at BU or BC or MIT?

• those who speak the 100+ languages of newcomers arriving from the four corners of the earth?

We know the Gospel is two handed: word and deed. We need to do both: preach the Word and do the Gospel.

Today particularly, we need to be careful not to focus only on meeting basic needs and neglect preaching. One follows the other. After neighborhoods see the Gospel in action, I think they will be more ready to have someone fully explain it to them and invite them to believe in Jesus themselves. Show and tell.

Who of those already living in Boston are called to evangelistic preaching in Boston specifically? Who yearns to spend their lives preaching the Gospel in Boston? Do you?

In Romans, Paul asked, “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Rom. 10:14,15)

Dream #5. Church Planters Collaborating Closely

I want to see church planters in Boston thinking of themselves as players on a Boston-wide team.

The Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative started gathering in 2000, and we chose the word “collaborative” intentionally. In the Book of Acts, the story of early church planting, we see nothing but collaborative ministry efforts. One church, one basic team, one overarching goal everyone shared and worked toward—that’s the Acts of the Apostles.

Collaboration is basic to church planting—and so it should be in Boston. I want to see Boston’s church planters meeting face to face, setting shared goals, being mutually accountable and passionately focused.

I imagine church planters setting Boston-wide church-growth and church-planting goals collaboratively. I envision shared strategies to cover ground and to plan over time—setting 6-month, 12-month, 2-year, and 15-year goals.

“How long will it take you to build the wall, Nehemiah?” King Artaxerxes asked (Neh 2:6). Nehemiah, a slave in a foreign land under a tyrant, was the last person in a position to guarantee any purpose-driven time goals. But he did tell Artaxerxes a time goal, because he had to. And they met it—the collaboration of faithful residents working side by side in Jerusalem finished the wall in fifty-two days!

Let’s collaborate, set some prayerful goals, and see the work get done!

To see the full-length article, click here: I’m Dreaming About Boston’s Future—Are You?

TAKE ACTION

So those are my five big church planting dreams for Boston. What do you think? Are you dreaming with me? Dream big! When we get some more ideas, we’ll share them in a future post. Send me an email—I would love to hear from you.

Email Ralph

Email Ralph

Are you a church planter? I invite you to join us at the Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative!

Ralph Kee came to Boston in 1971 to help plant a church emerging out of the Emmanuel Gospel Center’s neighborhood outreach. Starting churches became his clear, lifelong calling. He has since been involved in launching or revitalizing dozens of churches in and around Boston. In 2000, Ralph started the Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative, a peer mentoring fellowship to encourage and equip church planters. Today he spends time mentoring church planters, mostly one-on-one, usually over coffee.

Christianity in Boston 2030: What's The Church's Vision?

Christianity in Boston 2030: What's The Church's Vision?

by Rudy Mitchell and Steve Daman

The City of Boston has released “Imagine Boston 2030,” a comprehensive vision to prepare for an expected population surge by the city’s 400th anniversary in 2030. Can the church articulate a similar vision for what the Kingdom of God could look like in Boston 13 years from now?

“Boston needs dreamers.”

Rev. Ralph Kee, veteran church planter and animator of the Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative at EGC, thinks Boston needs dreamers. “God has a big dream,” he says, “and people have dreams. When people start to share their dreams, that builds enthusiasm.”

THE TASK AHEAD

Imagine Boston 2030 has articulated goals in the social, economic, cultural, and physical realms. Through the Prophet Jeremiah, God instructed exiled Israelites to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Urban Christians can seek the prosperity of our city and the success of these goals, finding ways to join in.

At the same time, we have the privilege and mandate to discern together goals and desires God has for our city.

Population growth alone should get our attention. With significant growth in Boston’s population recently and projected into the future, Boston’s churches will need to consider how to expand their outreach and service, as well as replication into new congregations.

Between 2010 and 2030, Boston could add from 84,000 to more than 190,000 new residents. Reaching and serving that many new people would require growing our present churches and planting new ones.

Image from Imagine Boston 2030 draft, p. 19; data source: ACS 1-Year Estimates (2011-2015), U.S. Census Bureau; BPDA Research Department, September 2016

DREAM INNOVATION  

What church solutions would best fit the city in the coming decades? More meeting spaces would be a must—though many new churches may never own a building.

Learn More About Space Sharing: Under One Steeple

“More meeting spaces would be a must—though many new churches may never own a building.”

New churches could take a variety of forms, including small groups, house churches, and cafe churches. Larger traditional churches could meet in a variety of traditional and nontraditional spaces and contexts.

A collaborative of churches could own or rent some multi-use space in Boston’s new neighborhoods. Some developers may already be creating community meeting spaces in new neighborhoods that could be rented by local church groups.

Can we start to envision the possible? What would it take to make the dreams happen?

“Should we convene Christians to talk about Boston 2030,” Ralph Kee asks, “including bankers, architects, real estate agents, construction executives? Can these leaders get together? The city is going to grow. Even what was Suffolk Downs is going to be a mini city. How are we going to get churches there?”

TAKE ACTION

What is your vision for Christianity in Boston in 2030? Would you weigh in by filling out a brief survey? We’d love to hear from you!

Share your Thoughts

Share Your Thoughts

Contact Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher, to continue the conversation.

Connect

Contact Rudy Mitchell

Get to know veteran church planter Rev. Ralph Kee and plan to visit the next Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative gathering.

Tips for Developing Church Leadership

Tips for Developing Church Leadership

by Rudy Mitchell and Steve Daman

Starting a new church, but short on leaders?

A few years ago, we interviewed a number of Greater Boston’s church planters to ask how they were developing new leaders for their churches. Here are some of their tips for raising new leaders.

1. Pray first. While you might be thinking you need people with particular skills, what you really need are people with spiritual maturity and Christ-like character. These foundational qualities take time to develop and time to discern. Lining up leadership should not be rushed. Do what Jesus did before he chose his team. Get up on the mountain and pray.

2. Examine and test. You don’t want to rush into appointing someone as a leader until you have thoughtfully and prayerfully assessed their potential and discovered their passion. To get there, you’ll need sufficient face time to begin to listen to their hearts.

• Motives: Ask them to tell you their story about their calling to serve Christ and his church, and see if you can discern their motives for accepting a leadership role.
• Beliefs: Are their beliefs sound and consistent with Scripture and with the church’s vision?
• Character: Are they teachable? Faithful? Humble? Do they love Jesus?
• Skills: Talk openly about the candidate’s strengths and potentials, but also weaknesses and limits. (You might go first in this one.)
• Vision: Ask them about their vision for the position and brainstorm together what it might look like for them to take leadership over a particular ministry. See how that conversation goes.

Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to implement this type of assessment as it may save both you and the candidate much pain and difficulty if, in fact, it turns out they are not the right person for the job. For scriptural precedent on testing, read 2 Corinthians 13.

3. Make disciples. Developing leaders can look exactly like making disciples.

• Replicate yourself: Move beyond the rigid supervisor/supervisee relationship and consider that your goal is to replicate yourself, to pass the torch to others who can learn to do the work even better than you do.
• Spend time together: Training, discipling and mentoring require that you and the emerging leader spend time together and become part of each other’s lives in a deep and meaningful way.
• Lean in: Lean in to the relational aspect of leadership development. Make yourself available. Listen well. From listening will grow understanding, spontaneous prayer, love, and maturity.
• Huddle up: Add a regular Bible study time with your mentee with an eye toward applying what you learn reflecting on Scripture to ministry and life situations. This kind of intentional discipling can be one-on-one or in small huddles of three or more.
• Grow yourself: With humility, remember that iron sharpens iron, and through this relationship, you’ll be changing and growing, too.

4. Learn together. Add to the essential, relational side of leadership development some formal training and exploration. Look for opportunities to gain knowledge and insight together.

• Create training opportunities: Learning can happen in regular leadership meetings, special training sessions, or on retreats. Listening, vision casting, and discussion can all help.
• Pick resources: Choose books or articles, and maybe online resources or video series that your team can study and discuss.
• Flex scheduling: If team members seem too busy or have conflicting schedules, you might be able to provide some training through virtual online meetings, one-on-one or in groups.
• Back to school: See what’s available at local Christian colleges, Bible institutes, and seminaries. Encourage your emerging leaders to pursue and gain academic credentials along with practical knowledge. The learning and the credentials may open doors for them for even more effective ministry.

5. Do and reflect. When it comes to raising up leaders, nothing can substitute for hands-on-experience and on-the-job training. Perhaps your church or ministry can offer internships, residency, or apprenticeship training. In the same way that Jesus’ disciples watched and followed, listened and asked questions, and then were sent out, follow that pattern.

• Show and send: After instruction in and modeling specific skills in real life ministry with your mentees along for the ride, start delegating responsibilities and monitor how it goes. Let them lead a small group, or teach a lesson, or get out and get dirty serving.
• Reflect and send again: Observe, supervise, and coach. Give feedback. Reflect together what happened. Pray together. Send them out again.

A couple final hints:

• Articulate roles and responsibilities: Make sure the new leaders can articulate back to you their responsibilities and what they are accountable for so that your expectations and theirs are always in sync.
• Shepherd their hearts: Periodically discern if the leaders find joy and fulfillment not only in doing the work of ministry, but in learning to do it better.

SOURCE: In 2014, the Emmanuel Gospel Center’s Applied Research team completed 41 in-depth interviews with Boston area church planters of various denominations, ethnic groups, and church planting networks. This article was derived largely from responses given by these church planters regarding their own practice and view of leadership development, with added insights from the EGC Applied Research team.

TAKE ACTION

Connect with church planters: Visit the Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative.

New England's Book of Acts

WHAT IS IT?

New England’s Book of Acts is a publication of the Emmanuel Gospel Center (EGC) that captures the stories of how God has been growing his Church among many people groups and ethnic groups in New England.

WHERE IS IT?

An online version of the book is available here.

HOW AND WHY WAS IT WRITTEN?

Intercultural Leadership Consultation 2007

Between 2000 and 2007, EGC collaborated with various church groups and leaders to compile stories, articles, and resources that help tell the story of what God is doing in New England. Then on October 20, 2007, EGC convened the Intercultural Leadership Consultation, a one-day conference to share the stories captured in New England’s Book of Acts. Four hundred leaders from over 45 ethnic and people groups around New England gathered to learn and celebrate. These included Christian leaders who were Puerto Rican, Colombian, Haitian, Brazilian, Czech, Egyptian, Malawian, Ugandan, Ghanaian, Liberian, Indian, Bengali, Indonesian, Filipino, Cambodian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mashpee Wampanoag, and Massachusett Natick Indian. Each participant was given a copy of the book.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Updates. In the ten years since publication, there has been some limited updating and editing to the material, and yet, as time goes by, these organic church systems continue to grow and change, so there are many more stories to be told. As these stories are updated, they will be made available here.

We are currently working on these updates, which will be posted soon. When they are posted, we will add the links:

• The Chinese Churches in Greater Boston

• The Story of the Brazilian Church in Greater Boston

• The Story of the Ethiopian Christian Community in New England

WHAT’S IN THE ORIGINAL BOOK?

Section One

Section One provides an overview of some of the ways God has worked among people who came to Boston and New England and offers a framework to guide our thinking. Research on past revivals and the current Quiet Revival help us gain perspective and look forward to what God will continue to do here. Hopefully, these articles will expand our vision of the Kingdom of God here in New England.

Some of the topics covered in Section One are:

• Seeing the Church with Kingdom Eyes

• What is the Quiet Revival?

• History of Revivalism in New England

• Five Stages of Sustained Revival

Additional helpful resources along this line are:

• Understanding Boston’s Quiet Revival (2013)

• The Quiet Revival: New Immigrants and the Transformation of Christianity in Greater Boston (2014). Basing much of her research on New England’s Book of Acts, Marilynn Johnson, professor of history at Boston College, has written a 28-page paper on the Quiet Revival which was published in Religion and American Culture, Summer 2014, Vol. 24, No. 2. To read it online, click here.

Section Two

Section Two gives examples of how God is at work among the churches of New England. Many of these 24 reports were written by leaders from within the various groups. Others were produced by the Applied Research staff at EGC. This section also includes reports on multicultural churches, international student ministry, and more. Of course not every church or ministry group has been mentioned in this publication. However, there is enough information for users to connect with many various streams, and inspiration to develop stories on those that are not mentioned here. We would love to hear from you if you pursue research on another group among New England’s church streams.

Section Three

Section Three offers a rich selection of articles on topics like leadership development, evangelism, church planting, youth and second generation ministry, diaspora ministry, and social ministries. Some of these selections describe models of ministry in these areas, while others give nuggets of wisdom from experienced leaders. We hope those who also face similar challenges in developing leadership, reaching youth, and meeting other needs, can use these ideas and models.

TAKE ACTION

Questions? If you have questions about New England’s Book of Acts, don’t hesitate to be in touch. Or if you would like to help us continue telling the story of God’s work through the various people streams in New England, we would love to hear from you.

Contact Us

Contact Us

Biblical Theology Of Leadership [Resource List]

Biblical Theology Of Leadership [Resource List]

by Rudy Mitchell

Banks, Robert J., Bernice M. Ledbetter, and David C. Greenhalgh. Reviewing Leadership: A Christian Evaluation of Current Approaches. 2nd edition. Engaging Culture Series. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books Academic, 2016.

Branson, Mark Lau, and Juan F. Martinez. Churches, Cultures and Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011.

Carson, Donald A. The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1993. (paperback edition 2004).

Howell, Don N., Jr. Servants of the Servant: A Biblical Theology of Leadership. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2003.

Stott, John. Basic Christian Leadership: Biblical Models of Church, Gospel and Ministry. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2002.

Inner Life Of A Leader [Resource List]

Inner Life Of A Leader [Resource List]

by Rudy Mitchell

Barton, Ruth Haley.  Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2008. 

Blanchard, Ken, and Phil Hodges. Lead Like Jesus: Lessons from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Time. Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, 2005.

Clinton, J. Robert. The Making of a Leader: Recognizing the Lessons and Stages of Leadership Development. Revised and updated Edition. Colorado Springs, Col.: NavPress, 2012.

Detrick, Jodi. The Jesus-Hearted Woman: 10 Leadership Qualities for Enduring and Endearing Influence.  Springfield, Missouri: Salubris Resources, 2015.

Fryling, Robert A. The Leadership Ellipse: Shaping How We Lead by Who We Are, Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2010.

Harney, Kevin G. Leadership from the Inside Out: Examining the Inner Life of a Healthy Church Leader. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2007.

Howell, Don N., Jr. Servants of the Servant: A Biblical Theology of Leadership. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2003.

Malphurs, Aubrey. Being Leaders: The Nature of Authentic Christian Leadership. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2003.

Maxwell, John C. Developing the Leader Within You. Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, 2000. Maxwell has also written many other books on leadership.

Sanders, J. Oswald. Spiritual Leadership: A Commitment to Excellence for Every Believer. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2007. 

Scazzero, Peter. The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2015.

Stowell, Joseph M. Redefining Leadership: Character-Driven Habits of Effective Leaders. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2014.

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Women In Christian Leadership [Resource List]

Women In Christian Leadership [Resource List]

by Rudy Mitchell

Detrick, Jodi. The Jesus-Hearted Woman: 10 Leadership Qualities for Enduring and Endearing Influence.  Springfield, Missouri: Salubris Resources, 2015.

Scott, Haylee Gray. Dare Mighty Things: Mapping the Challenges of Leadership for Christian Women. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2014.

Surratt, Sherry, and Jenni Catron. Just Lead!: A No Whining, No Complaining, No Nonsense Practical Guide for Women Leaders in the Church. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2013.

Pastoral Leadership [Resource List]

Pastoral Leadership [Resource List]

by Rudy Mitchell

Barton, Ruth Haley.  Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2008. 

Beeley, Christopher A. Leading God’s People: Wisdom from the Early Church for Today. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2012.

Blackaby, Henry, and Richard Blackaby. Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to God's Agenda. Revised and Expanded edition. Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Books, 2011.

DeYmaz, Mark, and Harry Li. Leading a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church: Seven Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2013.

Harney, Kevin G. Leadership from the Inside Out: Examining the Inner Life of a Healthy Church Leader. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2007.

Hybels, Bill. Courageous Leadership: Field-Tested Strategy for the 360° Leader. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2002.

Malphurs, Aubrey, and Will Mancini. Building Leaders: Blueprints for Developing Leadership at Every Level of Your Church. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2004.

Plueddemann, Jim. Leading Across Cultures: Effective Ministry and Mission in the Global Church. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press Academic, 2009.

Scazzero, Peter. The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2015.

Surratt, Sherry, and Jenni Catron. Just Lead!: A No Whining, No Complaining, No Nonsense Practical Guide for Women Leaders in the Church. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2013.

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