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Boston Church Directory
The Boston Church Directory may be used for a variety of scholarly, relational, and spiritual purposes.
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.
![Ethiopian Churches in Greater Boston [map]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57ff1c7ae58c62d6f84ba841/1506113852983-TSLLC1FENTJJGZYIO7MM/orthodox+cross+church.jpeg)
Boston Church Directory Map
The Boston Church Directory lists Christian churches located within the city limits of Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge.
Boston Church Directory Map
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.
Lessons We’re Learning
RCCI’s founding director, Megan Lietz, shares three key lessons that are forming the ministry and that could serve your own pursuits of building shalom across racial lines.
Lessons We’re Learning: Three Takeaways From the First Five Years of Ministry
by Megan Lietz, Director, Race & Christian Community Initiative
As the Race & Christian Community Initiative at the Emmanuel Gospel Center celebrates five years of ministry, we’ve been intentional about reflecting on our journey. We’ve considered the lessons we’re learning, the ways we’re growing, and what we want to carry with us into the future.
RCCI’s founding director, Megan Lietz, shares three key lessons that are forming the ministry and that could serve your own pursuits of building shalom across racial lines.
We invite you to learn from our mistakes. Gain from our experiences. Or simply be affirmed in the wisdom you already know. Take a look and consider three lessons that have been transformative for our ministry and that we believe are foundational to continuing God’s redemptive work across racial lines.
Part I — Learning As We Go: A Messy Methodology Nurtured Transformation
A new way of thinking helped launch me into ministry. It also changed me in the process.
When I only engaged my mind, I was limiting my own and others’ healing.
Part III — Learning How to Pedal: Balancing “Doing” and “Being” in the Work of Racial Justice
It’s not just about what you do, it’s how you do it.
What does Boston's population growth mean for ministry in the city?
More and more newcomers are flocking to Boston even as the number of churches appears to be leveling off.
What does Boston's population growth mean for ministry in the city?
by Hanno van der Bijl, Managing Editor
More and more newcomers are flocking to Boston even as the number of churches appears to be leveling off.
The city's population is now growing at a much faster clip than in past years. From 1980 to 1990, the city added about 11,000 people. The increase grew to about 15,000 from 1990 to 2000. It doubled over the next decade to about 30,000 and then tripled from about 80,000 to 90,000 from 2010 to 2020.
The coronavirus pandemic threw a wrench in collecting data for the latest census. But taking into account recent growth trends, the Emmanuel Gospel Center estimates there are now about 700,000 Bostonians.
For much of Boston's past, the number of churches ran parallel to the city's population growth. That shifted in the 20th century during two periods of immigration from the 1870s to the 1920s and then again after 1980. During that time, the number of churches doubled from about 250 in the early part of the century to about 500 in 2000.
In recent years, that rate has slowed, creating new opportunities for Christian ministry.
“There are areas of the city that are seeing significant new developments and population growth, so, there’s opportunity for churches to do more outreach and for new churches to be planted.”
TAKE ACTION
What do you think are some implications of population growth for Christian ministry in Boston?
Where to Plant a Church in Boston: Areas of Growth
Want to know where to plant a church in Boston? You might consider Boston’s newest or soon-to-be-built residential growth sites. We’ll take a look at eight neighborhoods where growth is—or soon will be—taking place, based on public and private development plans.
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.
Boston Racism: Pathways for Spirit-Led Action
To express Jesus' love in these times, Boston White Evangelicals will want to face the realities of the city's racism. Find pathways for reflection and action, suitable for both starters and veterans in the struggle for racial understanding and reconciliation, with links to the Boston Globe Spotlight on Boston Racism.
Boston Racism: Pathways for Spirit-Led Action
By Megan Lietz, Director of EGC’s ReWe Initiative
Megan Lietz, MDiv, STM, directs Racism Education for White Evangelicals (ReWe), a program of EGC’s Race & Christian Community Initiative. The intended audience of ReWe ministry and writing is White Evangelicals (find out why).
Black people in Boston are treated differently than White people to this day. The Boston Globe’s compelling December 2017 Spotlight on Boston racism examines how.
Church, Jesus calls us to a love that heals, restores, and sets free. To express Jesus' love in these times, we must take the time to understand the problem of racism in Boston. It negatively shapes the daily experiences and life paths of people of color, who make up more than half of the Boston community. But no one is exempt from its influence. Racism impacts people of all races—in heart, mind, spirit, and body.
If you haven't done so already, I urge you to prayerfully read the Boston Globe’s spotlight on racism, linked below. Following that, I also offer some pathways forward—questions for reflection and suggestions for Spirit-led action. May we engage what it means for us to bear Christ’s presence in our communities today.
The GLOBE Spotlight on BOSTON RACISM
OVERVIEW
A quick overview of the Boston Globe's Spotlight Series on Race in Boston
Full Series
Boston. Racism. Image. Reality: The Spotlight Team takes on our hardest question
Though Boston is commonly perceived as a progressive city, many Black people feel unwelcome here.
A brand new Boston, even whiter than the old
If people of color are not given genuine influence in city planning and development, existing channels of power will favor the status quo.
Color line persists, in sickness as in health
Black and White people are three and four times more likely to attend certain hospitals than others, thus shaping their access to medical care.
Lost on campus, as colleges look abroad
Highly-recruited international students are coming to Boston at the expense of serving the African-American community in our own backyard.
The bigot in the stands, and other stories
Our celebrated sports teams have revealed and contributed to the racist reputation we’d like to shake.
For blacks in Boston, a power outage
Though Boston is a “minority-majority” city, the power holders in politics, business, and law are overwhelmingly White.
A better Boston? The choice is ours
Seven suggestions for addressing racism in our city.
Responses ACROSS THE CITY
Don’t stop at reading the articles themselves—learn from readers' responses:
Boston Globe Race Series Not News To City’s Blacks, Shocks White Readers
Readers Offer Solutions After Globe’s Series on Race in Boston
Series about Race in City Sparking Dialogues
Pathways Forward
Prayerfully consider how you can contribute to God’s restorative work, and inspire others to do the same. Together, let’s nurture racial healing and justice in our city.
If Boston’s racism is news to you
Let it sink in. Create space and take time just to mourn the loss of what you thought Boston was. Explore your thoughts, feelings, and questions with God in prayer.
Consider sharing what you're learning with a trusted friend. Be mindful that this conversation can be emotionally taxing to friends of color.
Explore further with me and other White Evangelicals in a race learning community.
Throughout, listen for God’s invitations. What might God be asking you to learn more about? Who is God calling you to connect with or come alongside? How are you called to be further equipped?
If you’re aware of Boston’s racism, but not taking action
“Here in Boston, a city known as a liberal bastion, we have deluded ourselves into believing we’ve made more progress than we have. Racism is certainly not as loud and violent as it once was, and the city overall is a more tolerant place. But inequities of wealth and power persist, and racist attitudes remain powerful, even if in more subtle forms...Boston’s complacency with the status quo hobbles the city’s future.”
Connect with others already taking action. Many Christian leaders have been working to further racial justice in Boston for years, decades, generations. One starting point is to spend time learning about their work and ask how you might support them.
Beware that sometimes inaction can stem from comfort, callousness, or complicity with a racist status quo. Prayerfully consider if your current inaction is accompanied by a willingness to rationalize, minimize, accept, and ultimately contribute to the problem.
Ask the Lord to increase your capacity for action. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you specific steps you can take in your family, church, community, or workplace to engage in racial healing and restoration.
Reach out to me for recommendations, for people to connect with, resources to explore, or a race learning community to join.
If you’re actively addressing Boston racism
Consider how God might be inviting you to refreshment or renewal in your work towards racial justice.
Reflect: What assets (skills, resources, relationships) are available to you for continuing Christ’s restorative work? What further assets could be available through prayer? Collaboration?
Join the Racism in Boston Facebook Group and share your ideas for how other parts of the Body could come alongside what God is already doing in racial healing in Boston.
Take Action
Join a ReWe race learning community for White Evangelicals
Discuss your ministry’s needs in addressing racism and how ReWe can support you
Volunteer with the ReWe project
Christianity in Boston 2030: What's The Church's Vision?
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?
Christianity in Boston 2030: What's The Church's Vision?
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.
“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!
Contact Rudy Mitchell, Senior Researcher, to continue the conversation.
Get to know veteran church planter Rev. Ralph Kee and plan to visit the next Greater Boston Church Planting Collaborative gathering.
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What is the Quiet Revival? Fifty years ago, a church planting movement quietly took root in Boston. Since then, the number of churches within the city limits of Boston has nearly doubled. How did this happen? Is it really a revival? Why is it called "quiet?" EGC's senior writer, Steve Daman, gives us an overview of the Quiet Revival, suggests a definition, and points to areas for further study.