Investing in Haitian churches and communities

Investing in Haitian churches and communities 

How Haitian leaders are working together to counter a broken legacy of relief aid to the battered country.

By Hanno van der Bijl, Managing Editor, Applied Research & Consulting

Four earthquakes. Four hurricanes. A cholera outbreak. Political and social upheaval. The COVID-19 pandemic. 

These are just some of the crises to hit Haiti since 2010. 

Billions of dollars in foreign aid remain unaccounted for, with little of it going into the hands of Haitians.

This is part of the reason the Emmanuel Gospel Center is partnering with the Fellowship of Haitian Evangelical Pastors of New England (FHEPNE) on “Pwojè Rebati” — “Project Rebuild” in Haitian Creole — to raise funds for restoration efforts in Southern Haiti. The fellowship’s partner on the ground, Ligue des pasteurs du Sud D’Haiti (LIPASH), is a group of pastors in Les Cayes, representing 3,000 churches in about 20 municipalities.  

Haitian leaders identified several important needs: rebuilding churches, providing housing for families, and distributing food. 

“We would like to impact the lives of people in the area spiritually, socially, and mentally, because at the end of the day, people will gather together, they will feel gratified to have a place of worship where they can express their spiritual gratitude to God,” said Pastor Varnel Antoine of FHEPNE. “From a Haitian cultural perspective, they are very religious, and they believe in worshiping God regardless of their situation. You cannot take that away from them.” 

People are walking or driving for miles to go to church. More than just a place to meet on Sunday mornings, the church serves as one of the primary forms of social infrastructure for Haitians. It provides a place to worship, safety and shelter, social support and community, a second family. 

“Churches are such a pillar of community in Haitian culture,” said Marjory Neret, a member of the Pwojè Rebati fundraising team. “The churches are providing far more than just the place of worship — they’re really connecting people to a lifeline. So this is actually a far more significant project than it might seem on the surface.”

In addition to rebuilding church buildings, Pastor Antoine said the team hopes to get families off the street and into two-bedroom homes to live in.

“We hope that this project, Pwojè Rebati, will be a catalyst that will motivate other organizations to help in their rebuilding efforts so that people can go back and focus on God in adoration and exaltation for who he is,” he said. “That’s what we can tackle right now.”

‘You have a big faith’

Raising money is not easy. It takes time and effort. Often the Haitian leaders who are in the best position to effectively allocate and use the funds are tied up with important and urgent demands on their time. A chasm lies between those with financial resources in countries like the United States and those experienced Haitian leaders in the middle of the action. EGC works to bridge that divide.

After an earthquake and tropical depression hit Haiti last August, FHEPNE and EGC began raising funds.

They had collected about $112,000 when EGC’s executive director, Jeff Bass, was approached by an old friend, a Boston pastor he has known for several decades. The pastor serves on the board of an organization that wanted to donate $250,000 toward Haiti relief. “That’s awesome,” Bass said. And they wanted it to be a matching gift. “That’s challenging,” Bass said with a nervous chuckle.

After some further conversation, the organization agreed to count the $112,000 that had already been raised toward the matching amount, making the challenge considerably more manageable.

Bass presented the proposal to FHEPNE. Pastor Antoine said the group had never raised that much money before.

“It’s going to be a drop in the bucket for all that has to be done,’” he told his colleagues.

Many churches in the Les Cayes area — not to mention other regions of Haiti — had been impacted. So he decided to set a goal of not just making the $250,000 matching challenge but to prayerfully push for $1 million.

Pastor Antoine’s colleagues hesitated. “‘Hmm, I don’t know, you have a big faith,’” he said they told him. But given the high construction costs, they decided to take the plunge.

FHEPNE launched the fundraiser, and EGC signed on as a fiscal sponsor as well as fundraising consultant free of charge.

EGC hired Neret, a Haitian-American leader who graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. With her extensive connections in the Haitian community, Neret brings a critically important perspective to the project.

Neret has broadened the team’s outlook and experience and helped strengthen how it describes the project in addition to reaching out to hundreds of people as part of the fundraising effort.

“A lot of people, especially those who are Haitian, are pretty receptive,” she said. “They’ve been more than willing to help — most of them right away.”

A big break came when the Imago Dei Fund in Boston donated $85,000. As of early May, the team has raised $213,000. It is now pushing to get to the full $250,000 matching amount by the end of June, and hopefully further toward Pastor Antoine’s bigger vision.

“It’s a blessing. It’s the work of the Lord,” Pastor Antoine said. “I believe that he’s got his hand on it, so we need to do our due diligence, waiting for him to use us as instruments in his hand.”

Half of the challenge is raising the funds. The other half is making sure it’s spent well in Haiti.

Half of the challenge is raising the funds. The other half is making sure it’s spent well in Haiti. 

The Pwojè Rebati team is discerning how it can have a distributed impact in several communities.

Part of the process is securing accurate quotes from architects and contractors for building temporary church structures. That has not come without its own heartache. The chauffeur of the architectural firm working on the project was taken hostage, and an architect’s son took his own life in despair over the situation in the country.

Pastor Antoine said the team will be accountable to small and large donors alike. The Haitian pastors in Boston and Southern Haiti are working together to create mechanisms of accountability and for wiring the money safely, which will not all go out at once.

The first phase of the project includes a church building, housing, and food distribution in one community.

“We will start with one project, one region, and see the outcome of that first project,” Pastor Antoine said. “From that point on, we will decide on the next step.”

0.6%

While billions of dollars in relief aid has been promised to help communities like Les Cayes in Haiti, success has been elusive.

The damage inflicted by the 2010 earthquake was assessed at $7.9 billion. The government of Haiti requested $11.5 billion in aid for a 10-year plan that would have helped the country not only recover but also redevelop. International donors pledged a total of $10.76 billion toward that end.

From 2010 to 2012, several countries gave $6.43 billion in humanitarian and recovery aid for Haiti. Non-governmental organizations raised an additional $3.06 billion from private donors.

Of the $6.43 billion, less than 10% went to the government of Haiti and less than 0.6% of it went to Haitian organizations and businesses in the form of grants, according to data collected by Dr. Paul Farmer’s U.N. office.

Dr. Farmer, who passed away this year, had served as a special adviser on community-based health and aid delivery to the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 2009 to 2019. His U.N. office tried to track down how much aid money was pledged, committed and disbursed to Haiti. Billions of dollars remain unaccounted for.

Without greater transparency, Dr. Farmer’s office was left to theorize that not enough aid was requested and pledged and that, of what was given, the majority of aid did not remain in Haiti. Instead, it went to contractors and non-governmental organizations based in other countries.

Haiti is not the only nation to receive such a small share of incoming aid in a time of crisis. Between 2007 and 2011, 5% of humanitarian aid went toward the public sectors of recipient countries, and of the $4.27 billion that was raised through U.N. humanitarian flash appeals in 2012, only 0.6% went directly to local organizations in various countries. Liberia suffered a similar fate in 2012 when it was struggling with Ebola.

Giving only a tiny fraction of official development assistance, or ODA, directly to a country’s political and business leaders undermines its ability to recover from disasters and thrive.

“An estimated 75% of all ODA to the poorest countries never reaches the recipient country,” Dr. Farmer’s U.N. office’s report stated. “In addition, UN flash appeals almost always do not allow for the recipient government to receive funding. Bypassing of the public sector has a significant impact on development outcomes as there is a correlation between investment in the public sector and a decrease in poverty and disease.”

Countries such as Rwanda, which receive more than half of their ODA through their own national systems, make some of the best development progress in overall wellbeing.

The world’s first independent Black republic

This is not the first time Haiti’s future has been compromised by more powerful institutions and countries. 

Originally known as Saint-Domingue, Haiti was France’s most lucrative colony in the late 18th century. The flag of liberty that was raised in the American colonies in 1776 and France in 1789 was also planted in Haiti when the enslaved people revolted against their colonial slave masters in 1791. 

At first, President Thomas Jefferson saw Black Haitians’ struggle for self-determination in line with his own idealism and the revolutionary fervor of the day.

“St. Domingo has expelled all its whites, has given freedom to all its blacks, has established a regular government of the blacks and colored people, and seems now to have taken its ultimate form, and that to which all of the West India islands must come,” he wrote to his daughter Martha in 1793. 

A depiction of the Battle of Ravine-à-Couleuvres in 1802.

Haiti was the world’s first independent Black republic. The first nation to permanently ban slavery. However, a successful country led by free, former enslaved Africans was too much of a threat to slave owners in the United States. Jefferson tried to isolate the island nation and blunt its economic prospects. The U.S. wouldn’t recognize Haiti as a country until 1862.

But as scholar Annette Gordon-Reed wrote, the U.S. owes Haiti a “debt we can’t repay.” Were it not for Haiti’s successful repulse of Napoléon’s invasion, the French emperor may not have sold the Louisiana territory to the United States for $15 million, or about $18 per square mile. 

In 1814, when French King Louis XVIII tried to force Haiti to surrender, Alexandre Pétion, the ruler in southern Haiti, offered to pay France $15 million in exchange for the country’s independence, using the Louisiana Purchase as a benchmark. The king refused.

In what scholar Marlene Daut calls the “greatest heist in history,” French King Charles X sent a flotilla of warships with more than 500 cannons to force Haiti to pay 150 million francs — about 10 times the amount the U.S. had paid for the Louisiana territory. In 1825, Haitian President Jean-Pierre Boyer committed the country to pay the reparations in five equal installments, taking out loans from French banks. The agreement was revised in 1838 after Haiti defaulted on the enormous debt. 

The money went to more than 7,900 former slave owners and their decendants in France, but by the time Haiti fully paid off the debt in 1947, none of the originally enslaved people or slave owners were alive. The total amount was more than twice the value of France’s claims, negatively impacting Haiti’s national education, health care and public infrastructure for centuries. In 2020, French economist Thomas Piketty said France should repay Haiti at least $28 billion in restitution.   

For its recent project, “The Ransom,” The New York Times spent months studying old documents and consulting with more than a dozen leading economists and financial historians to calculate how much Haiti paid in reparations as well as the larger economic impact on the country over the centuries. 

It found that Haiti paid about $560 million in today’s dollars. Had that money remained in the country, it would have added at least $21 billion to the Haitian economy. But experts told the Times the impact of the reparations and the initial loan go far beyond that. Taking into consideration that the country might have grown at a similar rate as its neighbors, Haiti lost about $115 billion.  

“Put another way, if Haiti had not been forced to pay its former slaves masters, one team of international scholars recently estimated, the country per capita income in 2018 could have been almost six times as large — about the same as in its next-door neighbor, the Dominican Republic,” according to the Times. 

“Overall, Haiti is just being punished for being the first republic of slaves to overthrow slave masters.”

— Marjory Neret 

In addition to not recognizing Haitian independence for decades and trying at times to annex its territory, the United States has repeatedly exploited the country. 

From 1915 to 1934, the U.S. installed its own regime, rewrote the constitution, and took control of the country’s finances. During a demonstration in Les Cayes in 1929, U.S. Marines fired on 1,500 people, killing 12 and wounding 23. About 15,000 Haitians were killed during the 19-year occupation. U.S. soldiers pulled out in 1934, but the U.S. maintained control of Haiti’s finances until 1947, diverting about 40% of Haiti’s national income to service debt repayments to France and the U.S.

Since then the U.S. continues to back authoritarian Haitian leaders who appear to be allied with its interests. To reverse this trend, Haitian scholars and others advocate for the U.S. to support a group of Haitian civil organizations called the Commission to Search for a Haitian Solution to the Crisis.  

“Overall, Haiti is just being punished for being the first republic of slaves to overthrow slave masters,” Neret told EGC. “They’ve made sure to put lots of political things in place to make them pay for that and to be an example to all of the other places.” 

Getting behind leaders God is using

Bass, EGC’s executive director, recalls attending a conference in New York City that included a panel discussion on addressing the problems facing Haiti. 

“There wasn’t a Haitian on it,” he said. “I walked out — this can’t work.” 

Given the broken legacy of foreign relief aid and exploitation of Haiti, the church must adopt a new model if it wants to help.

EGC has a track record of partnering with the Haitian Christian community since the 1980s. After the earthquake in 2010, a local foundation provided EGC with about $100,000 in relief aid for Haiti. EGC then worked with the Rev. Dr. Soliny Védrine, senior pastor at Boston Missionary Baptist Church and a former EGC staff member, to partner with a dozen Haitian pastors in Greater Boston to distribute the $100,000 as they saw best. 

“They created these feedback mechanisms where people reported how they spent the money,” Bass said. “It was very effective.”

This approach stands in contrast to problematic models of aid and development and outside input that unwittingly reinforce the same corruption, paternalism and racism that have caused many of Haiti’s biggest problems. Most aid and development organizations assume they can import solutions from the outside without long-standing relationships with the humanitarian and development ecosystem in place. The people most impacted are often shut out of the decision-making process. 

The reality is that, when disaster strikes, there are already local leaders, organizations and systems in place working to address the needs. Excluding these leaders from the table is counterproductive and colonialistic. 

“How can you plan a decent reconstruction if you don’t take into consideration the existing building blocks of local setups?” wrote Marie-Rose Romain Murphy, co-founder of the Haiti Community Foundation, in a CDA Collaborative Learning Projects article. “How can you develop effective and sustainable programs if citizens of the country are not included in those plans’ design?”

These dynamics motivate EGC to prioritize local leaders who have the vantage point and perspective needed to assess and innovate. Not placing relief aid directly in their hands and giving them decision-making power perpetuates Haiti’s struggles. 

“EGC’s philosophy, and becoming more so,” Bass said, “is to get behind local, on-the-ground leaders as much as possible.”

TAKE ACTION

Give

You are invited into this effort. We are asking you to prayerfully consider assisting us with this challenge. This is a great opportunity for the church to step up and support our brothers and sisters in Haiti and locally in Greater Boston.

You can make a tax-deductible gift for Pwojè Rebati by clicking here and typing “Haiti Relief” in the “For” box. Thanks to the generous donor who has offered a $250,000 matching gift challenge, your gift will be matched 1:1 until the full amount has been met. EGC is passing through 100% of the donations to support the work in Southern Haiti.

Learn More

To learn more, check out the following organizations and resources. The list is not intended to be exhaustive.

• Organizations

  • Fellowship of Haitian Evangelical Pastors of New England 

    • The fellowship provides Haitian evangelical pastors in New England a “platform whereby its members will be provided ministry support, fellowship, spiritual development, cultural awareness, social services and needed resources, for the advancement and the well-being of each individual.”

  • Haiti Community Foundation 

    • The foundation seeks to “foster thriving Haitian communities with justice and opportunities for all, and to nurture and support Haitian leadership focused on national self-determination and collaborative development.”

• Resources

  • “What if?” Questions with answers for a paradigm shift in the Aid System

    • In this CDA Collaborative Learning Projects article, Marie-Rose Romain Murphy, co-founder of the Haiti Community Foundation, casts a vision for how the aid sector can reflect on past mistakes and change course to empower local leaders so that “Aid … would (finally!) be about ending Aid.”      

  • You call it philanthropy, we call it ‘Devlopman Tèt Ansanm’

    • In this article published by Alliance Magazine in London, Marie-Rose Romain Murphy lays out four critical changes the philanthropy world must adopt moving forward. 

  • The Haiti Community Foundation: the impossible made possible

    • In this address given at a gathering organized by the South Africa-based Global Fund for Community Foundations, Marie-Rose Romain Murphy tells the story of the Haiti Community Foundation and its impact on Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake.   

  • Haiti Marks 10 Years after Earthquake: One Decade after the Severe Disaster, Sisters Discuss Haiti’s Progress, Stagnation 

    • This article by Chris Herlinger in the National Catholic Reporter includes insights and assessments that go beyond just the facts that much aid did not reach people in need and make a lasting difference.

  • Owning Our Future: Haitian Perspectives in Film

    • These 10 short films were produced by Haitians in partnership with Haitian community media and development organizations, Community Supported Film, and international non-governmental organizations. 

  • When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself 

    • Although this book by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert is not about Haiti, it does help people with uninformed, good intentions think through their approach to helping to avoid pitfalls, ineffectiveness, counter-productivity, and paternalism.

Research was contributed by Rudy Mitchell.

Victims, Threats, Leaders: Uncovering Our Mental Models About Refugees

Victims, Threats, Leaders:

Uncovering Our Mental Models About Refugees

By Olivia Blumenshine

I asked Rev. Torli Krua, a Liberian refugee and Boston ministry leader, what assumptions Americans make about him after learning of his refugee status. He shared, “Sometimes when I speak, they say, ‘Oh! So you speak English! Ah, when did you learn that?’” The Americans’ surprise suggests they hold a “mental model” about refugees. 

A mental model is an assumption we make about how the world works—and a driving force behind how we act. Americans who are taken aback by Rev. Krua’s fluent English may hold a variety of mental models. They may believe that refugees come from non-English speaking countries, that refugees are uneducated, or that refugees don’t have the motivation or opportunity to learn English.

Some Americans might even believe that poor non-Westerners have a lower mental capacity than wealthy Americans or that refugees are lazy moochers who likely can’t be bothered to learn English. Our mental models are generally unconscious, meaning we are not readily aware of them, and they take work to uncover.

Some mental models are roughly accurate if oversimplified. Most current refugees do speak another language besides English as their native language, but Liberia happens to be an exception. When asked this question about his English skills, Rev. Krua responds, “Come on now! My country [Liberia] was started by the United States government!” 

But other mental models are misleading or wholly inaccurate. They’re rooted in misinformation, prejudice, trauma, or historical realities that are no longer true. 

Rev. Torli Krua (left), executive director of Universal Human Rights International, with fellow pastor Sam Boadu (right) at the 2018 fundraiser for the Greater Boston Refugee Ministry.

Mental models, which we form based on our limited information and experience, influence our reactions to the world every day—often without our awareness. Peter Senge, who first coined the term “mental model,” explains, 

Mental models can be simple generalizations, such as “people are untrustworthy,” or they can be complex theories, such as my assumptions about why members of my family interact the way they do.…But what is most important to grasp is that mental models are active—they shape how we act. If we believe people are untrustworthy, we act differently than we would if we believed they were trustworthy. — The Fifth Discipline, p. 164.

Uses & Limits of Mental Models

Everyone has mental models. Our brains are designed to gather and store information for quick retrieval to help us more quickly process the world around us. Our experiences thus shape our perspectives about the world and our place in it. But mental models can backfire—with harmful consequences—if they’re inaccurate or we’re unwilling to challenge them.

To uncover our mental models, we’ll need to engage our minds and spirits intentionally. We’ll need to push against our automatic brain process to identify our assumptions and their roots. 

Checks on our mental models can come from circumstances (where we gain insight into ourselves and the world), reading (which challenges our thinking), and especially through discussion with others. Because others hold diverse mental models due to their different life experiences, input from others is necessary and helpful for surfacing our mental models.

My Shift in Perspective

I have never been a refugee. When I started volunteering with the Greater Boston Refugee Ministry (GBRM) four years ago, I found that my perspective on refugees needed to be tested and refined. I had seen the photographs—emaciated people drifting in rafts or crouching in tents. From those images, I had formed the belief that refugees are people who needed saving—who aren’t able to protect themselves. 

Over the years, I have spent more time with people with a refugee background through my work with GBRM. In that time, I’ve learned that humans can endure intense pain and loss and still retain their generosity, hospitality, goodness, and strength. 

My mental models about refugees continue to evolve. I’m currently learning more about refugee innovation and leadership. I thank God that, by His grace, we are always learning and growing. 

Opening Reflection

As you begin to consider the mental models you may hold about refugees, you may find these questions helpful for your reflection:

1. When I think of the word ‘refugee,’ what images and feelings first come to mind?

2. What words and phrases do I associate with refugees?

3. What do these images, words, and feelings tell me about my perspectives on refugees?

4. How would I explain who a refugee is to someone else?

5. What information or experiences have led me to hold those perspectives?

6. Am I willing to test my mental models about refugees with updated information?

Hold on to these reflections as you consider the specific mental models in this article.

5 Mental Models ABOUT Refugees

I want to share just a few of the many ways I’ve observed Americans viewing refugees. As you read them, consider with which views you agree or disagree. For those you agree with, I encourage you to go deeper—ask yourself, What mental models are at the root of my perspective?

MENTAL MODEL #1: Refugees are victims.

When I first started volunteering with the Greater Boston Refugee Ministry, I was operating under the assumption that refugees are victims. My mind was filled with stories of people forced to flee their country under horrible circumstances. From those, I developed an image of people who are powerless to the harm they experience. 

Refugees have, in fact, experienced tremendous suffering at the hands of others. I soon learned, however, that the “victim” label falls short of describing the strength of mind, body, and spirit it takes to leave one’s home, community, possessions, and family to start a new life in a different land. 

If you see refugees as victims, how do you define “victim”? If you, like I, associate victimhood with helplessness and passivity, what might that mean for how you think and act towards refugees? 

Maybe you see refugees as people who need to be helped. Perhaps you see Americans, with their resources and social programs, as people who can provide that help. Here is where it can get ugly: where do we mentally draw the line between “needing help” and “being helpless?” When Americans see ourselves as rescuers and refugees as powerless, we reduce the value of both groups, limiting opportunities for creative collaboration and new initiatives.

To go further, why might Americans see ourselves as people in the position to rescue others? Maybe we have heard so many times that the United States is the greatest nation in the world, and we have grown to believe it without question. Perhaps our perceived authority to save is rooted in how we see our political structure or our material resources. Or, it may be rooted in the majority whiteness of our population and the privilege and assumed responsibility that comes with that.

Furthermore, some Americans also see refugees living in the US as needing rescue. They may think, If they couldn’t handle the pressures in their country, how will they manage life in the US without help?

If you find yourself identifying with any of these assumptions, to what extent does that lead you to believe that US citizens are responsible for ‘saving’ refugees? What, then, does that reveal about your view of US citizens’ role in the world? What does it say about your sense of American superiority or resilience?

Mental Model #2: Refugees are a drain on societies.

When we think of refugees as people who need help, we might assume there is nothing refugees can contribute in return. Many Americans are concerned that welcoming refugees to the US is too costly or that it will jeopardize Americans’ jobs. This assumption is not just untrue—it’s the opposite of true. For example,  welcoming refugees boosts national economies, according to a study by German economists Marcel Fratzscher and Simon Junker. However, in the present article, I am more concerned with the mental model that is the basis of this assumption. 

Seeing refugees as a burden reveals an underlying view that refugees are “other,” and therefore, their entitlement to resources and legal protection is different than that of native-born US citizens.

If you find yourself identifying with this assumption, ask yourself: Who do I believe is entitled to American resources, and why? Who belongs in the US? What gives them the authority to reside there? You may uncover a mental model that informs your perspective.

Mental Model #3: Refugees are terrorists. 

Americans consume media at an unprecedented rate, some of which contain images and information that helps create the generalization that refugee groups are full of terrorists. This assumption remains, even though the Cato Institute reports that of the near three million refugees admitted to the United States since 1980, no refugee has killed an American in a terrorist attack. 

By contrast, Americans don’t label all teenagers as terrorists, despite the many school shootings carried out by teenagers. Why, then, do Americans believe that refugees are more likely to be terrorists?

Data from Terrorists by Immigration Status and Nationality: A Risk Analysis, 1975 – 2017, by the Cato Institute, May 7, 2019.

If you hold the assumption that refugees are more likely to be terrorists, take a moment to identify its origin. When you think of the word ‘terrorist,’ what images first come to mind? What memories and feelings arise in you?

You may feel instinctive anger or fear toward people who match your image of a terrorist, and that could shape your perception of many people. Perhaps the Black or Brown people coming to the US—sometimes with head coverings—remind you of the faces, clothing, or head coverings of terrorists you have seen in the media. 

We often overgeneralize based on appearances, especially in situations of fear or threat. If you agree with the view of refugees as likely terrorists, perhaps the way the government or media presents information confirms what you already believed about who is a threat to US safety. 

Mental Model #4: Refugees are far away and not our problem. 

When hearing about refugees fleeing from far-off conflicts, many American Christians may feel a moment of sympathy before returning to their daily concerns. If you think of refugees as belonging to a distant reality from American Christians, why do you think that is? 

The traumatic ordeals that many refugees have undergone are so far outside the experience of most Americans that it makes it hard for us to empathize fully. We might then develop a mental model about the “otherness” of refugees, where the injustice done to them does not affect us.

Country-to-Country Net Migration, snapshot taken October 22, 2019 from “All the World’s Migration in 1 Map”.

The reality is that war and displacement can happen anywhere, and our empathy for refugees is directly related to our capacity to acknowledge this vulnerability. Many refugees lived in places that were once peaceful, and they struggle to understand what has happened to their community. 

Some Americans have difficulty picturing an interrelated world where the problems of one nation also belong to others. In truth, we are more interdependent than we like to think. In acting in its immediate interests, the US has sometimes contributed to instability around the world. 

For example, Rev. Krua mentioned above the founding of Liberia by the US government. He elaborated, “Liberia was founded unlawfully through the American Colonization Society (ACS) by high-ranking American government officials who were slaveholders and white supremacists. Using American taxpayers’ money and the United States Navy, they colonized Liberia with Black Americans and mixed-race Americans to prevent a slave revolt.”

What do such realities say about our responsibility to accept and support refugees displaced by the ensuing chaos? What is the US’ duty, for example, to Liberian refugees who continue to be denied work permits over 16 years after they arrived in the US accompanied by US soldiers?

If refugees feel like far-away “others” to you, you might wish to learn more about refugees in Massachusetts who contribute to our local communities. Pay attention to what surprises you about this information. Consider what mental models you hold and how the current data helps you update those mental models.

Mental Model #5: Refugees are survivors & leaders.

American Christians who consider the resourcefulness of refugees begin to see them as resilient, agile innovators—people who can survive, succeed, and lead. Rev. Krua defines refugee leadership as “a leadership that adapts to the circumstances around itself. It’s a leadership that looks to the future. So it’s a resilient leadership—and I think it’s necessary leadership.” 

Photos from GBRM Refugee Entrepreneurs Gathering, June 10, 2017.

While this positive image of refugees is still a simplification (as all mental models are), in my experience, it better captures the truth about this remarkable population. If we imagine the ingenuity and grit needed to make a new home, we grow in understanding and respect.

Photo from the 2018 GBRM Fundraiser Party.

Learn More

About the Author

Olivia Blumenshine worked a dual internship at EGC during the summer of 2019, serving both as a writing intern in Applied Research & Consulting and a ministry intern with Greater Boston Refugee Ministry. Originally from Greater Boston, she is a double major in English and Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. She loves experimenting with the power of story to connect people across cultures and backgrounds.

Hidden Treasures: Celebrating Refugee Stories [photojournal]

Hidden Treasures: Celebrating Refugee Stories

by the GBRM Team

Refugees are hidden treasures in our midst. At Arabic Evangelical Baptist Church in West Roxbury, the Greater Boston Refugee Ministry’s third annual fundraiser on November 18th honored refugees with a themed event, "Hidden Treasures at Home & Work".

We designed an evening where guests could encounter the richness of gifts, talents, and stories of Boston area refugees that we’re blessed to know.

Guests enjoyed catering stations hosted by refugee entrepreneurs, as well as stories, panels, and videos. Each shared activity offered new ways to explore:

• What are refugee’s life dreams?

• How can the Christian community come alongside them?

• How might the Christian community innovate to better address refugees’ needs in resettlement (i.e., housing)?

““GBRM lit the candle of hope to my world by supporting me to share my future dream. GBRM is there if you are a dreamer or a [hoper].” ”

— refugee attender

Cultural Journeys

Diverse catering stations let guests sample and learn about the cuisine and geography of refugees' countries of origin, as they captivated guests with the stories behind their food. As guests went on a cultural journey through the stations, refugee entrepreneurs also chatted about their life experiences, unique gifts, and growing businesses.

““I was struck by how talented the refugees are...and how creative! [They were] not just thinking about ‘How can I make it here?’ but ‘How can I help others?’””

— guest

This multifaceted experience was a rare learning space for guests, opening their eyes to the hidden treasures that are the refugee community. Local refugee businesses also got new exposure to people potentially interested in supporting their work.

A New Lens on Refugees

The fundraiser debuted three videos, two produced by EGC Films, and a third by Park Street Film. Saffron and The Mechanic are stories of aspiring refugee entrepreneurs. The third, Kataluma House, shares our vision for a refugee hospitality house.  

After viewing Saffron, one guest responded, “I saw a parallel between the [saffron] flower and the wealth inside—the hidden beauty.  It’s great to see the potential refugees have and the contribution they make."

These short pieces capture the essence of our work. We invite you to view them here.

Saffron, by EGC Films, 2017.

The Mechanic, by EGC Films, 2017.

Kataluma House, a Luke Zvara film, Park Street Films, 2017.

With Appreciation

We'd like to highlight the following businesses connected with the refugee community in New England. Some are refugee owned, others employ refugees. All contributed to the evening with product displays.

Carina’s Dolce

Bintimani Restaurant

Authentic Iraqi Family Food by Lubna

Blue Nile Ethiopian Cuisine

Beautiful Day 

Makomas 

Prosperity Candle 

Threads By Nomad

Connect with GBRM

Connect with GBRM

Join the Conversation: Honor-Shame Culture in US Cities & Churches

Join the Conversation: Honor-Shame Culture in US Cities & Churches

By Jess Mason, Supervising Editor

Before I had the pleasure of meeting Sang-il Kim, a Ph.D. candidate at BU School of Theology, I thought honor-shame dynamics were limited to specific cultures of the Far East, Middle East, and Africa. I was wrong.

My limited personal experience with honor-shame culture comes from my brief journey to China with a team of pastors. There I witnessed our cross-cultural guide go to an ATM, withdraw a wad of cash, and present it to our Chinese host, after we had unknowingly offended our Chinese friends in some way. She had received our shame and made the culturally appropriate gesture to restore our honor in their eyes.

Last month, Mr. Kim opened my eyes to the surprising levels of honor-shame dynamics now present in US cities, including Boston. Notably, he said that the American face of honor-shame dynamics today goes far beyond immigrants from traditionally honor-shame cultures.

I was inspired to brainstorm with him what it could mean for Boston area pastors—what does it look like to shepherd well amidst this emerging dynamic of honor and shame?

Mr. Kim's full article (below) aims to raise the awareness of Boston Christian leaders to honor-shame culture in their congregations, communities, and theology. EGC invites you to join him for conversation, and consider with others how you might engage honor-shame dynamics to the glory of God. 

Join a Conversation

Thank you for your interest in honor-shame dynamics! I’d love to connect with you! - Sang-il Kim

Sang-il Kim is a doctoral candidate in Practical Theology and Religious Education at Boston University. His dissertation delves into the harmful effects of shame and how teaching and learning Christian doctrines can be an antidote to them. Sang-il plans to balance teaching and research on human emotion and Christian theology, with youth and adult Christian formation in view.

Ethiopian Churches in Greater Boston [map]

Ethiopian Churches in Greater Boston [map]

Map of Ethiopian Churches in Greater Boston. Data source: Emmanuel Gospel Center's Boston Church Directory, 2017. Click for interactive map.

Mekane Hiwot St. Michael Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Boston, MA

Ethiopian Evangelical Church, Boston, MA.

Boston Ethiopian Christian Fellowship, Cambridge, MA

St. Gabriel WelidetaLemariam Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Brookline, MA

Ethiopian Christians in Greater Boston: Diverse Journeys

Ethiopian Christians in Greater Boston: Diverse Journeys

by Steve Daman

Bostonians celebrate Ethiopians each year when runners sprint up Boylston Street to the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Ethiopians took first place in the men’s open four times in the last ten years. In 2016, Ethiopian men took the top three spots, and Ethiopian women took the top two spots in the men’s and women’s open, respectively.

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press, April 18, 2016.

But many Ethiopians in Boston have also been running another good race—that of keeping the faith. 

Boston is home to 9,000 to 12,000 Ethiopians. And like other immigrant groups, Ethiopians Christians have planted various expressions of Christian churches in and around Boston, serving the needs of Ethiopians here today. 

Map of Ethiopian churches in Greater Boston. Data Source: Emmanuel Gospel Center's Boston Church Directory, 2017. Click to go to interactive map.

Ethiopian Christianity Today

"[Ethiopia] has maintained its long Christian witness in a region of the world dominated by Islam. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church currently has a membership of around forty million and is rapidly growing,” according to a 2017 history of the Ethiopian Christian church. Western missionaries also planted Protestant churches among the Ethiopians starting as early as 1634.

Religion in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is 55% Christian: 34% Orthodox, 16% Protestant, 2% Independent, 0.5% Catholic. Data for Ethiopia from World Christian Database, 2017.

In Ethiopia today, more than half the population identify as Christian, including Orthodox, Protestants, Independents and Catholics. The Ethiopian churches in Greater Boston reflect this diversity, with about a half dozen each of evangelical and orthodox churches and one Catholic congregation.

Leader Profile

Workneh Tesfaye - pastor and church planter with Missions Door

Workneh Tesfaye grew up in a Coptic Orthodox family in Ethiopia. A graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, today Pastor Workneh is a Boston-based, church-planting missionary with Missions Door.

Back in 2008, a group of eight family members began to meet regularly every Sunday afternoon to pray for and raise support for orphans in Ethiopia. By 2011, as this group continued to grow, Pastor Workneh followed God’s direction to plant a new church out of this gathering—the Emmanuel Disciples Church—which continues to hold services in the EGC building in the South End.

Boston Ethiopian Christians 

The Ethiopian church in Boston is colorful, diverse, and rich with history, tradition, faith and service. The 2017 revision of “The Story of the Ethiopian Christian Community in New England” explores questions such as:

• What is life like for Ethiopian Christians in Boston?

• What are the biggest challenges they face in the U.S.?

• What are the areas of opportunity for ministry in this region?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Hundreds of biographical stories on Ethiopian Christians throughout history.

A comprehensive recent history of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Stories of how God has been growing his Church among many people groups and ethnic groups in New England.

Take Action

Connect

Connect

 

How are we doing?

5 Ways Christians Can Support Refugee Employment & Entrepreneurship

5 Ways Christians Can Support Refugee Employment & Entrepreneurship

By Fargol Dyrud and Kylie Mean, Greater Boston Refugee Ministry

We at the Greater Boston Refugee Ministry have learned that employment is one the toughest issues refugees face in rebuilding their lives in the US. The Christian community has a vital role to play in addressing this widespread challenge.

A church’s extensive social network can provide refugees with connections that can speed up the process of finding a job or starting a business, in some cases by years. Welcoming refugees into our community network can transform their employment and entrepreneurship journey.

REFUGEE VOICES

"Before I got my first job, I was lost and under pressure." - Afghan woman

If you’re interested in making a positive difference in the lives of refugees, pray with your church community about how God may be calling you to engage in refugee employment or entrepreneurship in any of the following ways.

ways you can HELP

“Working with refugees has enhanced my life. It just has!
- Meggaan Ward, Beautiful Day Rhode Island”

1. As a Potential Employer

If you are a hiring manager, or are part of the hiring process, consider hiring a refugee. Their credentials may not look the same as some other candidates, but consider how their skills, experience, and resilient character may benefit your company.

2. As an Advocate

Speak to friends, co-workers, and others in your community about the value of refugees as workers, consumers, and contributors of rich cultural diversity to their neighborhoods. Encourage others to celebrate refugees as gifts to our workplaces, communities, and local economies.

Our Refugee Advocate Toolkit can help you share with others the positive difference refugees make in American communities. Sign up to receive conversation starters, facts & figures, and other resources.

LEARN MORE

Contact Us

3. As a Job Search Volunteer

Several organizations in the Greater Boston area support refugee employment and entrepreneurship, and they welcome volunteers to help with résumé-building, mentoring, mock interviews, and job application help.

If you are interested, let us know, and we can help point you towards some options.

Learn More

Contact Us

4. As a Community Researcher/Learner

Add to our knowledge of resources available for our refugee neighbors. If you know of an organization that is doing great work in refugee employment or entrepreneurship in the Boston area, share what you know with GBRM. You may also consider serving GBRM as a research intern.

Contact Us

Contact Us

5. As a Church Community

Each church has different skills they can leverage in addressing the issue of refugee employment and entrepreneurship. Your community of faith can offer:

• access to essential resources and knowledge

• mentoring relationships

• a sense of community and connection

• a space for refugees to soundboard/test business ideas

Refugee Voices

"I think the churches could support refugees in many ways. They could maybe do some more connecting...they could plan some activities, get people together, support them more, get them into the society.” - Karen

God may have also gifted your church in specific ways that you can use to bless refugees looking for a job or hoping to start a business. Does your church have ESL programs, classroom space, members with industry-specific skills, etc.?

GBRM would love to help your church think through what could be your special leverage point within the refugee employment and entrepreneurship system.

Contact Us

Contact Us

 

TAKE ACTION

Connect

Connect

About Internships

Contact Us

Fargol Dyrud  

Fargol was a 2017 GBRM research associate working in refugee employment/entrepreneurship and refugee housing as a part of her MBA. As an Iranian immigrant whose life has been affected by geopolitical forces, she empathizes with refugees and is passionate about serving them. Fargol leverages her fresh, insider perspective to push the boundaries of the refugee resettlement/recovery field. 

Kylie Mean 

Kylie’s heart for social enterprise, intercultural ministry and hospitality fits well with her role with EGC’s Greater Boston Refugee Ministry. She helps GBRM leadership and ambassadors consider how they can empower refugees and their employers to create transformational employment opportunities.

 

HOW ARE WE DOING?

Refugee Employment & Entrepreneurship: Why It Matters to the Church

Refugee Employment & Entrepreneurship: Why It Matters to the Church

By Fargol Dyrud and Kylie Mean, Greater Boston Refugee Ministry

We are in one the biggest refugee crises in world history. Over 60 million people are currently displaced from their homes and separated from family. As Christians—called by Jesus to care for the stranger—we must contemplate our role in addressing this crisis.

In our work through the Greater Boston Refugee Ministry, we have learned that work is one of the most challenging issues for refugees rebuilding their lives in the US. Lack of prospects for work fosters unhealthy dependencies, stifled potential, and loneliness. Work provides dignity—it’s a path toward economic independence, an opportunity to build capacities, and a place to develop relationships.

“Figures at a glance.” The UN Refugee Agency. Accessed September 1, 2017. http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html

The geopolitical forces causing the refugee crisis don’t discriminate by occupation or education. Refugees come to the US with a broad range of skills and experience. Some are doctors, engineers, or other highly skilled professionals. Others come with little formal education, many having survived in refugee camps for significant portions of their lives. All arrive in the US with the same hope—that they will be able to live in safety and build their future.

Studies have shown that refugees and immigrants contribute positively to local economies. In the Franklin County, Ohio, refugees contributed an estimated total $1.6 billion per year to the Columbus Metropolitan Area alone through the combined economic impact of the resettlement agencies, refugee workers, and refugee-owned businesses.

Despite their demonstrated benefit to local economies, refugees face systemic barriers to securing work. Some find employment that fits their gifts and experiences. But many are currently unable to realize their potential in employment or entrepreneurship—they struggle to find a job, remain underemployed, or face significant obstacles in opening a business.

REFUGEE VOICES

"Just think about the change from my previous experience to my current one! I was a UN Investment Specialist, with an office in the Ministry Authority. I had meetings and conferences at the highest levels of Government and with international entities. Here, it’s been so difficult to even find a job—to navigate the employment and recruiting system to get a rare interview, all to find that the only job I can get is a simple job, for little pay, requiring no skill." - Syrian male

Refugee employment/entrepreneurship matters to the church. Here’s why.

1. God has dignified work for all.

God has always intended—starting with the first man and woman—for humanity to steward His creation. Genesis 2:15 says “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (NIV, emphasis added). As beings made in the image of God, we are designed to engage in fruitful work as a small reflection of God’s creative power.

While God later cursed the man with toilsome labor, work itself was not a curse. God first gave work to humankind in the Garden of Eden—before the Fall—as a blessing and a dignity.

Over time a broad tapestry of occupations has developed as societies have changed. What hasn’t changed is the God-given privilege and call to use the combination of gifts and capacities God has given each of us in regular labor.

Refugee Voices

"Everything is related, and by doing good work, I do the will of God by loving my work, my coworkers, my boss, and everyone I meet. Then when I’m on my way back home, while tired, I’m full of joy and happy to be alive." - Syrian male

2. Work builds dignity and purpose for refugees.

Even if our current job doesn’t match squarely with our talents, work can provide dignity through the opportunity to provide for our families. Earning a living and working towards self-sufficiency is healthy and empowering.

For the refugee, getting their first job in the US provides a family with critical momentum. Earning a solid wage can help provide a necessary boost to get a family out of survival mode. They can then get started on a career ladder or on a path to opening their own business.

As refugees gain the resources to provide for the basic needs of their family, they reclaim more energy to pursue less tangible needs, like connection and relationship. Once able to plan beyond the next month, a family also has space to dream about their own and their children’s future and access the many opportunities and resources this country has to offer.

When our work intersects well with how God has gifted us, we further feel deep satisfaction and joy from being useful, productive, and fully engaged. Frederick Buechner wrote, "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet." Refugees, too, look forward to a job that calls upon their skills, personality, and capacities.

Refugee Voices

"I love being an architect because I've been always interested in designing spaces where people live and socialize in the routine of daily life." - Syrian female

3. Refugees foster mutually transformative relationships in the workplace.

We spend a considerable number of waking hours at work. The work environment provides refugees significant opportunity to build language skills. At the same time, they learn about American culture and develop relationships with members of the community, including employers, coworkers, and customers.  

But workplace cultural learning doesn’t just flow one way. Refugees broaden Americans’ understanding of God’s diverse creation—employers and coworkers benefit from learning about different cultures and backgrounds. Teams with refugees can generate fresh ideas for business growth as they come to learn about a broader landscape of potential customers.

Refugee Voices

"Amidst all this I’ve experienced lots of struggles, and I’ve been humbled. But I’ve also experienced joy and great satisfaction just because I have a job and relationships with my coworkers—I’m happy to see them again every day." - Syrian male

Refugees also model character traits in the workplace that American-born workers rarely possess in the same capacity. The life experience of refugees has engraved into their DNA humbleness, resilience, loyalty, and sense of community that enriches their work relationships.

“Refugees will suddenly be [like], you're their brother, you’re their sister, you’re their family, instantaneously. If you help, if you give a little bit, you get back that much more," says Meggan Ward, Director of Operations and Training, Beautiful Day Rhode Island. 

In fact, we need the strength of character of refugees to remedy parts of our own damaged work cultures. We can all testify that we need more caring employers and work environments, more of a sense of community, and greater loyalty in our modern American workplace. 

Anyone who has worked with refugees has experienced in them a remarkable strength that transforms the workplace dynamic. 

Refugee Voices

"My job has a lot of physical movement, which is very good for my health. We can choose to see the positive side and make it more important than the negative one. This motivates me to do a good job, to do my duty at work the best way that I can." - Syrian male

4. Your Church Can Play a Key Role

We believe the Church is vital to supporting refugees to find sustainable employment or pursue entrepreneurial dreams that would enrich our city.

Any church has the potential to change a refugees’ trajectory on their employment and entrepreneurship journey. How? Your church can become a refugee family’s community network. The Church’s extensive social ties provide refugees with supportive connections that could otherwise take years for them to build in the US.

Each church has different skills they can leverage in addressing the issue of refugee employment and entrepreneurship. Communities of faith can offer (among many other things):

• access to critical resources and knowledge

• a sense of community and connection

• mentoring relationships

• a space for refugees to soundboard or test business ideas

If you’re interested in making a positive difference in the lives of refugees, pray with your church community about how God may be calling you to engage in refugee employment or entrepreneurship.
 

TAKE ACTION

CONNECT

Interested in refugee employment or entrepreneurship?

ABOUT THE AUTHORs

About Internships

Contact Us

Fargol Dyrud

Fargol was a 2017 GBRM research associate working in refugee employment/entrepreneurship and refugee housing as a part of her MBA. As an Iranian immigrant whose life has been affected by geopolitical forces, she empathizes with refugees and is passionate about serving them. Fargol leverages her fresh, insider perspective to push the boundaries of the refugee resettlement/recovery field. 

Kylie Mean

Kylie’s heart for social enterprise, intercultural ministry and hospitality fits well with her role with EGC’s Greater Boston Refugee Ministry. She helps GBRM leadership and ambassadors consider how they can empower refugees and their employers to create transformational employment opportunities.

HOW ARE WE DOING?

Saffron: A Refugee Story [VIDEO]

The Chinese Church in Greater Boston

The Chinese Church in Greater Boston

by Dan Johnson, Ph.D., and Kaye Cook, Ph.D., with Rev. T. K. Chuang, Ph.D.

From just two Chinese churches in greater Boston 50 years ago, the number has grown to more than 25 congregations serving an expanding Chinese population. The growth of the Chinese church in and around the Boston area is something to celebrate. Its strength and integrity, and the quality of its network—unified for prayer, for youth and college ministry, and for international missions, among others—stand as a model for other immigrant churches and indeed for other indigenous churches as well.

Click to open interactive map

What does the Chinese church in Boston look like? What are the strengths and weaknesses as well as the clear opportunities and threats that face these churches at the start of the 21st century?

Students and immigration

In 2016, as many as 350,000 students and visiting scholars from China were actively working in the U.S., a population that dwarfed the number who came from Taiwan and Hong Kong. Over 30% of all international students studying in the U.S. are from China, according to the Institute of International Education (www.iie.org). Not surprisingly, thousands of these are regularly drawn toward Boston-area colleges and universities, as well as to the opportunities available to them in the region’s “knowledge economy.” The 2010 U.S. Census found that the Chinese population of the greater Boston area numbered nearly 123,000, some two and one-half times as many as were present just 20 years before.

Of these, it is estimated somewhere between 5% and 8% identify as Christian. Many of the Chinese newcomers to the area each year are already Christian when they arrive, in which case the Chinese church provides them a primary community to ease the transition to life in a new place. The others are generally quite open to the Christian message. Indeed, to this day Chinese students are routinely found to be the most receptive group to Christian outreach efforts on local campuses. As a consequence, this influx of new immigrants and students from China has brought significant numeric growth to the Chinese church over the last 25 years. Most notably, most of the established Mandarin-speaking congregations experienced 20-80% growth over the decade of the 1990s. Such growth has generally plateaued since then, but new church plants have continued apace.

Church planting

Chinese Church of Greater Boston

Since 1990, more than fifteen new Chinese churches have been planted, mostly Mandarin-speaking, and mostly serving small, geographically distinct communities and congregations. From a mere two Chinese churches in the entire region 50 years ago, today the Chinese church in the greater Boston area includes more than 25 separate congregations. The steady stream of newcomers from mainland China has also reshaped the character of the Chinese church in the region. The most obvious change is the shift from predominantly Cantonese-speaking congregations to predominantly Mandarin-speaking ones.

As noted, most Chinese church plants over the last 25 years have been established to serve newly settled Mandarin-speaking communities. In a few other instances, older churches that originally served Cantonese-speakers have seen their ministries to the Mandarin-speaking community expand dramatically while their Cantonese populations have dwindled or disappeared altogether. This transformation is more than just linguistic in nature. The Mandarin-speaking newcomers from mainland China are mostly first-generation Christians and new converts. Their formative experiences were generally in a more materialist, atheistic culture, and they often identify primarily with the values and orientations of the academic and professional cultures in which they are immersed. This general lack of church experience has made basic biblical education and discipleship a more pressing need in the congregations that serve them. The fact that very few are ready to step into leadership and ministry roles in the church also creates a gulf between the new generation of Chinese Christians and the established church leadership. By virtue of their formal theological training, deep spiritual commitments, and long habituation in the relatively more developed Christian communities of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States, church leaders in Boston’s Chinese communities often find it harder to connect with the felt needs and mentality of their newest congregants. The challenge is made even more difficult by the fact that many of Boston’s second-generation Chinese Christians, who might otherwise be there to welcome these newcomers into the Chinese church, have chosen instead to become members of American or Asian-American churches.

These social dynamics provide the backdrop for the analysis that follows of the current state of the Chinese Christian church in the greater Boston area. Beyond its identifiable strengths and weaknesses, and the clear opportunities and threats that it faces, is the simple realization that this is a seventy-year-old church undergoing a significant growth-induced transformation.

STRENGTHS

Interchurch collaboration

One of the greatest strengths of the Chinese church in the Boston area is that the various churches that comprise it mostly get along and have forged important collaborative relationships. The largely non-denominational character of the churches has minimized theological frictions between them, and the numerous personal ties between individuals across congregations—often forged in common spaces, such as the Boston Chinese Bible Study Group at MIT—help to smooth inter-congregational relationships more generally. The collaborative efforts that have resulted include regular prayer gatherings, shared missions programs, joint sponsorship of career missionaries, evangelistic meetings, and a gospel camp. Such programs are often initiated and organized by individual churches and then opened up to other area churches, as the Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston (Lexington) did for many years with its annual gospel camp. The fact that even the largest churches in the community (including the Boston Chinese Evangelical Church and CBCGB) have been willing to sponsor and participate in such joint efforts has gone a long way toward ensuring their success.

Cultural centers

The Chinese church also serves as a primary reference group for many newcomers to the area, as they have become some of the most active and well-organized social institutions within the Chinese community. Many new immigrants naturally turn to the church for help. The familiar language, cultural references, and social structures they encounter in the church are key factors in securing their sense of identity when all else around them is unsettled. The larger churches’ programs for children and youth also attract immigrant families.

An ethic of evangelism

Another strength of the Chinese church in the area is the ethic of active evangelism that has long been cultivated in its constituent congregations. For many years, this ethic has animated large-scale, seeker sensitive programs that have encouraged and enabled church members to put it into practice, aggressively evangelizing their kinspeople. Many of these programs—such as the CBCGB’s annual gospel camp—have since disappeared, and it remains an open question whether the evangelistic focus of the church can be sustained in their absence. Nonetheless, the inspiring heritage of evangelistic activity is itself a strength of the Chinese church in and around Boston.

A place for Mandarin-speaking immigrants

Lastly, the very fact that so many Chinese churches in the area were either founded to serve Mandarin speakers or have since developed vibrant ministries for the Mandarin community is a significant strength. Not every Chinese community around the world is so prepared to welcome and minister to the steady stream of Chinese immigrants from the mainland that inundates them today. The Boston area’s dense network of Mandarin-speaking churches marked by an intellectual richness and a strong professional class leaves it well positioned to meet the needs of the future church in Boston.

WEAKNESSES

Cultural Isolation

Historically, a lack of interaction with people who are not Chinese has probably been the most significant weakness in the Chinese church in and around Boston. The founding members of the most established churches have minimal contact, if any, with the non-Chinese community. Moreover, Chinese churches have rarely tried to hold joint events with other groups, with CBCGB being the one noteworthy exception. Such isolation from the surrounding society has been an obvious problem for the further development of the Chinese churches. This problem has abated somewhat, however, with the infusion of a larger professional class into the church over the last 25 years. This population generally has stronger ties to the secular professional networks in which they are immersed than to the ethnically-rooted churches they happen to attend.

Yet with this more worldly orientation comes the other problem of a widespread shallowness in the understanding of and commitment to the historic Christian faith. The church is in dire need of addressing this problem through basic Christian education and discipleship.

The generational divide

Another weakness besetting the established Chinese church is the deepening of the generational divides that separate older from younger Christians, first-generation immigrants from second-generation, and so on. While such divides have always been present, in recent years they have grown in ways that lead to the exodus from the Chinese church of those who were brought up in it. As noted, many of those who leave find their way to American churches that seem to address their needs more effectively. Many others, however, end up leaving the church altogether.

Small churches

Lastly, the problem of small congregational sizes hampered by resource constraints remains as prevalent today as ever. While the explosive growth of the last 25 years clearly benefited a handful of churches, the emergence of smaller congregations with an emphasis on ministry to their particular local communities has left many vulnerable. More than half of the Chinese congregations have less than 100 attendees, and these struggle financially with limited personnel. Many of them face such problems as a lack of volunteer workers, limited or no youth and children’s programs, and the difficulty of reaching a minimum threshold size to sustain growth. For some, it is challenging enough to remain viable. In this respect, a revival of the spirit of collaboration among the Chinese churches, with conscientious participation by the larger churches in the area, may be a key to the continued survival of these vital congregations.

OPPORTUNITY

Immigration continues

The steady and deepening stream of Chinese immigration from the mainland shows no signs of slowing in the coming years. The educational environment and the high-tech job market in the area will continue to attract many, providing an ongoing inflow of immigrants. Some of these newcomers are eager to attend a church, but many are not. Given the numbers, the proliferation of Chinese churches over the last few decades may continue, but careful observation and strategic planning will be needed to identify emerging pockets of Chinese newcomers who could be well served by a local Chinese church.

Changing cultures and thought systems

The arrival of more recent groups of graduate school students, scholars, and other professionals pose new challenges based on their distinctive generational experience and worldview. The factors that led many Chinese radicals of an earlier generation to explore and embrace Christianity—namely, the simple impulse to distance oneself from Maoism and communism, or the desire to secure an identity and existential anchor by identifying with “Western” institutions and thought systems, or even the hope of getting ahead in the modern world by adopting ways of thinking that are more prevalent outside China—have all been undermined in various ways.

The Chinese immigrants of today have grown up in a consumerist society that understands itself to have arrived, fully modern and ready to conquer the world. To the extent that such a mindset generates less of a felt need to turn to God, we might expect the boom in Chinese conversions to Christianity in the years following the Cultural Revolution and the massacre in Tienanmen Square will slow. Yet the Chinese church should seize it as an opportunity to develop new ways of sharing the Gospel so that it will be heard by those who have new ears.

Collaborative missions and outreach

Finally, the opportunity still remains for the Chinese church in greater Boston to develop a more aggressive, coordinated missions strategy that reaches beyond New England. These churches have a history of joining together for small-scale, collaborative missions programs, both short-term and long-term. Their initiatives include the now 20-year-old “Boston to Beijing” program for sending teams to teach English in mainland China, short-term missions/outreach groups working in England, and the joint sponsorship of career missionaries by multiple congregations. While all of this represents a good start, more can be done. Especially in light of the common passion of new converts to share their faith with others, a more deliberate mobilization of the Chinese churches to engage missions efforts in China and among the Chinese diaspora could help to draw those new converts more deeply into the activities of the church. Of course, when it comes to engaging in missions work or establishing relationships with churches in communist China, the larger the effort the more carefully its participants must tread. Even so, the opportunities for mutual support, growth, and understanding are too significant to pass up.

THREATS

Curiously, the most significant threats facing the Chinese church in the Boston area may be those imported from mainland China. The general lack of theological training within the Chinese house church movement and the prevalence of Buddhist, Taoist and folk religious traditions in most areas served by the house church make it a potential breeding ground for syncretistic beliefs and practices that can lead their followers away from the historic Christian faith. Insofar as many immigrant Christians from house churches on the Chinese mainland are incorporated into local congregations, the potential exists for such problematic religious understandings to gain a foothold here. While the generally high level of education in the Boston Chinese church of today perhaps mitigates this possibility, it is nonetheless a matter that warrants vigilance.

CONCLUSION

The growth of the Chinese church in and around the Boston area is something to celebrate. Its strength and integrity, and the quality of its network—unified for prayer, for youth and college ministry, and for international missions, among others—stand as a model for other immigrant churches and indeed for other indigenous churches as well. Although the Chinese church is relatively isolated from those around it, its impact is significant. Its unique history in a world educational hub and key center of the early evangelical missions movement has meant mature leadership in a world-wide Chinese church that is relatively young and whose leadership is often relatively untrained. Its extensive growth out of local campus Bible study groups gives it access to a more professional population that poses unique challenges but also unique opportunities. Add in the fact that it has unparalleled opportunities to reach with the necessary care and discretion into mainland China—one of the largest and most receptive populations for evangelical outreach today—and it is clear that the Chinese church in the greater Boston area is poised to play an outsized role in shaping the future of the church world-wide.

_________

by Dan Johnson, Ph.D., and Kaye Cook, Ph.D., both of Gordon College, with T. K. Chuang, Ph.D., former senior pastor, Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston. This chapter was originally written by T. K. Chuang and published as part of Emmanuel Gospel Center’s New England’s Book of Acts (2007). Extensively updated in 2016 by Dan Johnson and Kaye Cook in conversation with Rev. Dr. Chuang.

_________

More resources:

Map. For an interactive map of Chinese churches in Greater Boston, click here.

Church listing. For a listing of Chinese churches in Greater Boston, click here.

Greater Boston Chinese Church Listing

About. This listing shows churches in Greater Boston that hold services in Mandarin or Cantonese, or otherwise strongly identify with the region's Chinese population. Last update: March 2017.

Map. For an interactive map of Chinese churches in Greater Boston, click here.

Study. Read a 2016 analysis of the current status of the Chinese church community in Greater Boston, posted here.

Church Directory. You may also be interested in our online Boston Church Directory, with listings for Christian churches in Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Updates. Help us keep these data current by letting us know about corrections and updates. Write Rudy Mitchell by clicking the Contact EGC button on this page, or call (617) 262-4567 during regular business hours.

Church/Address	Pastor/Phone	Website/Languages Year Founded
Boston Chinese Church of Saving Grace 115 Broadway Boston, MA 02116-5415	Pastor Kai P. Chan (617) 451-1981	http://www.bccsg.org Mandarin, Cantonese, English 1985
Boston Chinese Evangelical Church – Boston Campus 249 Harrison Ave. Boston, MA 02111-1852	Rev. Steven Chin (617) 426-5711	http://www.bcec.net/ Cantonese, English, Mandarin 1961
Boston Chinese Evangelical Church – Newton Campus 218 Walnut Street Newtonville, MA 02460	(617) 243-0100	Cantonese, Mandarin, English 2003
Boston MetroWest Bible Church 511 Newtown Road Littleton, MA 01460	Acting Pastor Elder Mingche Li (978) 486-4598	http://www.bmwbc.org Mandarin, English 2010
Boston Taiwanese Christian Church 210 Herrick Road Newton Centre, MA 02459	Rev. Michael Johnson (781) 710-8039	https://sites.google.com/site/bostontcc Taiwanese, English 1969
Chinese Alliance Church of Boston 74 Pleasant Street Arlington, MA 02476	Dr. Peter K. Ho (781) 646-4071	Cantonese 1982
Chinese Baptist Church of Greater Boston 38 Weston Avenue Quincy, MA 02170	Rev. XiangDong Deng (617) 479-3531	http://www.cbcogb.org/ Mandarin, Cantonese, English 1982
Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston – Lexington Campus 149 Old Spring St. Lexington, MA 02421	Pastor Caleb K.D. Chang (781) 863-1755	https://www.cbcgb.org/ Mandarin, English 1969
Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston – City Outreach Ministry 874 Beacon Street Boston, MA 02215	Rev. Dr. JuTa Pan (617) 299-1266	https://www.cbcgb.org/com Mandarin 2010
Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston – Cross Bridge Congregation 149 Old Spring St. Lexington, MA 02421	Pastor David Eng (781) 863-1755	http://www.crossbridge.life/ English 2016
Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston – Metro South 2 South Main Street Sharon, MA 02067	Rev. Dr. Wei Jiang (781) 519-9672	http://ccbms.org/ Mandarin, English 2011
Chinese Bible Church of Greater Lowell 197 Littleton Rd #B Chelmsford, MA 01824	Pastor Peter Wu (978) 256-3889	http://cbcgl.org/ Mandarin, Cantonese, English 1989
Chinese Christian Church of Grace 50 Eastern Ave. Malden, MA 02148	Rev. He Rongyao (781) 322-9977	http://maldenchurch.org Mandarin, Cantonese 1993
Chinese Christian Church of New England 1835 Beacon St. Brookline, MA 02445-4206	(617) 232-8652	http://www.cccne.org/ Mandarin, English 1946
Chinese Gospel Church of Massachusetts 60 Turnpike Road Southborough, MA 01772	Pastor Sze Ho Lui (508) 229-2299	http://www.cgcm.org/ Mandarin, Cantonese, English, Taiwanese 1982
Christian Gospel Church in Worcester 43 Belmont Street Worcester, MA 01605	Rev. Daniel Shih (508) 890-8880	http://www.worcestercgc.org Mandarin, English 1999
City Life Church – Chinese Congregation 200 Stuart St. Boston, MA 02116	(617) 482-1800	http://www.citylifecn.org/ Mandarin 2002
Emeth Chapel 29 Montvale Ave. Woburn, MA 01801	Rev. Dr. Tsu-Kung Chuang (978) 256-0887	https://emethchapel.org Mandarin, English 2002
Emmanuel Anglican Church (Chinese) 561 Main St. Melrose, MA 02176	(718) 606-0688	http://www.emmanuelanglican.org/ Cantonese 2014
Episcopal Chinese Boston Ministry 138 Tremont St. Boston, MA 02111-1318	Rev. Canon Connie Ng Lam (617) 482-5800 ext. 202	http://www.stpaulboston.org/ Mandarin 1981
Good Neighbor Chinese Lutheran Church 308 West Squantum St. Quincy, MA 02171	Rev. Ryan Lun (617) 653-3693	https://gnclc.org Cantonese, Mandarin 2013
Greater Boston Chinese Alliance Church 239 N. Beacon Street Brighton, MA 02135	Rev. Frank Chan (617) 254-4039	https://gbcac.net/ Cantonese, English 1986
Greater Boston Christian Mandarin Church 65 Newbury Ave. North Quincy, MA 02171	Rev. Paul Lin (720) 840-0138	http://www.gbcmc.net/ Mandarin, English 2012
Lincoln Park Baptist Church 1450 Washington Street West Newton, MA 02465	Rev. Jie Jiao (857) 231-6904	http://www.lpb-church.org/ 2007 (1865, English congregation)
Quincy Chinese Church of the Nazarene 37 East Elm Ave Quincy, MA 02170	Rev. Sze Ho (Christopher) Lui (617) 471-5899	2003
River of Life Christian Church in Boston 45 Nagog Park Acton, MA 01720	Rev. Jeff Shu (978) 263-6377	http://www.rolccib.org 2006
Saint James the Greater 125 Harrison Ave. Boston, MA 02111	Rev. Peter H. Shen (617) 542-8498	Cantonese, English, Mandarin 1967
Taiwan Presbyterian Church of Greater Boston 14 Collins Road Waban, MA 02468	Rev. David Chin Fang Chen (617) 445-2116	http://www.tpcgb.org Taiwanese 1991
Wollaston Lutheran Church - Chinese Congregation 550 Hancock Street Quincy, MA 02170	Rev. Richard Man Chan Law (617) 773-5482	http://www.wlchurch.org/cm/ Cantonese, English, Mandarin (translation) 1989

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

Serving Cambodian Pastors

Serving Cambodian Pastors: Every Tribe & Tongue & People & Nation

Reaching out to the mission field in our neighborhoods

On Friday, March 4, 2005, Pastor Reth Nhar said goodbye to his wife, climbed into a car with four Cambodian friends, and headed out into the evening rush hour for the 60-mile drive north out of Providence, through the heart of Boston, to Lynn, Massachusetts. There the five made their way up to the second floor of an office building at 140 Union Street, grabbed some tea, and at 6:45 p.m., they crammed into a meeting room at the new Cambodian Ministries Resource Center.

Convening on the first weekends of February, March and April this year, the class, “Evangelism in the Local Church,” is part of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary’s urban extension program, the Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME). On Friday evenings, the 17 students from seven churches and their two instructors meet from 6:45 to 9:45. Then they are back on Saturdays from 9:00 to 4:00. The schedule is designed for busy bi-vocational pastors, like Reth, and church lay leaders who want to pursue a seminary education but need to fit it into their already busy lives.

This is the first class at CUME taught in Khmer.* Rev. PoSan Ung, a missionary with EGC, teaches in Khmer. Rev. Dr. Gregg Detwiler, Multicultural Ministries Coordinator with EGC, co-teaches in English. Asked in a survey if they would prefer to take the course in English or Khmer, some students said they were more comfortable in one language and some in the other. This, according to Gregg, “reflects the reality of a community in transition.” When a guest speaker presents in English, PoSan will translate key concepts into Khmer.

Rev. PoSan Ung established the Cambodian Ministries Resource Center last year to help support the growing ministry of Cambodian Christians in New England. There he offers Christian literature in Khmer, as well as meeting and office space. PoSan is also planting a church in Lynn, reaching out to young, second-generation Cambodians. Having lived through the Cambodian Holocaust and grown up as a refugee, PoSan is intimately in touch with the Cambodian experience. For the past ten years, he has served in various churches in New England as a youth pastor, as the English-ministry pastor for a Cambodian church, and as a church planter. Since 2000, PoSan has worked to develop a ministry that extends to church leaders in the Cambodian Christian community across New England and reaches all the way to Cambodia.

According to PoSan, “The Greater Boston area has the second largest Cambodian population outside Cambodia. However, there are merely a handful of Christians. Thus the Cambodian community is a mission field, in desperate need of enabled, equipped and supported workers.”

In 2000, this need among Cambodians was not in focus at EGC. But that was the year we teamed with Grace Chapel in Lexington to research unreached people groups within the I495 belt of Eastern Massachusetts, and to identify indigenous Christian work being carried on among them. As a result of that research, a joint Grace Chapel and EGC team began to help pastors and leaders gather together to form the Christian Cambodian American Fellowship (CCAF). The aim of the CCAF is to find avenues for training and equipping Cambodian leaders and for planning collaborative outreaches and activities that strengthen and encourage Kingdom growth among Cambodians.
Multicultural Ministries

That work also informed the development of EGC’s Multicultural Ministries program. While we have worked with ethnic churches since the ’60s, a vision was growing to do more to encourage ministry among the region’s immigrant populations who were settling not only in Boston, but in urban communities around Boston. To put flesh on this vision, Gregg Detwiler joined the EGC team.

Rev. Gregg Detwiler served as a church planting pastor in Boston for twelve years. He then served as the Missions-Diaspora Pastor at Mount Hope Christian Center in Burlington, where a ministry emerged to serve people from many nations. In 2001, he earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Gordon-Conwell through CUME and started his multicultural training and consulting work with a dual missions appointment from EGC and the Southern New England District of the Assemblies of God.

In time, as Gregg pursued open doors of opportunity to serve ethnic communities in Greater Boston and to consult in multicultural ministry collaboration, four streams of service developed, the first being to support the CCAF.

1. Supporting CCAF

“My role in the fellowship is that of a supportive missionary who seeks to encourage and promote the indigenous development of the faith,” Gregg explains. The CUME class came out of listening to the Cambodians in the CCAF, and was a concrete response to the needs they expressed. “In the past year, we have seen participation in the CCAF broaden and deepen. By this I mean that we have come to a place where we are now dealing with some of the deeper issues hindering the Cambodian churches from expanding.” The CUME class is another major leap forward toward this broadening and deepening.

2. Multicultural Ministry Training and Consulting

Gregg lumps much of his daily work under this broad category. He provides training and consulting for churches and organizations that wish to learn how to better respond to and embrace cross-cultural and multicultural ministry. For example, in February, Gregg conducted a workshop at Vision New England’s Congress 2005 on “Multicultural Issues and Opportunities Facing the Church,” co-led by Rev. Torli Krua, a Liberian church leader and pastor. At times, Gregg is called upon to serve as a minister-at-large, responding in practical ways to needs and crises within ethnic Christian movements. He serves as a catalyst for collaborative strategic outreaches such as sponsoring an evangelistic drama outreach to the Indian community of Greater Boston. Gregg has worked to form racial and ethnic diversity teams at churches and for his denomination. He is also available for preaching, teaching, workshops, and organizational training for churches wanting to be more multicultural or more responsive to their multicultural neighbors.

3. Multicultural Leaders Council Development

On November 9, 2002, nearly 200 leaders from 16 people groups gathered at the Boston Missionary Baptist Church for an event called the Multicultural Leadership Consultation. Gregg, Doug and Judy Hall, and a diverse team worked for over nine months to plan the gathering. The event served to build relationships, heighten awareness, and launch the Multicultural Leaders Council (MLC).

The MLC is comprised of key ethnic leaders from a variety of ethnic groups, currently 15. The aim of the MLC is to find ways to strengthen Kingdom growth in each of the respective people groups, while at the same time seeking to identify with, learn from, and relate to the wider Body of Christ. Gregg explains, “In this unique context, Cambodian leaders can learn from Chinese leaders, Chinese leaders can learn from Haitian leaders, and Caucasian leaders can learn from them all—and vice versa! Also, resources can be shared that can benefit all of the ethnic movements.

“We meet once a quarter, averaging around 20 to 30 leaders. This year we are focusing most of our energies on two areas: corporate prayer and youth ministry development. In both of these, we are working with the infrastructure already in place in the city that wants to see that happen. The Boston Prayer Initiative is fostering corporate prayer. We believe that multicultural collaboration will not happen outside a climate of prayer. In the area of youth ministry development, we are working with Rev. Larry Brown and EGC’s Youth Ministry Development Project. Larry has come to meet with the MLC to let the people of the MLC influence what he is doing, while he influences the work going on among the youth in various ethnic communities by providing consulting, networking and leadership training for youth workers.”

4. Urban/Diaspora Leadership Training

In addition to his work with the Cambodian class, Gregg works closely with Doug and Judy Hall in teaching CUME core courses in inner-city ministry. “I am now considered a ‘teaching fellow.’ That is not quite a full-grown professor! I teach and grade half of the papers, I am responsible for half of the 46 students currently enrolled in Inner-City Ministry. This is a natural fit for me, as those students are African, Asian, Latin American, Jewish, Caucasian, African American—it’s a natural environment for a cross-cultural learning environment.”
A New Cultural Landscape

A flow of new immigrants into Boston and cities and towns of all sizes is altering social and spiritual realities, providing both blessings and challenges to the American church. One of these blessings is the importing of vital multicultural Christianity from around the world. This vitality has produced thousands of vibrant ethnic churches, and is increasingly touching the established American church.

Rev. Dr. Gregg Detwiler embraces the new realities of our multicultural world and is working to find new ways to allow that diversity and cultural mix to influence our response to the Great Commission of Christ. Gregg says, “I am convinced that if churches in America effectively reach and partner with the nations at our doorstep, God will increase our effectiveness in reaching the nations of the world.” To Gregg, this hope is not merely a theoretical idea or a worthy goal, it is a reality he enjoys every working day.

[published in Inside EGC, March-April, 2005]

EGC’s Multicultural Milestones

For EGC, the 2010 Ethnic Ministries Summit was not a one-time event as much as another step along the way in our participation in and encouragement of the Kingdom of God in Boston expressed in all its cultural diversity. Here are a few of the milestones for EGC as we have watched God building his church in Boston, anticipating the church described in Revelation.

1969: EGC helped run a summer-long evangelistic program in inner-city parks, collaborating with 40 diverse churches and 150 workers; 7,000 hear the Gospel, 500 respond and are followed-up; this program continues for years and neighborhood churches take an increasing amount of responsibility to run their own evangelism outreach programs

1970: EGC opens La Libreria Español-Ingles, a bookstore to serve Boston’s growing Hispanic church community

1972: The Curriculum Project develops culturally relevant inner-city Sunday School curriculum, trains urban Sunday School teachers, coordinates urban education conferences

1976: EGC helps Gordon-Conwell found the Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME), an urban seminary well designed to serve and develop leaders in Boston

1981: Marilyn Mason joins staff, and serves three years to start creating networks with and among Boston’s Haitian community

1985: Rev. Soliny Védrine starts work as Haitian Minister-at-Large to support the growth of the Haitian church system, and is still on staff today

1988: Rev. Alderi Matos joins staff as Brazilian Minister-at-Large and serves until 1993

1988: Rev. Judy Gay Kee starts International Networking ministry, a relationally based ministry to find, encourage, and network Diaspora missionaries serving their homelands from Boston

1989: Rev. Eduardo Maynard joins staff as Minister-at-Large to the Hispanic community and serves 11 years

2001: Rev. Dr. Gregg Detwiler joins staff to develop Multicultural Ministry, now EGC’s Intercultural Ministries

2002: EGC supports the development of Hispanic pastors association, COPAHNI, helping them win a grant to establish the Institute for Pastoral Excellence to train and support Latino pastors

2002: EGC sponsors the Multicultural Leadership Consultation in Roxbury to bring together leaders from major ethnic communities around Boston, and produces a companion research report called Boston’s Book of Acts

2004: Rev. PoSan Ung begins serving Greater Boston’s Cambodian community as Minister-at-Large

2007: Intercultural Leadership Consultation—400 Christian leaders from 45 ethnic and cultural groups gather in Lexington; publishes New England’s Book of Acts to document the various ethnic and cultural streams which make up the church in New England

2007: EGC’s Intercultural Ministries team begins planning for their part in hosting the 2010 Ethnic Ministries Summit in Boston

2010: EGC helped host the 10th Annual Ethnic Ministries Summit: A City Without Walls! (www.citywithoutwalls.net)

[published in Inside EGC, May-June, 2010]

2010: Dr. Bianca Duemling joins staff as the Assistant Director of Intercultural Ministries

2011: David Kimball begins serving as Minister-at-Large, Christian-Muslim Relations

The Story of the Brazilian Church in Greater Boston

The Story of the Brazilian Church in Greater Boston

by Kaye V. Cook, Ph.D. and Sharon Ketcham, Ph.D.

an updated analysis based on work done previously by Pr. Cairo Marques and Pr. Josimar Salum in New England’s Book of Acts, Emmanuel Gospel Center, 2007

Brazilians in New England

About 30% of all Brazilians living in the U.S. reside in New England (approximately 68,197 Brazilians according to the Boston Redevelopment Authority, 2012), and Portuguese is the third most spoken language after English and Spanish in New England (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Brazilian churches in the Boston area are strikingly dynamic, and there is significant turnover in pastors as well as attendees, often because individuals go back and forth to Brazil.

What are the strengths and opportunities of the predominant Brazilian-speaking churches in Greater Boston today? Before we answer that question, we need to consider the roots of Boston’s Brazilian church community.

History and Contemporary Context

The history of Brazilian churches in Boston is very much shaped by the context of Brazil. Historically, the dominant religion in Brazil is Catholicism, which was the religion of the Portuguese settlers (Juergensmeyer & Roof, 2012). However, fewer people in Brazil today report being Catholic than in previous generations. Whereas more than 90% of Brazilians reported being Catholic as recently as 1970, 65% reported being Catholic in the 2010 census (PEW, 2013).*

The largest Pentecostal church group in Brazil is the Assemblies of God (Assembleias de Deus) with more than 23 million members (Johnson & Zurlo, 2016). Spiritualist religions, which emphasize reincarnation and communication with the spirits of the dead, are also common. More recently, Protestantism―especially Pentecostalism―has had a major impact with 22% reporting being Protestant as of 2010 (Pew, 2013). The earlier Protestant influence was a result of missionary work and church planting, but most of the major Protestant denominations now have an indigenous presence in the country (Freston, 1999) and today’s Brazilian Protestant church is strikingly indigenous.

Pentecostals in Brazil resist typology because of their rapid growth and diversity. The historical Pentecostals (primarily those growing out of missionary endeavors such as those by the Foursquare Church) emphasize the Holy Spirit, the Spirit’s manifestations in gifts, separation from the world, and a high behavioral code. NeoPentecostals such as participants in the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, a denomination which was established in 1977, continue to emphasize the Holy Spirit, especially healing and exorcism, and make connections between Christianity, success, and happiness. NeoPentecostals may also move away from a separatist worldview and strict behavioral standards and toward increased cultural integration, and some emphasize prosperity rather than a central focus on Christ and the Bible (Juergensmeyer & Roof, 2012). The movement toward greater cultural integration has opened doors for political activity (Freston, 1999). There is debate however about whether NeoPentecostalism can be reliably distinguished from Pentecostalism (Gedeon Alencar, personal communication, 3 October 2015). Some also suggest that PostPentecostalism is the preferred term for those who operate in a way that is similar to a business, emphasize cultural integration, and bypass the traditional elements of Pentecostalism such as the “central focus on Christ and the Bible,” focusing instead on a prosperity gospel (Juergensmeyer & Roof, 2012, p. 159).

Pentecostals (including NeoPentecostals) comprise 85% of the Protestants in Brazil (Juergensmeyer & Roof, 2012). Five years following the 1906-1909 Azusa Street revivals, the rapid expansion of Pentecostalism reached Brazil through Swedish Baptist missionaries (Chesnut, 1997). Due to urbanization and the growth of the mass media (Freston, 1999), there was simultaneous growth among Pentecostals in the North (Belem) and Southeast (São Paulo) regions. Much of the recent growth in Brazil is accounted for by six denominations, three of which are of Brazilian origin: Brazil for Christ, God Is Love, and the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (Freston, 1999).** The most rapid recent growth in Brazil among Pentecostals is due to growth in the Foursquare (or Quadrangular) Church, Brazil for Christ, and God Is Love (Juergensmeyer & Roof, 2012).

According to the IBGE Census, in 2010 there were almost 4 million Baptists in Brazil represented by the Brazilian Baptist Convention (affiliated with the U.S. Southern Baptist Convention) and the National Baptist Convention (Renewalist Baptists). In addition, Reformed churches were common such as the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, the Independent Presbyterian Church, and the Renewed Presbyterian Church. Adventists, Lutherans, and Wesleyans were also represented.

Baptists

According to Marques and Salum (2007), Pastor Joel Ferreira was the first Brazilian Minister to start a Portuguese-speaking church in New England. No interviewee knew of an earlier presence. Pastor Ferreira was a member of the National Baptist Church in Brazil and planted a Renewed Baptist Church in Fall River in the early 1980s that grew to about 500 members (Marques & Salum, 2007), also called the LusoAmerican Pentecostal Church. Pastor Joel returned to Brazil in 1991 and later returned to the U.S. where he recently died. Today there are several (perhaps 6-9) churches in Massachusetts that were born from this pioneer church.

Several renewal Baptist church groups exist in New England, including the Shalom Baptist International Community in Somerville led by Pr. Jay Moura and the Igreja Communidade Deus Vivo led by Pr. Aloisio Silva.

American Baptist Churches began a new church-planting movement in Boston in 1991 and planted primarily renewal churches (Marques & Salum, 2007). This movement gained force from 2001 to 2004 when about 20 new Brazilian Portuguese churches were planted in Massachusetts and Rhode Island under the New Church Planting Coordination led by Rev. Lilliana DaValle and Pr. Josimar Salum. This forward movement stalled due to issues of church doctrine. Another group of churches that were established with Baptist connections are the Vida Nova churches including Igreja Batista Vida Nova in Medford (Pr. Jose Faria Costa Jr) and Igreja Batista Vida Nova (Pr. Alexandre Silva).

The Southern Baptists also planted many churches since 1995. There are about 30 of these churches in New England, including the Portuguese Baptist Church in Inman Square, Cambridge (Pr. Silvio Santos), the Celebration Church in Saugus (which was in Malden and Charleston under the direction of church planter Pr. Joe Souza), and the First Brazilian Baptist Church of Greater Boston (also known as the Lovely Church) with Pr. Antonio Marques Ferreira.

Assemblies of God

The first Assembly of God churches in Boston were established by Ouriel de Jesus. He was invited by Pr. Alvacir Marcondes to Somerville in 1985, and under his supervision the Assemblies of God denomination in the U.S. experienced tremendous growth. After September of 2001, Pastor de Jesus said he received a message from God to lead a great revival and began holding revival meetings all over the country and world. Currently, he is the pastor of the World Revival Church in Everett, which now has over 70 congregations throughout the U.S. and in 17 other countries with a membership exceeding 15,000.

Despite Pr. Ouriel’s success at leading revivals and church growth movements, his ministry has been accompanied by a great deal of controversy. As a result, in 2002, the church was expelled from the Assemblies of God denomination in both the U.S. and Brazil. The mother church and those he planted are no longer allowed to call themselves Assemblies of God and instead have taken the name The World Revival Church, later adding “Boston Ministries” (Pinto-Maura & Johnson, 2008). These churches continue to exist under Ouriel’s leadership.

There are 36 Brazilian Assemblies of God churches in Massachusetts, including Igreja Vida Assemblies of God (Pr. Salmon Silva) and Mission Assembly of God (Pr. Joel Assis).

Presbyterians

Several Presbyterian churches are in the Boston area. Christ the King church in Cambridge was established in the early 1980s by Pr. Osni Ferreira, who had a multicultural vision. Several additional Brazilian Presbyterian churches have been planted by this church, including New Life Presbyterian (Framingham), Bethel (Marlboro), and Christ the King (East Boston).

Church of Christ

In 1984, the Church of Christ established the Hisportic Christian Mission (HCM) in East Providence, Rhode Island, led by Rev. Wayne Long with the vision to reach Portuguese-speaking people in New England (Hisportic stands for Portuguese as Hispanic stands for Spanish). In 1990/1991 Rev. Aristones Freitas and Josimar Salum planted the first Brazilian Church in Worcester, Mass. Today there are about 46 churches that have been established through the HCM, of which 26 are in Mass., an additional 10 are in other New England states, and three are in Brazil.

Independent churches. The Foursquare Gospel Church arrived in 1991 and now has several churches throughout New England. These include the Communidade Brazileiro of Framingham, PenteBaptist (Pr. Dimitri Grant) and Malden Portuguese Foursquare Church (Pr. Cairo Marques).

Strengths and Opportunities for the Brazilian Churches in Boston and New England

Strengths

The strengths of the Brazilian churches are many. Some churches have numerous young people, many pastors are committed to preaching the Gospel, and large numbers of lay people who fill these churches take seriously their responsibility to know the Bible and to serve Christ. Brazilians as a group are well-accepted in the community. We heard stories which indicate that this is not always true for individuals, particularly with regard to immigration, but we also saw newspaper articles extolling the benefits that Brazilian churches have brought to the community! Brazilian churches can and often do reach out to contribute to their larger communities.

Nevertheless, there are many challenges, including the language barrier, how immigrants can participate in the larger culture and retain their Brazilian culture, immigration issues, and high levels of turnover among church attendees, in part because of immigration. In a series of interviews conducted in 2015, virtually everyone mentioned the challenge of finding affordable meeting space. Many churches do not have their own buildings, and, if they do, they struggle to maintain them. Renting space is increasingly expensive, and there are often problems parking near urban churches. Difficulties surrounding meeting together, an essential aspect of being a church, results in significant stress in the community.

These churches have other struggles as well. Converting new people to Christ is often hard. There is a need to raise up new pastors, because many pastors have been in the U.S. for several decades. It can be difficult to recruit young people to such a challenging ministry and one focused specifically on the Brazilian community.

Some challenges come from outside the churches and others from within. Networking among Brazilian pastors is challenging even though there are some groups that meet regularly, including BMNET (Brazilian Ministers Network), Brazilian Prayer Network of Boston, and Pastors Fraternal Union in Fall River. When asked during an interview to name the single thing that would be most helpful to them, pastors frequently said that they would like better contact with other Brazilian pastors. Nevertheless, multiple factors can limit opportunities for networking:

• Journeyman pastors work a full-time job in addition to pastoring and lack time for networking.
• Instability in church membership as members return to Brazil contributes to pastor overload and burnout.
• Pastors may compete among themselves for church members.
• The needs of first, second, and third generation immigrants are difficult to navigate. For example, churches struggle with whether to have services in English or maintain evening services as in Brazil versus the American way of holding morning services.

Opportunities

The opportunities for growth and change are many. Among them are these:

1. The Brazilian population in Massachusetts is estimated by the 2005 census to be approximately 84,000 individuals, many of whom are not in church. There is great potential for church growth within (and outside) the Brazilian population.

2. Brazilian churches can get more involved with the local and global realities, e.g., by supporting other church efforts such as limiting human trafficking.

3. They can perhaps better educate their members about the problems with the prosperity gospel, and the financial abuses that are too often perpetrated against church members (including the Ponzi scheme called Telex Free in which some pastors participated).

4. They need to strategize for the future, as more and more of their members speak English and either ask for changes in Brazilian churches, or leave for English-speaking churches.

The Brazilian churches have much to teach the larger community. Church planting appears to be a primary focus for Brazilian Christians and virtually every church visited had either already engaged in church planting or hoped to at some point. Many churches also feel called to send out missionaries. Even though we were unable to get an estimate of the number of missionaries commissioned, anecdotal evidence suggests that there are surprisingly many missionaries from these churches. And finally, at least one of these churches feels called to minister not just in their local community but around the world. In a church community that was itself not financially flush, the church has supported orphanages in Brazil and dug a much needed well in a needy community without a church, while also supporting ministries in Africa. This level of commitment is remarkable and challenging to mainstream American churches.

In conclusion, the size, energy, number of young people, and commitment to church growth in Brazilian churches should inspire the Global Church. The needs are great, and the opportunities are many for serving those engaged in these impressive churches and for ministering together in the larger community.

Endnotes

*Johnson and Zurlo (2016) report approximately 76% Catholics and 28% Protestant. These numbers refer to the percentage of all Brazilians and demonstrate that some Brazilians claim dual affiliation or membership in more than one community of believers. By their estimate, the number of dually affiliated believers is 13% of Brazilians, many of whom claim to be both Protestant and Catholic. Their estimate is based on an effort to provide a more precise estimate than the 2010 census, in part by collecting information from additional sources than the census and in part by allowing individuals to report belonging to more than one religion.

**The remaining three churches are the Assemblies of God, the Four-Square Church, and the Christian Congregation (Freston, 1999).

References

Boston Redevelopment Authority. (2012). New Bostonians 2012. BRA Research Division Analysis.

Chesnut, R. A. (1997). Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom in Brazil: The Pentecostal Book and the Pathogens of Poverty. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Freston, Pl. (Jan-Mar, 1999). “Neo-Pentecostalism in Brazil: Problems of Definition and the Struggle for Hegemony.” Archives de sciences sociales des religions. 44E, No 105, p. 145-162.

IBGE (Institute Brazileiro de Geografia e Estatistica) (2010). Census. http://censo2010.ibge.gov.br/en/ censo-2010 Accessed 6.27.2015.

Johnson, T. M., & Zurlo, G. A. (Eds.) (2016) World Christian Database. Leiden/Boston: Brill. Accessed at worldchristiandatabase.org/wcd on 1 January 2016.

Juergensmeyer, M., & Roof, W. C. (Eds.) (2012). Encyclopedia of Global Religion. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Marques, C., & Salum, J. (2007). The Church among Brazilians in New England. In R. Mitchell & B. Corcoran (Eds.), New England’s Book of Acts. Boston: Emmanuel Gospel Center.

Pew Research Center (2013). Brazil’s Changing Religious Landscape. http://www.pewforum.org/2013/07/18/brazils-changing-religious-landscape/ Accessed 6.28.2015.

Pinto-Maura, R., & Johnson, R. (2008). Abused God. Maitland FL: Xulon Press.

U.S. Census (2009). ActivitiesUpdate_June09. Accessed on 8.2.2015 from http:// www.henrietta.org/index.php/doccenter/2010-us-census-documents/6-june-2009-census-2010-activities-update/file

This essay updates the story of the Brazilian Church in Greater Boston as told in New England’s Book of Acts (2007), originally published by the Emmanuel Gospel Center in preparation for the October 2007 Intercultural Leadership Consultation. The earlier version was written by Cairo Marques and Josimar Salum, and work on the current document began by talking with them as well as 45 other Brazilian pastors and lay people in the Greater Boston community. Their observations are integrated into the comments above. —Kaye Cook and Sharon Ketcham, February 24, 2016.

__________

See the original 2007 article on the origins of the Brazilian church movement in New England in New England’s Book of Acts.