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New Roslindale church off to hope-filled start
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January-February,
2003
By
Tiffany Vail
Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. – Martin Luther
Hope is certainly the guiding force behind
the Massachusetts Conference’s newest
church: Hope Church, a joint United Church of Christ – Disciples of Christ
new church start in Roslindale.
Hope that a new church that is open and affirming and welcoming to all will meet the needs of a diverse community.
Hope that two denominations founded on the ideal of Christian unity can work together to serve a community where neither has a presence.
Hope that a new church can successfully tell the old, old story to new worshippers.
Hope.
The church certainly got off to a hopeful start on the second Sunday of Advent, when its first worship service was attended by 65 people. Every other Sunday evening since then, the church has averaged 35 people at worship, which is followed by a light dinner.
“I feel really encouraged,” said the church’s pastor, Elizabeth Myer-Boulton. “The first night lots of people were there who came to support us. The next two Sundays, they were people from the community who wanted to come and worship.”
Myer-Boulton approached the Conference about starting the church after having served at a new Disciples of Christ church outside Kansas City. She came with the support of her former church, St. Andrew Christian Church – just ten years old – which pledged $100,000 over four years to support the effort. A Disciples of Christ new pastor program kicked in another $15,000.
“Liz is such a faithful person – her leadership will make a difference in this community,” said Paul Nickerson, Acting Associate Conference Minister for Evangelism, Mission and Justice.
The Conference Board of Directors in December voted to dedicate $110,000 over four years to the new church. The funds come from a donation made to the Conference by The Wellesley Congregational Church, which designated the funds for a new church start.
Myer-Boulton said she is excited about the idea of starting a church on the foundation of both denominations, since they are in full communion and since both are dedicated to ecumenism and striving to heal the divisions in the Body of Christ.
Myer-Boulton moved to the area when her husband, Matthew Myer-Boulton, joined the faculty of Andover Newton Theological School. He is also volunteering as the associate pastor of Hope Church.
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| Elizabeth and Matthew Myer-Boulton (at left) sing during Hope Church’s first worship service. |
Myer-Boulton quickly began working with the Conference. After doing demographic studies of the Boston area using the Conference’s Percept data, she focused on Roslindale.
“When she arrived, she worked closely with the church development task force to find this location, where there is not a UCC presence and where we have an opportunity for a multi-cultural, multi-racial church that is Open and Affirming from the start,” Nickerson said.
Myer-Boulton explains: “The highest demographic is people who are up and coming. The average age is 30 to 35, with low church activity in that age bracket. When people are in transition, they look for a new church – and there are a lot of new people here.”
Once Roslindale was chosen, Myer-Boulton met with a local funeral director to find out more about the community and the churches there, and to ask about possible locations.
He steered her toward the Boston School of Modern Languages, a former Episcopal church, where Hope Church is now renting space.
“This is really great. It has a church feel to it but no one else is doing church here. It’s a great hybrid of sacred and secular space,” Myer-Boulton said.
Once a location was established, Myer-Boulton mailed 200 invitations to people who had recently moved to the area.
She said the identity of the church is still being shaped.
“We will worship biweekly to Easter, accruing leadership as we go,” she said. “We can develop the vision of the people we collect between now and Easter, and then launch as a church with a tailored vision, mission and values.”
The church’s worship now is what Myer-Boulton calls “spirited traditional,” with a mix of hymns and gospel music. A pianist and guitarist from the Central Congregational Church UCC in Jamaica Plain and a fledgling eight-member choir are providing the music.
Several Metropolitan Boston Area churches have been lending a hand to Hope Church.
To go along with the monetary donation to the Conference, Wellesley Congregational has also pledged to regularly send people to the Hope Church worship services in support of the new effort.
“There’s a number of us working in support of Hope Church just by being there,” said Don Smith, chair of the Wellesley church’s service study committee. “When we make a donation, we always want to have a service team that works with the recipient, so we are working with the Conference and also with Hope Church.”
The donation was just one of several the church has made as part of its $10 million capital campaign, to which 10 percent will go to mission projects.
“Hope Church seemed like a natural contact for us,” Smith said. “We have some members who work in that area of the city. And we strongly identified with what the Conference is trying to do with new churches. That focus on evangelism, mission and justice is so important to us.”
Other churches are offering other means of support.
Central Congregational in Jamaica Plain and Eliot Church of Newton have lent the use of their copy machines. Hancock United Church of Christ in Lexington donated a piano, and the Central Congregational Church UCC in Newtonville, which closed on January 12th, donated a children’s altar, some church school furniture, hymnals and other items.
Other churches interested in supporting Hope Church can do so by: identifying Roslindale-area people in need of a church; attending worship; helping with the after-worship meals; and making financial contributions through the Conference.