Over forty million people have left the church in the past twenty-five years in the United States—not merely the people who have walked away from Christian faith, but many Christians who have “dechurched.”
“It’s not reverse mission if you just stay in your own church,” noted Lierte Soares Jr. “New England Baptists are going to Europe because we have a sense of gratitude that Europeans brought the gospel to us.”
A South Carolinian became pastor of a struggling Massachusetts congregation and was invited to merge it with Hope Community Church, the BCNE-affiliated fellowship he planted in 2017.
“They had gone through a tough situation; the pastor left … and they asked me what they should do. We asked for wisdom from above,” said Joe Souza, BCNE’s Boston area regional coordinator and immigrant ministry leader.
This year, after many obstacles and closed opportunities to form another mission trip since then, the Singing Churchmen, composed of 24 men and two accompanying wives, returned to New England with an expanded purpose in mind.
Sarah Crowther spent part of her summer vacation from college exploring Porto, the second-largest city in Portugal, which has been described as “a vibrant European city [where] tradition fuels creativity.”
An abiding passion to live as disciples of Jesus has attracted a church full of college students, graduate students and people with advanced degrees to Antioch Baptist Church, which is located in the academic community of Greater Boston.
A missiological initiative that started inauspiciously with a dream, will likely have a profound impact on the Baptist Churches of New England for years to come, according to Hal Haller, the associate executive director.
Gateway Seminary has announced a new educational partnership with the Boston School of Ministry in Boston, Massachusetts.
Momentum continues in the partnership between the Baptist Churches of New England and the International Mission Board in Europe. Learn more about its success.
