BCNE News
The latest news from our network of New England churches. Looking for our New England Perspectives Articles? Click here.
BCNE pastor publishes “Churching: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church in the Christian Life” to push against the cultural tide of dechurching
Lierte Soares, President of the Baptist Churches of New England, interviews Rick Harrington, Provost of the Multiplication Center of the BCNE on his new book, “Churching” which was recently released.
Immigration and integration: The challenge of building a healthy multi-ethnic church culture in New England
A half century after Martin Luther King Jr called 11 a.m. on Sunday morning the most segregated hour in America, things are changing and we are helping to build a new mindset of the new portrait of our country by building a culture of healthy churches in New England. The increased cross-border movement of millions of people, which is a common feature of globalization and the diaspora movement, changes many Western societies and the church in these countries.
Establishing a multicultural church to reach the next generation
The FBC-Framingham Baptist Church is a multi-ethnic church merge with River of Life Worship Center & Igreja Batista Brasileira de Framingham located in the MetroWest region of Boston, Massachusetts. The church’s congregation is mainly composed of Brazilian immigrants. We started the planting process in 2014. The River Of Life Worship Center has gone through several transitions over the seven years since its inception, in terms of location and target groups. When the church reached 4 years of existence, we noted the need for a further transition from a predominantly Portuguese-speaking congregation to a truly multi-ethnic church that uses English as its primary language of worship - an ongoing process we are in to this day.
The theology of cultural adaptation: part 2
In Part 1 of this article, I made a case for the importance of ethnic churches adapting to the local culture instead of remaining separate and distanced from the majority culture. We looked at how principles the prophet Jeremiah shared can apply to today’s immigrants. This article follows up by discussing New Testament passages that shed light on the importance of cultural adaptation.
The theology of cultural adaptation: part 1
Although my church is made up in large part of Brazilian immigrants, we are intentionally transitioning to become a multicultural and contemporary community fellowship in order to reach people from all ethnic groups with the Gospel. This kind of change involves cultural adaptation. It can be hard, and ethnic churches can only pursue it successfully if we understand the mission as a whole.