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Boston Partnership Newsletter
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 Dear Friends,
This past weekend we celebrated Independence Day. Many of you probably went out and watched fireworks of some kind. Every year in Boston, they throw out all of the stops in planning a 4th of July celebration. Throughout the week there were multiple opportunities to celebrate (from hearing the Declaration of Independence read at the Old State House, to watching the USS Constituion turn around in Boston Harbour and give a 21 gun salute, to hearing the Boston Pops on the Esplanade).
This year some of the REUNION Community decided to get up early on the 4th and stake out a spot on the Esplanade in order to watch the fireworks on the Charles River. A few marked out a spot as early as 9 AM, they rolled out a big blue tarp and made a day of saving space for the rest who would show up later. Around 80 folks from REUNION showed up to take in the fireworks, well...also add in the 500,000 that came to watch the fireworks too.
It is humbling to think that just two years ago we experienced our first Boston 4th of July. At the time we weren't meeting weekly and had just a few Community Groups going. In two short years God has blessed us with a vibrant and growing community, a community that is welcoming to new faces and nurturing to old ones. We couldn't have reached this place without you.
Thank you for continuing to support and pray for us as we strive to build God's kingdom here in Boston.
Sincerely,
Hank, Phil, Mike ,Karen and John
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Thoughts About Community
by Anisha Tischer
 In the life of REUNION, Community Groups are an integral part of what we do and who we are. We encourage REUNION attendees to get involved and join a community group - to invest time, effort and themselves in a small group of people we call "Community Group."
Two years into the process, now the words roll of my tongue. But it took me a while to settle upon the term "Community Group." I have called it "Small Group" or "Bible Study" in the past, so why change it? John would consistently use the term, even while I tried to call it other things.
Recently, I think, it all clicked. It suddenly made sense. I look around our living room on a weekly basis and I know why we call this tight group of people "Community Group." It fits better than anything else. We have 16 people - that's not necessarily a "Small" Group. We have fun together, laugh, talk, eat and play games together, beyond just doing "Bible Study."
We are a Community. These people are far more than just faces I see on a Sunday morning. We share prayer requests, have game nights, share meals, hang out on times other than just our regular "Community Group" night, and talk on the phone. We build trust and we are there for one another in what sometimes can be a lonely city. Many of us are without family nearby, but this group is becoming a family.
Just two years into the term "Community Group" makes perfect sense to me. I doubt I will ever call it anything else. |
 Celtic Pride!
We couldn't miss the opportunity to gloat a little bit in the Celtics win over the Lakers for the NBA Championship. This picture was taken at Fenway, before the start of the first Red Sox home game since the Celtics won the championship. The atmosphere was great, and the crowd went nuts when three duck boats came out and drove the NBA Champions around the warning track of Fenway Park. |
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Roxbury Film Festival
 This year a group of people from REUNION have been partnering with Citizen Schools, mentoring middle school students. Over the last few months they helped the students create a short film.
Phil McArdle said of the group's work with Citizen Schools:
This film's goal was to empower Boston's inner city students to work at community development through the medium of documentary arts. When we asked the students what was broken or wrong in their community, each student had stories of violence to share. We set out to make a short film to unite members of the students' communities against violence. This film is intended for the communities our students call home. It is their work of community development.
We entered the film into the Roxbury Film Festival with the hopes that it would get a showing and really empower the kids. We wanted the students to see that professionals are entering their films here and that their own film is on the same level. By doing so we are telling the students they are worth something and can do great things if they put their minds to it, which is something they don't hear often enough in their own communities.
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Pray It Up
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Pray for our Community Groups, some are preparing to multiply to make more room as we plan for growth.
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Pray for the students we have been working with through Citizen Schools, that they might be encouraged by the work they have done, and also that they might see Jesus in us.
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Pray for the REUNION team as we plan for growth and decide what that means for our service times and starting new campuses.
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