This June, Citylife will be sending it’s 6th short-term missions team to London to partner with the London City Mission and the ministry of Cafe Forever.  To learn more about this trip, you can read about it here.

This year’s team members are:

Natalie Barney
Tim Chang
Hannah Lee
Mike Lee
Christine McEvoy

Each team member is trying to raise $1,400 to cover the costs of this missions trip. There are 2 options to financially contribute to our team:

[1] Mail a check

Make checks payable to: Citylife Church

In the memo line write: London Missions 2013 – (team member name)
Note: if you would like your funds to go towards the entire team, then simply put “London Missions 2013″ in the memo line.

Mail to:

Citylife Church
10 Milk Street
Suite 230
Boston, MA 02108

[2] Donate via Paypal

Make a contribution using your bank account, Paypal account, or credit/debit card by clicking on the “Donate” button below.

To apply your donation to a specific team member, please list their name in the checkout process. You may enter their name in the field labelled:
“Specify team member here:” (Note: this will be found on the page where you review your donation)

Thank you for your support

It’s hard to believe, but we’re at the end of another semester. At Harvard, we explain our ministry in three ways: “For Christ, for each other, and for Harvard.” So, here’s a snapshot from those three angles.

Loving Christ

At the end of last year, a senior (and roommate of one of our students) came to Christ from a Muslim background, and this year several students and I have been able to have great, in-depth discussions about Christ. Interacting with roommates and friends from non-Christian and even non-religious backgrounds is a regular part of life!

As a key strategy for Christian growth and outreach, we consistently come back to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Bible. Our campus-wide meetings have been a study in the book of Exodus: “Redeemed, Wandering, Worshipping”. It has taken us back to some of the most basic issues of sin, redemption, and the knowledge of God. Similarly, our community groups have been studying 1 John, and working through the practical implications of living in communion with God.

Loving each other

Throughout the semester, community groups have been not only a place to talk about Scripture, but also for students to get to know each other better. Prayer is central to it, and we continue to work toward caring for each other better. God’s been working in a number of students’ lives to deconstruct some of their deepest struggles and also to build them up stronger. This happens in a myriad of small conversations over meals or between classes. But it also happens on occasion when these extremely busy and promising students put their own schedules on hold to help each other. One of the surest signs of God’s work at a place like Harvard is when they put their own concerns on hold for a fellow student in need!

Loving Harvard (and beyond!)

We’ve also set our hearts on caring for Harvard itself! Our students are regularly involved in a wide variety of aspects of Harvard’s life and life of the city around us. A group of us were able to pack cold weather care bags for the homeless just a few weeks ago. An obvious way to help in a city like Cambridge.

Moreover, we continue to support various efforts such as the Veritas Forum with other Christian groups.

Additionally, this year I’m serving on the executive committee of the Harvard Chaplains – keeping me engaged with the wider religious community. This group of religious leaders has been an eye-opening and stimulating group to serve alongside. It’s a privilege to have this opportunity!

From Heather (’13):

“I think the aspect I love most about RUF at Harvard is the community. Here I’ve found a group of people who really care for each other, who are working through the hard questions of faith and the everyday challenges of life and are helping each other grow to love Christ more. We started off my freshman year as a tiny little family, and over the past four years I’ve gotten to see that group grow and change in amazing ways. Whether we’re in Bible study or watching movies, having a late-night debate over the finer points of Reformed theology, or struggling through a bleary-eyed morning prayer service, fellowship with these friends has supported and challenged me during my time here. I will always be thankful for the love I’ve received from them and for the chance RUF has given me to be involved in these people’s lives.”

Prayer Requests

• Join us, as usual, in praying for the Christians to have a deeper grasp of the gospel and its implications for their lives. Keep praying for our witness and new Christians to come to faith in Christ.
• Please pray that these students would turn more and more toward caring for each other.
• As we keep growing, please pray for leadership development – identifying and training them.
• Pray that we will continue to love the Harvard community (and the city too). We want to remember that our witness is not to ourselves but to the community.
• Some costs will be rising in 2013. Ask that God will provide the additional funds needed.

Finally, as reminder, your financial support makes us sustainable. Please consider giving as the year closes.

Most importantly, your prayers are crucial to our ministry! Without the Lord, all of our work won’t matter. Keep us in your prayers, and we trust that God will continue to work through us at Harvard.

Merry Christmas!

Jeremy M. Mullen

For the last 5 years, Citylife Church has sent a short-term missions team to partner with the London City Mission.  In particular, we have partnered with a ministry called Cafe Forever.

Each summer, they are in need of summer interns to come and help support their work.  Please take a look below for an exciting summer internship opportunity to engage in ministry in London!

Summer Project Overview

St. John’s Park is in the midst of an urban priority area in London. Over the past 6 years, the London City Mission has run a community outreach project in this park during the month of August by running programs for youth, children and families. This past year we also ran a summer park café for 5 months, which proved successful as we provided a full time presence in the park making it a safer place and reducing crime. The project also includes running events, programs and sports clubs that run during the summer months. The project activities vary depending on the time of year and when schools are in session. Preferably, we’d like volunteers to commit to coming based on the dates suggested.

Dates:

1. Team A (June 3 – July 19)
2. Team B (July 22 – August 16)
3. Entire Summer (Mid May – August 23)

The Summer Project at a glance….

When is it?

The park cafe opens in May and will run till the end of August. A summer program will begin when school is out on August 1st.

Where will I stay?

LCM has excellent accommodation in central London and on the Isle of Dogs. Where you stay is dependent on availability.

How do I apply?

Contact Tom Carpenter for more details and an application form at tom.carpenter@lcm.org.uk.

How much does it cost?

The cost varies for how long you come. We ask that you contribute £50 (roughly $80) per week to offset accommodation and some food costs. This does not include travel to and from London and visa fees for those outside the UK. You will also need to budget for additional spending money (some food, travel etc). Contact Tom Carpenter for more details.

What will I be doing?

• Running a community park cafe
• Running a 3 week summer program that starts July 29
• Sharing your faith in Jesus when appropriate
• Distributing Bibles to local residents
• Engaging in other forms of community outreach like running events, door to door work, sports projects like football, basketball, and tennis camps.
• Connecting new people with the long term ministries at Cafe Forever and City of Peace Community Church

About the Isle of Dogs

If you don’t know, the Isle of Dogs is in the East End of London. The borough has the least amount of Christians in all of the UK and one of the highest poverty rates. The area is very diverse, and it’s made up of a community from Bangladesh (predominately Muslim), native Londoners (or East Enders) and the international community that works in Canary Wharf or Central London. Finally there’s everyone else from places like Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, etc… There are 50,000 people living on the Island with nearly 1,500 more people moving here each year. At the moment there are 4 small evangelical churches on the island that are growing, but the need is still great and a long term approach is needed to see God’s kingdom established here.

About Cafe Forever and City of Peace…

The Isle of Dogs Summer Project is run locally by Cafe Forever and City of Peace Community Church in partnership with the London City Mission. Check out their websites to find out more.

London City Mission exists to share with the people of London, patiently, sensitively and individually the transforming love of God in Jesus Christ, and to enable them to join his church.

We invite you all to join us for our Annual Thanksgiving Dinner Event!  This has always been a wonderful time of feasting and fellowship, so we encourage you to join us and invite your friends, co-workers, classmates, and neighbors.

Details of the event:

Date:
Saturday, November 17

Time:
6:00-8:00pm

Venue:
St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church
Christian Life Center
85 Bishop Allen Drive (between Prospect and Essex Streets)
Cambridge, MA 02139

Directions by T:
Red Line train to Central Square

Parking options:

• Metered parking in the Central Square area is free after 6:00pm.
• Please make note that there are ares for Cambridge Resident Only parking 

• City of Cambridge Metered Lots
• There are 3 lots along Bishop Allen Drive (between Essex and Columbia Streets)
• From 8:00am-6:00pm, there is a 2 hour limit
• From 6:00pm-10:00pm, there is a 4 hour limit
• Parking is $1.00/hour

• Green Street Parking Garage
• 260 Green Street (corner of Pearl and Green Streets; entrance on Green Street)
• Parking is $1.50/hour

Are you bringing food?

• Please arrive at the venue between 5:45-6:00pm
• We will have people waiting in front of the venue at the curb to bring in your food
• Please carve any turkeys/hams BEFORE arriving at the venue
• Please provide appropriate serving utensils for your dishes
• Food may be warmed in the venue’s kitchen

If you would like to contribute any food items for the event and/or volunteer your help, please contact Tim Chang.

Dearest Friends and Family,

The verses above are just a few of the things that God has been teaching us and continues to teach us in these last few months….

As I sit to write this, the air is hot and dry, the Jacaranda trees are almost in full bloom, the air is hazy and everyones eyes look skyward to see if it might rain. Summer has come quickly after a very mild winter and the question on everyones mind is – will we have a good rainy season this year?  The weather people are predicting that we may only get as little as 40% of the normal average rainfall.

Our city has very little water left. We are currently having 3 days with water and 4 days without. This is incredibly tough for people in the western suburbs who have lots of people living in a small space, and people who do not have wells/boreholes. Please pray for rain, especially in the catchment area’s for our cities water supply dams, and in the rural area’s for the people who rely on our seasonal rainfall to grow their crops. Pray also for the politics involved in getting a more permanent supply of water to our city. It seems that we are only accessing about 55% of the water that is actually available and designed for our city. Needless to add that bad management and corruption play a huge role in this.

August and September have been wonderful months of challenge in many ways, but not without a sense of God’s amazing love and presence through it all. The Jones family no longer have a functional well/ borehole as the water table has dropped so low that even our second attempt to get water has had very limited success.

In August Mell’s youngest brother flew in from the UK for a 14 day visit. It was great to catch up and be able to take him fishing (twice in that short time).  We celebrated Craig’s birthday on the 9th. At the end of August Brett was sponsored by some dear friends to go on a Christian camp called the Aslan camp for 10 days.  He absolutely loved it and had a great time.  September was the start of the new school term and Dean’s 7th birthday. I cannot believe that our ‘baby’ is 7 years old already!

Craig is back in class, with a total of 10 new students beginning at TCZ. He has just done a 4 week preaching slot in our Church sermon series on “The Christian and The 10 Commandments” and continues to run our home bible study, do devotions at TCZ and help to carry the preaching load and over see the adult Sunday school at church. He also has the responsibility within the Presbytery of overseeing the examining process for elders being trained and ordained. Craig has two further teaching opportunities. One here locally where he is getting ready to do a 10 week series on Ephesians at a rural project where youngsters are discipled and taught basic fundamentals of farming and running their own business. The second is international and he has recently been contacted by a Theological school in Uganda and asked if he is able to teach a course or two there. He is quite excited about this opportunity. It does require that he provides the funding for the travel there and back and at the moment we only have a very  small portion of that.Please pray that if God wants him there that the funding for that will come through.  We continue to be absolutely amazed and in awe of how God has provided for us as a family in recent past. Praise God for His continued provision!

As in every household and lives around the world – things go wrong. We have had a spate of electrical gadgets give up the ghost and most recently Craig’s Macbook Pro was stolen from our vehicle. All good reminders that we live in a fallen broken world and that this is not our home. Craig is grateful that he had backed up recently and so most of his information was not lost.

Mell continues to volunteer at the babies home. Thank you to financial gifts from friends and supporters, their borehole has been fixed. Many small items around the home have been repaired and we will shortly be putting in some new Banana trees and replacing a few of our Mango trees that died from frost this year. This is a huge gift in light of the current water challenges. We currently have 25 children so it keeps everyone on their toes. Mell has begun leading a voluntary weekly devotional there, which is going well. Pray for the staff at the babies home that the word of God would become alive and relevant in their daily lives. Pray for families to open up their hearts and homes to the adoption of these sweet children!  Mell’s small helium balloon enterprise has proved to be a good one thus far: It has provided a small income and is flexible enough that she can still do ministry.

As we look across the continents and the trouble all around, we are reminded again of how important it is to be anchored in God and His word and centered on the cross. We are very mindful of the USA and their upcoming elections. Please know that we are praying for you. We are expecting elections in Zimbabwe sometime before June 2013. Whether this will actually happen or not is still a question. Kenya too have elections planned for March next year. I read a post on Facebook yesterday that was a good reminder and it said this, It doesn’t matter who the president is, Jesus will always be the king!  We pray that this will encourage you, no matter where you live around the world.

Thank you to the many of you who stay in touch with us. It is always lovely to hear news and to know how to pray for you. We look forward to hearing from you all!! Thank you for praying for us and with us as we partner with you in the gospel.

Standing Firm In His Grace,

Craig, Mell, Brett and Dean.

A central way in which we create space for spiritual formation as a region is to require every staff worker (over 60 in the region) to participate in a 48 hour Spiritual Formation Retreat each semester with their colleagues. Leading these retreats will be a key part of my new job in the years ahead and below are some thoughts from staff in Boston about how significant they are for life and ministry:

“I love our SF retreats and always find them a welcome (and necessary) part of my job …. I find it essential to personally encounter Jesus. It is then that I am able to lead students to Jesus.”

“As a minister of the gospel it is essential to take time away and be reformed …. We must walk the road first that we are inviting students to take.”

“I found that the spiritual space and guidance during the retreats were essential to me knowing why Jesus pulled away from the crowds to hear from his Father. I found myself able to pray for myself, my staff colleagues, students and the campus from a deeper place of rest and joy. When I came back onto campus, I felt more able to share with students fresh insights God had given me.” 

“I am so thankful for InterVarsity’s focus on spiritual formation for staff …. I am also reminded that I do not just bring teachings about Jesus to students, but I bring Christ formed in me.”

“I believe I would be on the road to burnout without the skills and training I have received during the spiritual formation retreats. They make a significant impact on my own spiritual life, which is a critical factor in my ability to serve students on a daily basis.” 

“As I’ve reflected on these retreats, I realized just how much God has been transforming me into his image … and reminded me of my true identity as beloved and that he delights in me – despite the ministry ‘failures’ or ‘successes’ I have tried to find my identity in …. I’ve realized just how much spiritual formation impacts how I minister to students.”

Hopefully this provides a glimpse of just how vital these are for the staff and  their ministry to students. If you would like to now more specifically what happens on them let me know! And please pray for the staff in our region as they go on these retreats this Fall, and for wisdom as I transition into this role.

Peace and love

Bruce

City Passage Vision

We are dedicated to encouraging & empowering youth through one on one relationships. We believe one friend can make a difference. This friendship helps develop the confidence, character, & academic skills youth need to succeed in college, break the cycle of poverty & become agents of change in their community. As the relationship grows, so does the potential. We train our mentors to deal with topics such as identity, culture, life skills, education, career & service.

We are in the midst of launching a new initiative through our Mercy Ministry and it will be called the Neighborhood Ministry.  Keep reading to learn more about it and how you can get involved!

VISION

We desire to seek the peace and prosperity of Boston by seeking the peace and prosperity of the neighborhoods in which we live (Jer 29:7)

STRATEGY

• Develop real and genuine relationships with immediate neighbors
• Learn about our neighborhoods
• Pray for our neighbors and neighborhoods

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

• Monthly Neighborhood Group Gatherings
• These are venues where Citylife people who live in similar neighborhoods can meet for mutual encouragement, brainstorming of how to be a better neighbor, and to pray.

Outside of the Neighborhood Group gatherings, we encourage people to have an ongoing presence in their respective neighborhoods. Consider some of the ideas below:

• Attend neighborhood events
• e.g. Neighborhood Association meetings, City Council meetings, Neighborhood events, etc.

• Meet a civic official
• e.g. Government official, police precinct, fire department, etc.

• Organize and go on a neighborhood prayer walk

FAQs

• I’m interested in this ministry but there isn’t a Neighborhood Group where I live. What do I do?
• First, see if there are other people at Citylife who live in your neighborhood that would be interested in forming a Neighborhood Group with you. Contact Tim about starting a new Neighborhood Group.
• If there aren’t others at Citylife in your neighborhood, then pick an existing Neighborhood Group that’s closest to where you live or where you already spend a good amount of time.

• What if I only have short-term plans to be in Boston?
• We still would encourage you to join a Neighborhood Group because no matter where we live, we are called to love our neighbors and neighborhood. Perhaps through your involvement, you’ll consider staying in the Boston area to continue the work of community development in your neighborhood!

• Why have separate Neighborhood Groups from Community Groups?
• Although there is an encouragement for our Community Groups to think and act missionally, their primary purpose is to provide pastoral care to its members. In light of this, we do foresee potential overlap in both ministries, but we desire for the Neighborhood ministry to grow more organically and at a grassroots level in its initial stages of development.

• Our Neighborhood Group is huge! Can we multiply our efforts?
• Absolutely! Our vision is for more Neighborhood Groups to form and for existing Neighborhood Groups to multiply into more specific neighborhoods. For example, Dorchester can multiply to Columbia/JFK and Savin Hill; Central Square can multiply to Cambridgeport and Area IV.

HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?

Fill out the form below!