From Christianity Today's featured article on Boston's Quiet Revival, here's an interesting statistic: Not since the 17th century has there been so many evangelicals at Harvard University, religious historian and Harvard campus minister Peter J. Gomes told The Boston Globe, in 2003. As Harvard and other elite colleges opened their doors to students outside their traditional ground of eastern aristocracy, Midwestern evangelicals and minority Christians—mostly Asian—began swelling the numbers of the once beleaguered Ivy League campus ministries. Because of the growth of these groups, Daniel Harrell, associate minister at Park Street Church, says university students today make up 40 percent of the congregation.Jeff Bass of the Emmanuel Gospel Center says he not only expects this "quiet revival" to continue, but he looks forward to it gaining momentum. Bass says people often tell him that God sent them to Boston. Churches in Boston have gained a tremendous amount of unity as pastors pray together and evangelize together. "A lot of the groundwork has been laid," Bass says.
"The 'quiet revival' is a precursor to something more major," Bass says. "Another revival is coming, more along the lines of the Great Awakening."
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The “Quiet Revival” is getting louder…. [excerpts from an article in Charisma]
…Evangelical Christianity is thriving in Boston. During the past 30 years, church growth, fueled by evangelical university groups and immigrant communities, has dramatically outpaced population growth. Many of the immigrant churches are young, aggressively evangelistic, and conservative
theologically. …They are often made up of migrant workers and poor laborers. They are very concerned about how the church should act in the public square, and they are progressive in social and urban issues. These churches are not confined to Boston; e.g., there are 40 Spanish-speaking churches in Lawrence. Evangelical leaders expect this "quiet revival" not only to continue, but to blossom into another Great Awakening.
This is just another testimony of the reports we’ve been sharing since the beginning of the year, that awakening is truly here in New England now!
Brian Simmons, pastor of 1600-member Gateway Christian Fellowship in CT,
says he’s been seeing 100 new people a month come to the church, many of
them new converts.
Boston, Apr. 17, 2006 (CNA) - Two New England states welcomed the largest number of new Catholics this Easter Vigil since the priest sex abuse scandal broke four years ago. The Archdiocese of Boston welcomed 500 new members while the Diocese of Manchester, N.H., welcomed 400, reported the Eagle-Tribune newspaper.
"It shows that the faith is growing and that we can see beyond the controversy that God works in wonderful ways," Diane Jarvis, director of religious education at St. Patrick's Church in Lawrence, Massachusetts told the Eagle-Tribune.
At St. Patrick's, the 26 new members ranged in age, from 10 to 60. It was largest group of converts in the past four years. The new members include people with special needs. The parish offers religious education for people with disabilities.
Pamela Pfifferling, 37, and her 12-year-old daughter Courtney were among those receiving first Communion at St. John the Baptist Church in Haverhill. Pfifferling told the Eagle-Tribune that the scandal led her to postpone her decision to join the church. But she lost her fear and changed her mind after meeting Fr. Keith LeBlanc, pastor at St. John’s, who made her feel at ease.
"It's a powerful witness to those who are cradle Catholics to see how non-Christians or those of no faith tradition at all make a definite choice to establish a relationship with Christ," Fr. Robert Couto of St. Jude Parish in Londonderry, N.H., told the Eagle-Tribune. Fourteen people became Catholic at St. Jude’s this year.
Edward Wolfe became a Catholic over at St. Michael Parish in North Andover. He was raised Methodist, but his wife, Mary, is Catholic, and their four children are being raised Catholics.
"For me, the most important thing is to share the Eucharist with my family," he told the newspaper.
Wolfe said he was never deterred by the abuse scandal. “Even though we went through a rough time, I knew it was a small portion of the church that needed to be corrected. I had faith and confidence," he was quoted as saying.
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