Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Steinhaus.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
After college, I moved to Boston to train on the Charles River with the goal of making the national rowing team. At the time, I was also teaching in a middle school in East Boston. However, one year into the training, I woke up, sat in my boat and realized that all my passion for rowing was gone. In that moment, I prayed and felt that God was telling me that there was something different for me in Boston other than rowing. Through prayer, I felt that God’s path for me was to pursue unity among Christians. As I traveled throughout Boston, I noticed multiple churches on the same city block, yet despite having similar goals, it’s rare that they communicate or work together, There are even churches on the same street who are doing the same outreach, to the same population, completely independent from the others, which produces a duplication of effort and resources. I knew that there was so much more we could do together than working separately.
A few months after I stopped rowing, I connected with a young man named Mike who had a similar dream. We decided that one practical thing we could do was to send out a weekly email newsletter with the various Christian events taking place throughout the Greater Boston area. This “UniteBoston” newsletter started simply with our friends and colleagues, and grew rapidly, with over 1,000 Christians signing up to receive it within a few months. Over the next few months, a leadership team of young adults began to form, and we built a website (www.uniteboston.com) to create even greater communication among various churches in the city. Our website continues to serve as a go-to-location to discover various events taking place among churches in Boston including an events calendar and online forums to connect resources and needs. In June 2012, UniteBoston also became a 501c3 non-profit organization.
UniteBoston is now seven years old, and throughout these years, my understanding of Christian unity has shifted and grown. In the beginning, we were under the impression that we could bring unity to Christians based on an Internet-based infrastructure for communication. However, we soon realized that the heart of Christian unity is relationships, as only relationships bring about greater reconciliation between people and God, and people with each other. Thus, getting people from diverse backgrounds in the same room to share about how their faith makes a difference now forms the central component of what we do. The neighborhood dinners (www.uniteboston.com/dinner) enable Christians to meet together to share stories of how they see God at work in their own lives, in their churches, and dream about what we can do better than working independently. During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2018, we hosted eight nightly neighborhood dinners throughout the city. Each of the dinners were full of life and energy; in some, the conversation led to issues pertaining to the neighborhood, and in others, people simply shared about what was happening within their respective churches. Regardless of the content, each evening, there was a resounding sentiment that, “This was awesome. Let’s do it again.” While the world can seem to be so divided politically and religiously, there is a great movement happening in Boston to unite Christians.
Has it been a smooth road?
After our leadership team landed on the Nicene Creed as UniteBoston’s statement of faith, which is affirmed by Catholic, Evangelical/Pentecostal, Orthodox, and Mainline Protestant churches, we realized that we needed to intentionally build bridges with other Christians and invite them into UniteBoston. As we did this, we experienced conflict and pushback from leaders, as they did not understand why the “opposing groups” were in the room. Two of the greatest divisions that we experienced were between Catholics and Protestants and Liberal and Conservative Christians, which probably isn’t a surprise considering the politically hostile nature of our world today.
Additionally, while we’ve reached out to a variety of clergy and pastors and they are generally supportive of unity-minded initiatives, many have expressed that they do not have the capacity to help connect churches. They often say that they’re overwhelmed by the needs within their congregation and are unable to devote time beyond this with other churches. Despite this, we have met a large number of young people who have the vision for bridging across historic divisions within Christianity and the capacity to devote time and energy to these efforts, so we have focused our efforts on young people’s interest and availability.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with UniteBoston – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
There are over 670 churches in the Metro Boston area, and we are the only organization that exists to bring everyone together. We are a clearinghouse of information, events and stories of how God is at work through Christian churches. We are most proud of the number of diverse people who are involved, and the way that we can witness to a unity that transcends barriers of class, race, and denomination.
We are also proud of the BostonServe day of community service where Christians come together to serve our neighborhoods. http://www.uniteboston.com/bostonserve/
Finally, we’re proud of the 800 people who came out to the historic Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service in January 2017.
http://www.uniteboston.com/2017-week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity-photos-and-testimonies/
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the diversity of Boston – there are people from all over the world who come here to study and work. I believe that there is incredible beauty and richness in diversity and I see that throughout Boston.
I also love the educational opportunities and speakers that come to Boston. There are speakers and conferences and opportunities to learn about pretty much anything here.
Finally, I ride my bike to commute, so I love the parks, the ponds and greenspaces and great biking routes. I like that Boston is small enough that within an hour, I can bike to any part of the city.
Pricing:
- We advertise Christian events for $30 per week on our website and newsletter
Contact Info:
- Website: www.uniteboston.com
- Phone: 928-600-3236
- Email: info@uniteboston.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uniteboston/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/uniteboston10
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
