Ministry in Urban Boston: Religion, Ethnicity, and Social Change as Exemplified at Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME/Gordon-Conwell) and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology

As we continue our drive to the urban ministry center of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary whose mother campus is presently located in South Hamilton, north of the city of Boston and then on to The Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, we will be passing through neighborhoods ministered to over the past 100 years by these schools.

NB: Hospital Area; Mass College of Art and Design, Roxbury Community College, Wentworth, Northeastern, Home for Little Wanderers, early mission effort for runaway and abandoned children

Area is called Jamaica Plain, why (planters in colonial period had homes, plantations on Jamaica, and some had second, third homes in this area. Includes Vassals, others w/ primary houses in Boston, Cambridge. Milton: governor had his home; Copley there to try to resolve tea party crisis in 1773.

THE CENTER FOR URBAN MINISTERIAL EDUCATION (CUME), of the GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY (1889/1976/1992)
GC/CUME: http://www.gcts.edu/

The Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME), the Boston-based outreach and teaching program of the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. The CUME house (with its wooden sign) is on the right, opposite the Massachusetts MSPCA/Angell Memorial Hospital, just before the intersection of South Huntington Ave and Perkins Street, at 363 South Huntington Ave

The Boston Missionary Training School was founded by the Rev. A. J. Gordon. Based in Boston, originally in the lower level of Park Street Church, the school shared Gordon’s deep concern for missions abroad and in New England urban centers. Upon his death, the institution was given his name, and the Gordon Divinity School moved first to the Huntington/Longwood area of Boston (the present location of Hebrew College) and eventually to Boston’s North Shore. The Conwell School of Theology and Gordon Divinity School merged in 1969 through the efforts of Philanthropist J. Howard Pew, Dr. Harold J. Okenga and Dr. Billy Graham. Their vision was for an institution, “established within a strong evangelical framework, an independent, interdenominational seminary whose constituents are united in the belief that the Bible is the infallible, authoritative Word of God…consecrated to educating men and women in all facets of gospel outreach.” The united schools became known as Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Dr. Okenga, the long-time pastor of Boston’s historic Park Street Church, became the new institution’s first president. Some of the emphases that characterize the school include the following:
- A strong commitment to global missions
- A commitment to church renewal in North America and, in particular, New England as seen through the close patterns of cooperation between the school and such para-church organizations as Vision New England
- An historic commitment to ministry in urban areas as seen in the CUME campus

Beginning with the founding of CUME in 1976 by a Hispanic, Dr. Eldin Villafañe, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary has been dedicated to serving the Hispanic Community of Greater Boston, New England, and the rest of the world. Twenty-five years later, CUME has seen three Hispanic American Deans, Dr. Eldin Villafañe (1976-1990), Dr. Efrain Agosto (1990-1995) and Dr. Alvin Padilla (1997 to present). Gordon-Conwell currently has five full-time Hispanic faculty, the most in the ATS outside of Seminario Evangelico de Puerto Rico, along with approximately ten adjunct Hispanic professors. Its collaboration with the Boston Theological Institute (BTI) provides additional bibliographic and human resources including professors Dr. Roberto Goizueta (BC), Dr. Roberto Pazmiño (ANTS), and Dr. Benjamin Valentin (ANTS). Now at the turn of the century, Gordon-Conwell finds itself uniquely positioned to not only continue its service to the Hispanic community, but to also make greater contributions to the future of Hispanic theological education in the United States and abroad.With over one hundred graduates over the last 25 years, CUME has prepared a regiment of Latino leadership to serve the church and community of Greater Boston, with many now serving other areas of the nation as well as other countries.CUME has also served to prepare Latino leadership in higher education. Many key program directors and Bible Institute leaders have been educated at CUME and gone on to serve their communities in the area of higher education. Through its leadership training in various areas of ministry, CUME has been able to foster an educational ethos and culture in many of the Hispanic churches. From higher education to Sunday School, leaders have found their programs enriched by the influence of CUME’s commitment to providing a contextually appropriate and highly applicable education. This educational climate and leadership training has served as part of the catalyst for unprecedented church growth in Greater Boston in the Latino community. One can draw almost distinct parallel lines of growth in the Latino Church with CUME’s development these past 25 years. CUME has always provided a venue for pastors from various denominations to network. The neutral ground of the classroom setting has proved to be a context in which leadership from diverse backgrounds can share vision and discuss the broader implications of ministry in the Hispanic Community. Through the years CUME’s leadership has addressed and partnered with other Hispanics in the church and community to respond to critical religious and social issues important both locally and nationally. CUME’s leadership has participated in many committees, associations and boards addressing issues critical to Hispanic concerns. Over the last 25 years, CUME has found itself serving as a model of Hispanic leadership in service to the broader national community. Schools with similar vision throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and Latin America have looked and continue to look to CUME as an effective model for the training of leadership in their communities and have found it to be highly suitable to meet their needs.

CUME: This is the urban campus center of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (1889/1976/1992). CUME works closely with another urban ministry in Boston, the Emmanuel Gospel Center. The Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME) is the Boston campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, the main campus of which is located in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. The main campus is roughly 30 miles away from the Boston campus, enabling the two campuses to easily share professors and resources. The program at CUME is contextualized to serve urban ministers and lay leaders, and from its founding has provided services to the Latino community, as well as periodically to Deaf, French and Portuguese communities as funding and staff have permitted.

CUME has provided 25 years of service to the ethnic church communities of the northeast. Literally hundreds of graduates and students are now serving as clergy, counselors, youth and social workers, as well as in staff positions within churches and human service organizations throughout the region. CUME acts as a key educational and program development resource for these persons who daily deal firsthand with systemic poverty, illiteracy, drugs and crime.

By fostering a spirit of hope through the development of skills and knowledge, CUME has provided significant long-term benefits to the communities of inner-city Boston and beyond. The mission of CUME is to help equip urban pastors and church leaders for more effective ministry and outreach in the urban community. In addition, the center has a secondary objective which has been to serve in a support capacity by providing resources, ministerial fellowship and stimulation for cross-denominational endeavors in evangelism and church growth.

This coheres with the seminary's mission to undertake its task as a training partner with the church. In fulfilling its mission, CUME served to address the training needs of ethnic minorities, especially Black and Latino leadership, in the early years. Programs for Haitians and Brazilian/Portuguese populations were added in 1982. Programs for the deaf began in 1990 and were offered through 1996 with the program scheduled for a new beginning this coming September. CUME has been the recipient of significant funding in the past from various foundations. Most recently, CUME worked with The Pew Charitable Trust in what became a very successful six-year regranting program that strengthened urban theological education all over the United States. The Pew Charitable Trust felt that CUME's experience in urban theological education positioned it as the best possible institution to judge how the funds should be distributed nationwide.

Indeed, the program was so successful that it was extended twice beyond its original four-year initially-proposed duration. The unique partnerships that are maintained by CUME with other Christian organizations have made it a national model, even a world-wide model, in the way that urban ministry should be done. From the beginning, CUME has had strong ties with Emmanuel Gospel Center, a multi-faceted city ministry that helped to found CUME in 1976. The partnership continues to this day, with EGC president Doug Hall and his wife Judy not only teaching in CUME's urban ministry program, but the Halls and their staff collaborating with CUME on many different projects that have city-wide and even world-wide impact. One area of special ministry that occurs through CUME in cooperation with other BTI schools is that in the area of Hispanic Ministry.

The Emmanuel Gospel Center
Gordon-Conwell and its urban campus, CUME, work closely with the Emmanuel Gospel Center, an important area of church renewal and Christian revitalization in the city of Boston. EGC works primarily with ethnic groups new to the city of Boston. The Center is located at the intersection of Boston’s South End and Roxbury in the City of Boston.

At the South Huntington Ave and Perkins Street intersection, make a right onto Perkins Street and follow past Jamaica Pond, bearing right on Cottage Street. The Jamaica Plains and Pond area reminds us of the fact that early settlers in this region had close ties with the island of Jamaica and trading in the Caribbean. The Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology campus is immediately on the left.
At the South Huntington Ave and Perkins Street intersection, make a right onto Perkins Street and follow past Jamaica Pond, bearing right on Cottage Street. The HCGOST campus is immediately on the left. Make the left and go up and down the hill and around.

HELLENIC COLLEGE AND HOLY CROSS GREEK ORTHODOX SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY
HCGOST: http://www.hchc.edu

Holy Cross is the Seminary of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America While is welcomes students from all backgrounds, its purpose is to educate persons to the pastoral ministry of the Orthodox Church. Originally founded as Holy Cross Theological School in 1937 in Pomfret, Connecticut, it expanded its vision in 1966 with the addition of a four-year liberal arts college, known as Hellenic College. While academically separate institutions, the two schools form one community, sharing the same campus and facilities.

Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology were founded together in 1937 as the Greek Orthodox Seminary for the Western Hemisphere. Located in Pomfret, Connecticut, the school moved to the Boston area, to Brookline in 1946/7. Its campus nearly abuts the Olmstead Museum and portions of Boston’s “Emerald Necklace.” Among the emphases of the school are the following:
- A deep commitment to education for parish ministry in the Orthodox Church of America and its sister institutions
- An emphasis upon spiritual formation in the Orthodox tradition
- A commitment to world Orthodoxy and relationships with other Orthodox institutions around the world, specifically the Universities of Athens and Thessaloniki
- A library with strong Patristics holdings along with the papers of Archbishop Iakovos

You will be coming out of the campus drive where the new library facade is, (a colonnade added to the front of an earlier building), and making the left on Goddard at the foot of the hill. Continue on Goddard Street for a good distance, past the Larz Anderson Park, then making a right on Clyde (which along the way becomes Lee Street). Continue past the Country Club (on the left) and go halfway around the rotary. making a right onto the continuation of Lee Street.

Brookline

Brookline represents one of the first “suburbs” in the United States and presents all of the virtues and liabilities of such. It is a community of extensive estates, golf courses, and well endowed homes as well as an area of mixed housing and busy commercial sections.

We will cross through Brookline on our way to additional BTI schools in Boston and Newton. Brookline is not only home to some of the older Boston families, it is also an area with one of the highest Jewish populations in the U. S. You will see temples and small havurats (house communities) throughout the area as well as kosher stores and delis, well-known shops like the Israeli Bookstore, and lovely retirement homes and senior/Community Centers.

One of the more famous schools located in Brookline, Hebrew College, is soon to be located adjacent to the BTI school, Andover Newton Theological Seminary, which we will visit shortly.

To the left, the Larz Anderson Park holds the well-known Museum of Transportation, where famous early cars and other historical modes of travel are on view.

Follow Lee Street up to its intersection with Route 9 and Chestnut Hill Ave (which is what Lee becomes when it crosses Route 9) and stay on Chestnut Hill Ave until you reach Cleveland circle, where two trolley lines and the cinema, appear just before the large intersection with Beacon Street. Stay on Chestnut Hill Ave, continuing up the hill to the five-way intersection with Commonwealth Ave.

Bear left onto Comm Ave. and continue along the ridge of the hill, looking to the right for Lake Street, which comes up quickly. Make the immediate first right into the property of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese. Bearing left, continue past the first set of buildings, then past the library on your right and down to the Seminary buildings.