As our recent survey results are compiled, we begin to see a picture of the activity of Christianity in Boston (2001-2006) emerging. The Growing Edge of Boston’s Church Community is coming into view. Furthermore, we can now begin to ask some of the more particular questions regarding the vitality of the church in Boston, such as, “Is the Quiet Revival stage which begun in 1965 continuing?” “What is the number of new churches planted in Boston?” “Is the rate of church planting consistent with what has been observed in the past decades of the Quiet Revival?” “Where in Boston are these new churches being planted?” “Who is planting them?” and, “What populations are being engaged in the process?” With this current survey information we can begin to see the number and nature of the churches in The Growing Edge of Boston’s Church Community.

Not only is the number of new churches encouraging, we can also begin to see the geographic and cultural diversity of the “Quiet Revival” stage appears to be continuing also. Where are the new churches? We can see that new churches of 2001-2006 have been planted in every one of the 16 Boston neighborhoods and the city of Cambridge.

In a general sense, the Boston neighborhoods which experienced the higher number of new churches planted: East Boston, Hyde Park, Roxbury and Dorchester, align with the neighborhoods which also have the greater projected population increases as determined by the 2000 U.S. Census data and the “2008 Projected Populations” by the Boston Dept. of Neighborhood Development. In East Boston, the projected population increase from 2000-2008 is 2,502, similarly for Roxbury the projection is 1,904. In the case of Dorchester, the results for North and South Dorchester are combined for a total projected increase of 2,067. The only exception to the relationship between population projections and number of new churches planted in this group is Hyde Park where the projected population increase was only 791. However, Hyde Park has 11 new churches planted. For basis of comparison, Hyde Park has the same number of new churches planted as East Boston with less than one-third the projected population increase.

But why were churches then being planted in neighborhoods with projected population decreases, such as, Jamaica Plain (1,017), Back Bay/Beacon Hill (833), and Roslindale (with a decrease of 279)? Jamaica Plain had five churches planted between 2001-2006, Back Bay/Beacon Hill reported one, and in Roslindale two new churches were identified. It appears that the real and projected population shifts may be a factor in the location of new churches when populations are increasing. However, the opposite doesn’t appear to apply to decreasing neighborhood populations.

Instead, this information seems to trigger more questions rather than easy explanations. For example, “To what extent does the geographic proximity of churches to the homes of its members impact church development as congregants are just as likely to live outside the neighborhood (or even Boston) in some of these churches?” Is it possible that geography on a neighborhood scale is becoming less of a factor in The growing Edge of Boston’s Church Community? Or perhaps there is something to be learned regarding the unique ability of vital church plants to thrive in a location which is experiencing a downward population shift and the numerous challenges which may explain the exodus.

Regarding the nature of the populations being engaged in the new churches, we can consider the languages and ethnic groups reported by the churches as an indicator. Within the 98 new churches in Boston, 76 of them reported the language used for worship. Of these 76 churches, almost half of them, 36 are non-English or bi-lingual, 19 worship in Spanish, 8 in Haitian Creole and 9 in Portuguese. Greek, Korean and Russian languages also were reported; one new church for each of these languages.

In the 16 new Cambridge churches, 15 reported their languages as follows: English 4, Portuguese 4, Korean 2, Amharic 1, Bengali 1, Creole 1, French 1, and 1 church which offers bi-lingual Taiwanese-English worship services. Within the new churches of Boston and Cambridge, ethnicities reported included: African, African American, Anglo, Asian, Brazilian, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Greek, Haitian, Hispanic, Indian, Korean, Korean-American, Latvian, Multi-ethnic, Nigerian, Taiwanese, Vietnamese and West Indian.

As mentioned in The Millennium Edition, “new church development in Boston during 1995-2000… reflected the continued growth of many international immigrant communities in Cambridge and Boston’s increasing multi-ethnic neighborhoods.” The same appears to apply to the current 2001-2006 research results and a glimpse of the vision of the church in Rev. 7:9.