Why Boston?
Boston is ranked as the 7th most influential Global City in the world.¹
With the highest concentration of colleges and universities of any city in the US (more than 100, with 250,000 students), Boston is known as “The Athens of America.” The schools are so highly regarded that 1 of every 6 world leaders received at least a part of their higher education in Boston …
The city itself is not that large, being only the 21st largest in the country. Yet the Greater Boston Metropolitan Area is the 10th largest, and the Combined Statistical Area anchored by the city is the 5th largest in the country at 7.5 million people.²
In addition to its size and academic influence, Boston is also ranked 3rd on the Creativity Index of American cities. It garners a 3 in creativity, 2 in high-tech, 6 in innovation, and 22 in diversity. 38% of the workforce are creative class workers.³
All this adds up to Boston being a highly influential cultural city, both in America and the world.
Boston’s Spiritual Landscape
According to the Pew Forum U.S. Religious Landscape Study, Massachusetts has an extremely low percentage of people who associate themselves with Evangelical Protestant Traditions, at only 11%. While the Catholic affiliation is high (43%), the actual practice is declining rapidly. According to the same study, the percentage of completely “Unaffiliated” people is higher than the national average at 17%. 4
The city of Boston is in even worse spiritual condition. In the city the percentage of unaffiliated people rises to over 20%, and those associated with Evangelical churches drops to just over 4%. 5
Historically, Boston is home to some of America’s greatest Christian traditions. The Puritans lived in Boston. Harvard began as a Christian seminary. The first Protestant missionary sent from North America, Adoniram Judson, was from Boston. Many of the churches in the city have now closed. Some have been renovated into apartment complexes, nightclubs, and restaurants.
The lack of churches in the city reflects the huge spiritual vacuum that exists there. Recent surveys show that over 80% of the people in Boston claim to be “spiritual” believing in some sort of higher power and an afterlife, but with no understanding of who God is, and no hope for eternity. That leads to pursuing fulfillment through education, money, sex, alcohol, and drugs. Sadly, none of these things will save or satisfy a person’s soul. Only Jesus can do that.
Now, more than ever, Boston is in great need of Jesus worshiping, gospel believing churches.
