Why New England? Why Boston?
Known as the birthplace of the American Revolution, Boston remains the center of influence in New England today. Full of rich history, elite education, technology, and medical research, the Boston metro area is home to around 5 million people. Scores of colleges and universities draw close to 250,000 college students from all over the world.
While the area holds great influence in our country today, the need for the gospel is overwhelming. In New England as a whole, only 8 in 1,000 people claim to be Christian – less than 1%! Of the 5 million people that make up the Boston metro area, only 3% are evangelical protestant (source: ARDA), and there is 1 SBC congregation for every 38,179 people (source: SEND Boston). There are over 100 unique neighborhoods, towns, and cities in the Greater Boston Area, many of which have ZERO life-giving gospel-preaching churches.
But God is on the move! More than ever before, people are open to spiritual conversations. Southern Baptist churches and church plants are alive and well, eager to partner with Kingdom-minded leaders to saturate Boston with the gospel. Just as Jesus told his disciples in Luke 10:2 – “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”
What are we going to do?
A church plant is starting a new church in an unreached area. Planting a church is what happens when believers live out the Great Commission in an unreached area. Jesus is shared, people are saved, disciples are made, and churches are planted. By God’s grace, we want to see many church planters sent out over the next couple of decades to reach the Greater Boston area. For a more detailed plan with dates included, see the “Our Timeline” section below.
Mission & Vision
To help people follow the way of Jesus.
To raise up a generation of disciple-makers who will share Jesus, make disciples, equip leaders, and plant churches, until every town in Boston has a faithful gospel witness.
Life on Mission (Matt 28:18-20)
Discipleship (2 Tim 2:2)
Authenticity
Hospitality (1 Thess 2:8)
Biblical Preaching (Heb 4:12)
Kingdom Multiplication (Luke 10:2)
The Ambrose Family
From the beginning of my time in ministry, church planting has been on mine and Amanda’s hearts. When I told Amanda I felt God was making it clear for me to make the move from teaching high school to go into full-time vocational ministry, she brought up church planting (Oct 2014). After we had that conversation, I began to research church planting with the North American Mission Board. As I was reading about it, so much of the work resonated with my gifts and passions. From an experience that I had doing summer missions with NAMB back in 2010 (while I was a Temple College student), God gave me a burden to minister in areas of North America that have little-to-no gospel witness. Reading about planting that day I realized – “This makes sense! This is what I want to do!”
There have been two times when we have pursued planting in the past, but the clear answer from the Lord was “not yet.” In the past seven years, God has provided two ministry opportunities to give me a wide variety of experience. Ministry at these two wonderful churches has shaped me into the pastor I am today.
When I was coming on staff at Temple, I was clear with my pastor that Amanda and I felt called to church planting. It was so cool to hear them say that Temple has been wanting to send out a church planter and team one day in the future! We all agreed that we should serve here for a couple of years, get some great experience, and if planting was still on our hearts, then we would address it again.
Amanda & I were married on March 24, 2012. The Lord has blessed us with three children: Lyla (6), Joshua (4), and Aaron (1). Before staying home with our children, Amanda taught 5th grade ELA and Social Studies at an elementary school in Shreveport, LA. She is passionate about discipling women and children. She’s excited about us serving together in this new season of ministry!
When God matched a Burden with a Place
In the Summer of 2021, I was on a week-long trip to serve with Harbor City Church, our church planting partner in Boston, MA. I had never been to New England before, and I was overwhelmed with the lostness of the region. I also fell in love with the people and the beauty of the area. One day during the trip, Jason Tallent, the pastor of Harbor City, told us about their vision to reach Boston with Bible-believing, gospel-preaching, life-giving churches. They have been praying for God to call more church planters to the region, to join them as laborers in the harvest. In that moment, I knew in my spirit that God was calling us to join the work in Boston. Over the last year and a half, God has confirmed to both Amanda and I that he is calling us to join him on mission in Boston!
We believe that God is calling our family to be part of this vision, to reach this area by making disciples and planting churches. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 10 – “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved! But how can they call on him they haven’t believed in? How can they believe without hearing about him? How can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? ’How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”
Working in partnership with the North American Mission Board, we will be sent to Boston from Temple Baptist Church in Ruston, LA to preach the good news, so people can hear, believe, and call on the name of the Lord to be saved.
Our Timeline
November 2-3, 2022
Send Network Assessment in Boston. We received the "ready to plant" green light from the assessment team.
Summer 2023
Ambrose family moves to Boston! We will temporarily land in Somerville, where we will live in NAMB housing while we acclimate to the city.
Fall 2023-December 2024
Send Network Residency with Redemption Hill Church in Medford, MA (read more about them at the link below). I will be mentored by an experienced church planter, Pastor Tanner Turley. Amanda will also receive care and instruction as a church planting wife. We will plan to move to the target community at some point during residency.
Redemption Hill ChurchJanuary 2025-Spring 2026
Continued work in target community, building towards a Sunday gathering. The primary focus will be sharing the gospel, discipling new believers, and multiplying small groups. Our goal is to have three healthy small groups before launching a public worship service.
Spring 2026
Estimated start date for a Sunday gathering. Small groups continue to meet weekly and multiply!
2030
Multiply a new congregation in a neighboring town. We won't stop until every town in Boston has a faithful gospel witness!
Financial Details
The blue columns represent the amount we need to fundraise each year. The yellow, orange, gray, and green columns represent the amount we will receive from other sources of funding, including NAMB, tithes from our church plant, bi-vocational work, and our local sending church.
5-Year Budget Breakdown
Monthly Support Commitments
Is God calling you to partner with us in this work? We understand that every potential supporting church or individual varies in capacity for giving. With that in mind, we ask that you pray about which of the following options may fit in your budget:
- 25 partners at $200/mo
- 20 partners at $500/mo
- 12 partners at $1,000/mo
- 3 partners at $2,000/mo
We ask that partners consider a minimum 3-year commitment, with a maximum commitment being 5 years. One-time gifts are appreciated as well! To give a one-time or monthly-recurring gift, please see the “Give” section below.
What Now?
We are confident that if God is calling us, he is also calling others to help! To reach Boston for Christ, we need you! Here are several specific ways that you can partner with us in the work:
- Pray – Where the Kingdom of God is advancing, the enemy will be there to fight back. We need prayer for our family, our team, and the lost in our city. Pray for the Holy Spirit to go before us every day and prepare opportunities for Gospel conversations. Pray for favor in our community!
- Give – God always provides for that which is His will. Funding a church plant is a joint effort. We know that because God put this mission on our hearts, He will also send the means for us to accomplish the mission. No matter the dollar amount, every donation makes an impact for the Kingdom.
- Go – God will send some you to join us in the work! We want to saturate every neighborhood of Boston with followers of Jesus! Be it short-term or long-term, we ask that you pray about joining us in living out the Great Commission in Boston.
Thank you for your support! Because of your help, we will see people saved, disciples made, leaders equipped for ministry, and many churches planted in the Greater Boston area!