We, the Executive Committee of The Allston Abbey, are gathering people living and working in Allston and Brighton to realize a dream many years in the making: to bring together the diverse, multiethnic, and multicultural communities living in these neighborhoods because we believe our presence as the Episcopal Church calls us to embody the Good News of Jesus through authentic and mutual relationships with all of our neighbors.

 

We will engage long-term residents, recent immigrants, new neighbors, students, young adults, LGBTQ+ people, and artists, prioritizing those marginalized by society because of their race, ethnicity, language, and class. We will also engage community groups and leaders, including activists, non-profit and community organizations, and elected officials; Emmanuel House and the Creche network; students of the Anglican-Episcopal Community of Learning at the BU School of Theology; and any live-in residential or worshipping communities as they develop. We have many constituencies because we believe that multiple points of entry to a Jesus-centered, grace-filled Christian community are equally valid and necessary.

 

We will build a place of Christian formation that is equally affirming of lay and ordained vocations which embodies neo-monastic values of hospitality, contemplation, and community, as well as participatory, non-hierarchical forms of leadership.

 

We will birth a vibrant place where all can experience a true sense of belonging, a constant invitation to share, to be listened to, and to start new friendships. We will explore ways to live our faith in a God that is present in all. In that faith, we seek mutual transformation, to be changed by our new relationships as much as our neighbors are changed.

 

We will build an ecclesial model for the wider church that is deeply immersed in this particular place, that uses its space to advance God’s dream of justice, that is both innovative and self-sustaining, that constantly deepens collaboration among many constituent parts, that is anti-racist and anti-oppressive in all we undertake, and that is led by those we seek to serve.

 

We will begin our work by opening the doors as often as possible to as many people as possible in as many ways as possible. We will gather for prayer and worship regularly. We will get the buildings fit for our purposes. We will coach each other with the gifts and talents we each bring to this sacred project. We will listen deeply and build relationships with our neighbors of all walks of life and invite them into our visioning and ongoing discernment. As we map the assets and gifts in Allston and Brighton, we will invite our neighbors to help us meet our needs, and as we uncover their needs, we will seek to meet them for mutual flourishing. We will bring together our various constituencies to support one another’s efforts and vitality. We will develop relationships with our Diocese, including parish allies, and other funders as we work to make the collective self-sustaining. We will recruit an Advisory Committee to provide us with an external perspective and continue to seek inspiration from other creative models in the Episcopal Church and beyond.