The Heart Of Ruggles

We believe our attempts to live in the heart of God’s calling upon Ruggles pleases the Lord and draws us together into his divine pleasure. As the light reflects off the cross in our sanctuary, it illustrates the Lord’s desire for this church to be a “beacon of light on Beacon Street” for our Lord Jesus Christ. We desire that his revelation shine on us and that we journey with others who are looking to live in that revelation. With this in mind, the heart of Ruggles is expressed among us primarily through genuine worship, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, relational evangelism and discipleship, unity in the Body of Christ, and a commitment to prayer.

1. Our Worship: Our desire and hope is to possess a love for God that is genuine, and to express this love for him in worship. We would like to be “…the kind of worshipers the Father seeks” (John 4:23 [show] But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. (ESV)
). Sometimes this expression is quiet and meditative; other times this expression is joyous and exuberant. Whatever the expression, it is our desire to worship him as the Sovereign Lord of lords and King of kings.

2. The Ministry of the Holy Spirit:  Ruggles is a place that introduces Christians to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. God seems to have given us grace to bring believers into a more intimate walk with Him through His Spirit. Although the gifts of the Holy Spirit are present among us, we long for more expression of the gifts. It is important for us to continue in faith that expressions of the gifts will increase, yet rejoice in what God has already graced us with now.

3. Relational Evangelism/Discipleship:  We love to see others come to faith in Christ and we have a growing desire for more people to respond to the Gospel. Our heart’s desire and prayer is for the searching, secular person to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. We want to walk with and pray for the person who is looking for faith, and disciple those who respond to the Gospel. Our desire is to be ready, with other churches in Boston, to welcome into the Church community those who come to faith in Christ as the revelation of God is impressed upon us all.

4. Unity for the Church:  There is a special anointing upon Ruggles that moves us to contribute to the unity of the Body of Christ in Boston and beyond. Our past role in New England-wide training in evangelism, our involvement in city-wide prayer events, our building of relational bridges with Catholic communities and Messianic ministries, our sharing facilities with other churches are all evidences of this calling. We believe God has given us a heart for unity that pleases Him under the theological umbrella of the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed. We have a heart to be part of the answer to the Lord’s Prayer for unity in John 17 [show] When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." (ESV)
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5. Commitment to Prayer: An emphasis on prayer as an expression of our relationship with the Lord is at the heart of Ruggles. Although we are told in Scripture to ask, seek and knock, at the core of our prayer lives is the habit of walking into the presence of God as ones who have a personal relationship with Him. Prayer of all kinds is encouraged but with the inherent awareness that God is with us and he loves us to have special times to be in his presence.