Our Vision
everyone everywhere experiencing the gospel
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No matter where you’re from, what you’re going through, or where you’re at in your faith journey – City on a Hill is here for you.
We are a new church that launched on September 8, 2019. We seek to be a church, where it’s safe to explore life’s most challenging questions about God, life and meaning in relationships with others who care. So, whether you consider yourself a seeker, skeptic or even a seasoned Christian, you are invited to join us at City on a Hill Church. We’ve saved a seat for you.
Our church desires to be:
Passionate about the glory of God and the good of the city.
Radically diverse with an uncommon unity.
Generous with time, money, gifts and caring relationships.
Pursuing gospel-justice and care for the city.
Strategically sharing the truth, love and hope of Jesus locally and globally.
Our Core Values
Gospel. Community. Mission.
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Our 3 core values bring clarity what matters most at City on a Hill Church. They guide how we care for one another, achieve our mission, influence major leadership decisions as well as everyday ministry plans. They even help us navigate staffing and budget issues. In short, they keep us focused on the unique call God has given to us as a local church. We are all about our 3 core values of gospel, community and mission.
Gospel
The Gospel is the good news that addresses the most serious problem that we have as human beings – God is holy and just, and we are not. As people, we have all fallen short of God’s design and standard as Creator. Sin has separated us from a relationship with God where life, joy and peace abound. However, God has done for us what we couldn’t possibly do for ourselves. He made a way to repair this divide. As God, Jesus took on our sin as if it was his own, and received the justice that we deserved for our wrongdoing. Jesus died in our place canceling our entire record of sins. In power, Jesus rose from the dead three days later to extend love, forgiveness and his own life’s record of righteousness to any person who simply believes this message. This is indeed, good news. But it gets even better...
Community
The Gospel makes us a family. The good news of Jesus not only reunites people to God, but it unites people into a community – where God is Father and church is family. A family that is vibrant, diverse and growing as the gospel transforms lives and desires to love God deeper and love others better. There are few things more refreshing than experiencing the unconditional love and authenticity of a community marked with the grace and hope of the Gospel. For us at City on a Hill, this community is family – and you’re invited to the table.
Mission
The Gospel makes us a family on mission with God. The beauty of the gospel not only unites people together into a powerful and loving community, but it also gives this community a mission – to delight in, declare and display this gospel to the world in word and deed. This means that our jobs, education, neighborhoods, and resources are tools and platforms to share the love and truth of Jesus. In other words, this gospel that saved us, is the same gospel that sends us on mission with God for the good of others.
Our Story
A church planted for the glory of god and the good of the City
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City on a Hill Church in Brighton is the 3rd congregation within the City on a Hill Network. Our history reaches back to the fall of 2009 when Hope Fellowship Church in Cambridge, MA started a new church in Brookline, MA. The new church was led by Bland Mason and adopted the name, “City on a Hill Church” based on Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Starting new churches has been in the DNA of the City on a Hill Church Network ever since. Since the fall of 2009, City on a Hill Church in Brookline started Hub Church in South Boston, Renewal Church in Bay Village, Indian Community Church in Waltham, and Milestone Church in Natick. In 2018, a young church in Somerville called Redeemer Church, joined forces with City on a Hill Brookline to become City on a Hill Somerville and a network of neighborhood churches was born. From this point, our heart has been to start more City on a Hill congregations, pooling our resources together for the glory of God and the good of our city.
Therefore, in 2017 Aaron and Emily Peters, moved to Brighton to begin the work of planting another City on a Hill Congregation. In 2018, 4 families moved to Brighton to join in the planting efforts. Together, they formed the core team along with 8 others joining from the Brookline congregation. By the summer of 2019, this team grew from 22 to over 40 people who were committed to planting City on a Hill Church in Brighton.
As a result, we had the grand opening of City on a Hill Church in Brighton September 8th 2019. Our church of 80+ people, now gathers every with 6 community groups meeting throughout the week to live out the gospel, community and mission together. But our work in the city is far from over. Our Network will start City on a Hill Church in Forest Hills the fall of 2020. And as we press into the future, we desire to be a network of neighborhood churches that continually grows in generosity, service and love for God and our city. The best is yet to come!
All CoaH Churches are local and autonomous churches that network together to advance the gospel in Boston and beyond. We are financially independent but supportive of each other and collaborate wherever we can do best serve each other and the city. This means joint sermon series, worship gathering, retreats, trainings, mission trips, and church plants! Together, we can do more in collaboration than we can apart! We love the city and want the very best for it and we believe that’s Jesus. Therefore, we desire to share the love, truth and hope of Jesus and believe one of the most effective strategies to do this is by starting new churches locally and globally.
There are currently 4 churches in the network:
CoaH Brookline (Lead Pastor, Bland Mason)
CoaH Somerville (Lead Pastor, Fletcher Lang)
CoaH Brighton (Lead Pastor, Aaron Peters)
CoaH Forest Hills (Lead Pastor, Steven Castello)
The best is yet to come!