CTK History
Christ the King Presbyterian Church has its beginnings in the 1995 uniting of three groups. In 1994 the Presbyterian Church in America sent Pastor Terry Gyger to plant a church in Boston and he set to work, gathering a core group that met regularly. At the same time pastor Osni Ferreira was pastoring a Brazilian Presbyterian church. After connecting several times to discuss the possibility of a concerted endeavor, the two groups joined each other as Christ the King Presbyterian Church. When local Brazilian pastor David Gomez decided to return to Brazil, the congregation he led joined the effort.
The Presbyterian Church in America was founded in 1973. The primary impetus for the founding of a new denomination was the perceived theological drift in the mainline Presbyterian denomination. With the new denomination came a new energy to forge an orthodoxy that would not be constrained by 17th century issues and sensibilities. This is never an easy endeavor, but the denomination has grown from its southern roots and spread across the United States and into international settings. For support and representative reasons the PCA is organized into regional groups. Christ the King is part of the Southern New England Presbytery, which is comprised of churches in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. We are also part of a network within the denomination of city churches connected through Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC. Other cities in the network include Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego and Washington.
After much prayer and a remarkable financial gift the group purchased the Prospect Street building, originally of the Prospect Street Congregational Church, on July 13, 1995. The church met in the fellowship hall while renovations of the sanctuary were completed. Renovation work continues and hopefully will do so for the next several years until the building is restored and made more useful.
In February of 1996 Pastor Osni returned to Brazil and was succeeded by Pastor Samuel Viera. Christ the King Presbyterian Church was formally constituted a particular church in the PCA in August of 1996. In March of 1999, Terry Gyger accepted a call to Redeemer Presbyterian in New York and nine months later Rick Downs was installed as associate pastor. Pastor Samuel returned to Brazil at the end of 2002 and Pastor Naamã Mendes arrived in February of 2003. Today Naamã and Rick work together with Assistant Pastors Bradley Barnes and Juliano Socio to feed and encourage a truly multi-cultural church.
It is our desire to be the initial church in a church planting movement throughout the Boston area. We have already been involved in planting Brazilian churches in Marlboro, Framingham and East Boston as well as a multi-ethnic church – Citylife, meeting in Back Bay. We hope, by God’s grace, to see at least 20 healthy, reproducing churches planted in the next 20 years, extending out into the suburbs and the North and South Shores.
Our location in Cambridge is deliberate. While future sister churches will seek to minister in the suburbs, it is our desire to remain in the city. We love the city and want to live in the city, pray for it, and work for its peace and well being. We want to take seriously the issues facing the city and work to bring the values of the kingdom of God to bear. We long to see the city healed and beautified.
At the center of our vision is the conviction that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, that every malady and grief is addressed and substantially healed in this gospel. We long to see a transformation of the city by the outgrowth of the lives of the congregants as they are transformed by this gospel. We are convinced that the good news of the love of God expressed in the death and resurrection of Jesus towards real sinners with real problems will change everything as it courses through our communities.