Often when people refer to a “church” they mean a particular building, but the building is merely the meeting place of the church. The “church” is the people. Hope is one church—one larger community of people—who worship on Sunday mornings at multiple locations in smaller, more intimate gospel communities.
Since we began, Hope’s vision has been to be a church where people—especially those who have been wounded by the church or who are cynical about Christianity—can experience and consider the Gospel of Grace that Jesus revealed in community.
As we’ve grown, the multi-congregational model of church has enabled us to combine small church intimacy with large church resources and quality. With this model, we are able to: 1) create more intimate worshiping communities around the city, 2) contextualize the mission and vision of Hope within each congregation, 3) provide community for pastors, staff, and other leaders that promotes spiritual health and longevity in ministry, 4) leverage the gifts of pastors and staff for the benefit of the whole church, and 5) efficiently use the kingdom resources entrusted to us through centralized operations.
We have one church staff; one group of elders, deacons, and women’s shepherding team. We share one ministry vision and philosophy of ministry. We collaborate on sermon series; worship; men’s, women’s, youth, children’s ministries; and many other areas of ministry.
Each congregation also has its own Congregational Care Team composed of elders, deacons, women’s shepherding team members, and staff from that congregation. These teams focus on the particular shepherding and ministry needs of their congregation.
Our desire is that each congregation will bring gospel-centered community and hope to different people and areas throughout our city.