Who We Are

At Hope we cherish the freedom, refreshment, and power in the honest confession that real life is radically “not the way it’s supposed to be.” The truth is that we and our world are broken.  All of us. We cry out for redemption. We long for relief. Living into this truth liberates us to be honest before the face of God and genuine with each other. We own the fact that we cannot fix our world or ourselves, and we aim to be a church rooted in the authentic confession of our shared need of a Rescuer who can restore us and our world to the real life we were designed to enjoy.

We prize the sweet message of the free grace and tender mercy of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ. His atoning death on the cross and his victorious resurrection from the dead are transforming our brokenness and mess into the way it’s supposed to be. The Gospel (literally, the “good news”) of Jesus Christ brings true hope to the reality of our need and brokenness. Rather than instructions of how to live a moral life that might get God’s attention, the Gospel is the welcome news of a loving Redeemer who lays down his life that we may find the dignity and purpose of our humanity. We never outgrow our need, but the joyous, good news is that we can never overdraw Christ’s supply of free grace.

Rather than a vague sense that things will simply get better with time and experience, the good news of the Gospel of Christ promises that the best is yet to come – that Jesus is making all things new and that death and brokenness do not get the last word but resurrection and restoration do. At Hope, we long for the fullness of heaven as our true hope born of Christ’s resurrection, and we labor in the present to bring foretastes of that restoration to come into the present of our lives here on earth. God’s kept promises assure us of joy, peace, freedom, and purpose now and forevermore.

The true hope of the good news of Christ has vast implications for the here and now of our real lives. Christ has redeemed his people to be co-laborers in His Kingdom – his hands and feet and faces of love commissioned to go into all of life, every vocation, every community, every relationship to be witnesses to and expressions of his grace. As agents of the King, we build his Kingdom with expressions of mercy in word and deed, declaration and demonstration.

This real life of true hope in Christ’s Kingdom cannot flourish in isolated, individualistic compartments. As a church, we are convinced that enduring transformation only takes place in the context of relationships and community. We value the power of shared experience and ongoing growth in grace. We treasure life together: knowing others and being known by them, loving others and being loved by them. So we eat together and worship together and work together and pray together and serve others together – always with an eye towards making room for more.