Dear Hope,
During a typical summer, many of us take our annual vacations, visit and celebrate with family, and enjoy the longer days with a variety of activities. However, this summer has proven to be quite different. Travel plans have changed. Quarantine ensues. And, we wear masks for the most routine errands. During this unusual season, we are praying that you find some normalcy as you care for yourselves and creatively navigate obstacles that are a reality this summer.
At Hope, our staff also takes vacations during these months and are experiencing the challenges of what is now our present “normal.” However, we have committed ourselves (and have been encouraged by Hope’s elders) to creatively “get-a-way” and enjoy the breaks that are usually planned. For example, Pastor Dean and Rebecca, usually take the month of July to vacation with family in Canada. This summer the Canadian/United States border is closed, so Dean and Rebecca will take a break (a much different one) during July and August.
As our leadership works toward having in-person Sunday services and prepares for the next year of ministry this Fall, we will also be taking vacation time to refresh for what is ahead. We pray you will be doing what you can to renew yourselves as well.
Blessings in Christ,
The Hope Staff
HOPE AT HOME. Click here for the Hope at Home Sunday service from last week. Join us this Sunday for a message from Adult Ministry Pastor Rob Cupp.
HOPE AT HOME KIDS.
— Print ahead: God’s Holy Presence Packet
— If you have questions or feedback regarding Hope’s Kids Ministry please email Anna McMichael, Kids Ministry Director.
YOUTH. Through July, we will resume having Youth Group in-person (safely according to the state’s social-distancing and other requirements) on the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Wednesdays of the month and remotely via Zoom on the 3rd Wednesday of the month. We will not have our Sunday Youth Hope Group in July and we are not planning on having other youth ministry events until governmental guidelines change. For additional details, contact Arik Stewart.
GIVING. Thank you for continuing to support Hope as we adjust and expand in new and creative ways through our ministries in Denver and our missionary partnerships around the world. Click here to connect with our online giving options and click here to view our May financial snapshot. Due to several recent extra gifts to our “benevolence” fund we have been able to care for and help several households during this difficult season.
HAVE A NEED? Your Hope family is here for you with a variety of resources available in your time of need! If you need prayer, submit your request here. If you have had an income disruption, submit a request for transitional financial assistance here. If you have any other need that Hope may be able to assist with, click here to set up a phone or video meeting with one of our staff.
HOPE GROUPS. Group leaders and members are connecting and caring for one another in various creative ways. We have groups that are continuing to meet online and some groups beginning to meet in person. If you are not in a Hope Group and would like to be, click here.
SHARING HOPE
Hope Community Church is dedicated to the service of Jesus through caring and loving others. We would like to share encouraging stories of happenings within the church and in the lives of our church family. Please consider contributing to Sharing Hope by emailing us news that we may include below. Thank you!
HOPE MISSIONS. Many of you have met Bill and Karen when they’ve visited Hope. For their security, we share no more than their first names electronically and refer to them as “BandK” in their communications with us. For many years God has blessed their ministry in the Far East, and they are now waiting expectantly in the U.S. until their country of ministry opens and the pandemic hopefully wains. Below is their story of relational discipleship at work. Praise the Lord! God is at work harvesting souls all around this world! Keep praying for BandK!
Relational discipleship changes lives
One Sunday evening as mountain students were arriving one-by-one for a “tea party” at our apartment, I opened the door for “John” and was surprised and even a bit frightened to see a stranger standing beside him – since one must be super cautious in the Redlands.
“Larry” had heard his roommate John talk about how he had been healed from TB, as a result of our communities’ prayers and financial assistance for medication. Larry suffered from chronic stomach pain and had come hoping to be healed as well! Over time, the Lord indeed healed Larry—first, the healing of his soul and eventually his body as well.
Following graduation Larry became a teacher at a college in a distant mountain area, so his relatives arranged for his marriage to a woman he had never met. We traveled two long days by train and bus to reach the remote mountain area where Larry taught in order to participate in their wedding. His own parents couldn’t make the rugged trip, so Larry asked us to represent them. When we asked if his wife believes in Jesus, Larry replied: “Not yet! I only just met her!”
A year or so later, Larry and his wife came home for the holidays, so we went to see them in Larry’s village. While hiking together, I asked his wife if she believes in Jesus. She emphatically replied that she does! When I asked if her family knows that she believes, she told me they do, and that most of them have decided to believe, too!
Today, Larry and his college friend, John, both teach at the same college. Each Sunday their families gather in each other’s homes along with some other coworkers. Whenever they come home for the holidays, we visit Larry and his family in the village where we now partner together in helping fatherless children go to school, as well as providing school supplies and toiletries, coats for the elderly, and hand-knit hats and mittens for the children.
As we sow seeds of love, watering it with our lives, and fertilizing it with acts of kindness, God causes the seed to grow and He brings forth a harvest… thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as was planted! Praise HIM!!
MISSIONARIES. Please continue to pray for our ministry partners around the world who are facing unique challenges in this difficult time.
STAYING IN TOUCH. If you would like to reach out to some of Hope’s Seniors (those who may not have access to computers or who would enjoy some remote company), please consider making phone calls! For more information contact Pastor Jay.
SHARING HOPE CREATIVELY. As you know each weekend Hope at Home can now be viewed from all over the world. Consider sharing the service link address with friends and family who may be encouraged during this isolated time. If someone you know would like to be added to our email communication list, please fill out the form below. It’s even possible to share the service through a phone call. Two households are currently doing this so that others without wifi access are able to listen to the church service!