Hope Christian Fellowship

Church can be a place where people pretend that everything is fine.  We can imagine it as a place where we need to hide the hardships and struggles of life.  We look around and think that everyone else has a relatively smooth life and that it is easy for them to worship Jesus.  But if we get past the assumptions and shallow way of thinking about others, we realize that life is probably hard for al...

Closing out this month's discussion on Bringing Outsiders In, Pastor Mark turns our focus to the younger generations at Hope. If we truly want to be a church that knows how to include people, we must be a church that models this to our kids and for our kids.

In sports competitions, someone who is really performing at their peak is said to be ‘in the zone’. That phrase has expanded to other realms as well – academics, business, art, and so much more. Getting ‘in the zone’ is a way we talk about functioning as well as possible and seeing the best version of the results we’re shooting for. In church, we are aiming for spiritual progress and growth. It st...

SUNDAY MORNING MESSAGE – Finding My Way In Every person at Hope has a story. Whether this is your first week or you’ve been here for years, we all start as ‘outsiders’. While there are some personalities that are not bothered by this reality, most people find it uncomfortable and challenging. We’re going to hear from several Hopers this morning who will share their stories of finding their way ‘in...

The world in which we live is awash in virtual connection, but seems to not leave much time or energy for actual face-to-face connection. People have hundreds of friends or followers online, but spend most of their time interacting with people by typing words into their phone. Of course, we all feel how unhealthy and harmful this can be. But many of us don’t see any other way to live. As a church,...

Some people are ‘directionally challenged’.  Basically, they can get lost anywhere at any time. If you are heading out on a trip or adventure of some sort, you don’t want to put that person in charge of figuring out which direction to go. Spiritually, we’re talking about outsiders becoming insiders, which is a passion for our church.  But that’s a direction too!  Movement from outside to inside de...

Jesus Invites People In

Here at Hope we believe that our key mission is to share God’s redeeming work with everyone we can. We do this with everyone God has conveniently placed into our lives – family members, co-workers, and church family. But we also want to be sensitive to when God is calling us out of our normal circles to minister to those we would not normally interact with. Enter Kid’s Alley. As a church we have s...

SHARING JESUS One of our big goals as a church family for 2019 is to take a step forward in Sharing Jesus. This is a challenge for us as a church to increase our intention and skill level in reflecting Jesus. And it is also a personal challenge to each of us to grow in our calling as witnesses. So we’ll take a few weeks and talk through several ideas that can help us. There is no more directly ete...

God often calls us into positions where we feel inadequate. This feeling is probably strongest when it comes to raising up the next generation. Whether you are a parent, aunt or uncle, older cousin, teacher, ministry volunteer, or working with kids in any other capacity we all have a stake in the future. Each generation poses a different set of challenges, but this morning we’ll look at three bibl...

This is one of our FAVORITE Sundays of the year – the closing program for our VBS. The whole church has enjoyed an unbelievable week, and we get to gather one last time to learn, to sing, and to enjoy what the Lord has been doing all week in our kids and workers. After we get to watch our kids share what they’ve learned, we’re going to take a look at a story that Jesus told. His point was that peo...

High school can be a brutal time of life. For many teens, it is a time when the people with advantage use it against those without advantage. Many can feel left out, bullied, or invisible. At a time in their lives when many doubts about their own identity and personal worth come to the surface, this kind of social pressure can be overwhelming. But too often, our culture doesn’t stop this kind of b...

Have you ever had a really good story to tell? This kind of story is the type where you are excited about what happened and what it means. If you can’t think of one, imagine getting the job of your dreams or finding the person you want to marry. These are the stories we can’t wait to tell someone. You don’t just wait until someone asks you. Most of the time, you call someone to tell them the news...

If you can remember a time in your life when you tried to learn a new skill, you understand how frustrating it can be to continue to try when you fail time after time. Whether it's riding a bike, or learning a new math, or figuring out how to have a healthy relation ship, new abilities almost never arrive fully developed. There is a learning process that takes time and patience. The same idea...

Think of your favorite story – whether it is a movie, a book, or even a personal story from your own life. There are parts of that story that you just love because they fill your heart with emotions and joy. The storyline finds a way to bring you back to a moment of hope and happiness. But the chances are very high that your story included moments where all was not well. Some damage was done, or s...

This Father’s Day, we’re inviting our kids to take over our service. We’ll have our GoZone in the main auditorium and the whole church will join their normal Sunday routine. We do this in honor of our Dads who have an incredible and indelible impact on their children. And we do it to partner with all our parents as they work to lead their children spiritually. At Hope, our HopeKids Ministries exis...

How are you at responding to messages and texts? Some people are so continuously on their phone that every message is immediately returned. Others look at their phone once in a while, and when they get a notification, they neglect to respond. No matter how you are at responding, you’d certainly like others to respond to messages you send that need an answer. Responding is a natural part of any hum...

The Olympics have a unique tradition: after the winner and the runners up are decided for an event, the champions are honored by standing on a pedestal to receive their medals, and having the winner’s national anthem played. This idea goes way back to the ancient games, almost 800 years before Jesus was born, when victors were given an olive wreath to wear on their heads so all would know that the...

If you’ve ever been at a public pool, you’ve probably seen a sign that warns against running near the pool. Of course, this is common sense because a wet surface can be quite slippery and pose great danger if a person is not careful. The idea of losing your footing is exactly why we worship. The world around us can pose many hazards to our spiritual footing. We’ve all experienced how the trials of...

Ephesians Bible Study

We don’t often associate music with a fight. In the last few years, we have seen the tragic combination of violence and music too often. The irony is that music is generally associated with enjoyment and ‘good feelings’. So when anger or danger shows up where people are singing along to their favorite songs, it is startling. But one of the big reasons we sing in church is to do battle spiritually....

SUNDAY MORNING MESSAGE – Mother’s Day – Choices of the Heart ( Genesis 38:24-30 ) Few gifts in life are more universal or precious than the gift of motherhood. While not everyone experiences it the same way, we all have a mother. And this simple reminder points us back to the Creator of life. Our society is currently in a real struggle to decide what to do with babies before they are born. As beli...

You’re certainly familiar with the expression, “desperate times call for desperate measures.” Good news hardly ever precedes or follows that expression. But it’s just pithy enough to sound true. We’ve all experienced that fight or flight moment where our back was against the wall. Behavior that would normally be unacceptable, all of a sudden became a real possibility. But do desperate times actual...

Re-gifting is the genius idea of taking something you've been given that you didn't want, and using it as a gift to someone else. It has the benefit providing a free present that you would have to otherwise buy, and it allows you to feel less guilty about not wanting what you've been given. However, it can hardly be characterized as generous. Or thoughtful.  Or loving.  As believers, w...

This Easter Sunday, we have the privilege of having our choir share with us the story of God’s work among the people of this world. There is no narrative in all of history that has had a more profound effect. Join us to experience this incredible music, and to witness again why the Easter story has been such a force throughout history – one that continues to impact the world today. Then we’ll take...