TO BE AN EXPRESSION OF GOD’S HEART IN OUR GENERATION

This is expressed in our primary purposes: 

1.        To proclaim and demonstrate the gospel of the kingdom.

2.        To bring people into genuine relationship with Christ in the context of the Body. 

3.        To be a Cell-based church, built on the foundation of loving and caring relationships joined together by the Spirit, thus becoming a dwelling place of God.  

4.        To give hope and help to the poor, the lost, the sick, and the oppressed. 

5.        To make disciples and release into servant ministry laborers for the harvest field. 

Every church has gifts and callings that are specifically given to them by God.  Each church then uses its personality and gifts in the context of the greater city-wide church to accomplish the purposes of God for that particular area.  We need to understand the identity and mission in order to adequately function in our specific expression in the Church and do what God has for us.

There are several key word-pictures that have become His call to us as a body.

First of all, He has called us to be a Cell Church.  We are to be a church built on the foundation of small groups.  These groups meet weekly and house to house for the purpose of edification, discipleship, and evangelism.  The groups then come together in corporate Sunday Celebrations for common worship, common word, and common vision.  The overall structure of the groups forms the community called Hope Christian Fellowship. 

Secondly, He has called us to express His heart.  We are to be a body of believers who are learning what God feels in His heart, and then live that out in the context of our generation.  We want to feel what He feels, see what He sees, and be broken over the things that break His heart.

Third, He has called us to be a community of believers.  We are a family; brothers and sisters in Christ, living in relationships of encouragement and service to one another.  We are not isolated individuals drifting through life, but members of each other, a living expression of the Body of Christ.  Those relationships are not defined by race, economics or any other barrier.  They are defined by the love of Christ.

Fourth, He has called us to be an army.  We’re in the army now.  We are to be an army trained for battle.  We are called to be a church engaging in the spiritual battle for the souls of mankind.  We view every member as an integral part of this army, discovering their place in the army, and then functioning strategically in the war.

Fifth, He has called us to be a safe place for the hurting and broken.  We are to be a “hospital” and a “refuge” for the sick and needy, a place where the mercy and grace of God are overflowing.  As wounds are healed and lives restored, the army of God increases in number and more lives are changed.

Finally, He called us to be a place of HOPE!  Your past does not equal your future.  No matter what your circumstances or how impossible your problems seem, there is HOPE.  Why?  Because God cares and He is here to help you.

To really know someone, one must know the value system that motivates and drives that person forward.  At the Church of Living Hope we give our time, money, and energy to these values;