HOPE FAMILY NEWS

HOPE LOS ANGELES, 16TH ANNIVERSARY

Hope of Los Angeles celebrated its 16th anniversary on September 23, 2007. The theme was "Back to the Future: Learning from the Past, Living in the Present, and Building for the Future. " It was a great celebration with 97 people!

The members were inspired from the passage in Philippians 3:12-14 to spend their time and energy building something that will last forever, which is the church of Jesus Christ. The service included a talk show called the " The Kuch Show" which featured Pastor Chai's sharing about the simple beginnings of the church and his passion to serve God. The church started in an apartment with six people! God has blessed Hope of LA tremendously in the past 16 years. It also featured Annie Tran sharing about her struggles committing to the church, and about how God challenged her to make a decision not to live for herself. Jay Jaroensak shared how God spoke to him to be trained so he can be used by God for missions in the future.

Members were inspired to live for a greater purpose and to rededicate their lives back to Christ. After the sermon, three people accepted Christ, five people rededicated their lives back to Christ and ten responded to serve in at least one ministry.

The service also highlighted Hope of LA' dedication to make a difference in the community.

The faces of Hope LA during the 16th Anniversary looked very different from its beginning in 1991. Hope LA started in September 1991 with six Thai people. Two were working adults, three were students at a local community college, and a housewife. Pastor Chai remembers the people's willingness to serve God. They went door to door evangelizing and threw parties where they could invite people. Eventually in 1994 , Hope LA moved to the Travelodge Hotel. This was the first time Hope LA would have a church outside the home.

Pastor Chai and his wife Crystal were appointed to lead the church in 1999. As the church grew, the church moved again to the Four Point Sheraton Hotel. It was during this period when Hope of LA officially started the youth and college care groups. The church had been praying all along for God to provide a building, and in 2002, the church purchased a building in Los Angeles.

Today Hope LA has diversified ethnically and in ministry with a youth, college, young adults, Family and Thai groups.

The church is actively involved in the community. Members help feed the homeless, sort food for the LA Regional Food Bank, help renovate schools, read to kids, or spend time with senior citizens. Our church is also involved in missions. Hope LA also has gone on mission trips to Chicago and Dallas.

Written by Lee Wong who was in charge of the Church Anniversary Planning Team. She also leads the Young Adults ministry. (Hope LA website)

HOPE TOYKO: PIONEER MISSION WORK IN YOKOHAMA

Hope of Tokyo Church has started a quarterly based mission in Yokohama, which is the second most populated city in Japan. It is approximately an hour away from Tokyo. Our aim is to start a Sunday service in Yokohama in the near future. Since we didn't have many contacts in the area, we had to venture in a completely new and unknown mission field.

In the beginning of 2007, we held a contemporary Gospel concert which is a combination of Praise & Worship and a short message. We only had 2 guests: family members of our brother in church. Yet we decided to continue reaching out and praying.

Thai Festival in Yokohama

In order to bring more people, we changed our approach to outreach. We started a Thai Festival to introduce Thai culture, food and language to the Japanese people. We have some Thai members in our church which allow us to utilise their skills this outreach event. Thank God the event was successful and ten guests joined us.

We kept on praying and used a Japanese website called Mixi to build a Thai online community to introduce church and announce future events. We found a lot of people are interested in joining such events. As a result, we had another 10 guests joined Thai Festival.

We want to bring the Gospel to this city through the Thai Festival. Future events in Yokohama include a Christmas party. Through God's grace, we believe Gospel will be spread in Yokohama and we will be able to start a church there to expand God's kingdom.

HOPE JOHANNESBURG & HOPE SINGAPORE - BOTSWANA EXPORATION

Our team consisted of 3 people from Hope Singapore and Henry Sebata from Hope Johannesburg, South Africa. We explored Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana. Botswana is southern African country (View Video).

Amongst the Christian leaders and missionaries we met, Cynthia Harman has inspired us with her amazing faith in God. Cynthia is a white South African lady who pioneered a strong church with 100 attendees in Gaborone within 6 years. She has faced many troubles and persecutions when pioneering the church; once, her house was almost burnt down. Once she was surrounded and trapped in her car by a group of witchdoctors. In every crisis, God helped her overcome the obstacles.

We discovered that the biggest spiritual challenge in Gaborone is to convince people that there is only one God. Sexual promiscuity and AIDS are major concerns too. Education is a viable entry vehicle as there is a need for more Christian schools. We are amazed by how God works through ordinary people like Cynthia for an extraordinary task!

Do contact Ms. Cryst Tan (twtan@hopesingapore.org.sg) if you like to explore Gaborone. Continue to fervently pray for the hope of Gospel to reach this nation.

HOPE PENANG, 12TH ANNIVERSARY

Hooray! We are 12 years old! We praise God for His faithfulness, grace and mercy towards us after all these years. The journey has certainly been eventful and not without its many challenges.

On September 2nd 2007, we had our special service in a school hall. We came in greatly anticipating God’s move on this auspicious occasion.

Indeed there was nostalgia in the air when Ps Laurence honoured the many faithful ones that had touched him during his early days at the church. Even 12 years later, many of these people are still serving in the church.

The cake cutting ceremony by the pastoral team reminded us once again that we are marching forward to advance God’s Kingdom as a “teen” church. We are more mature, have now had more ministerial experience and thus are more equipped for the things God wants us to do here in Penang. With God we can do it!

The anniversary celebration ended on a high note with telematches where everyone let their hair down and enjoyed being part of a BIG family.

Pastor Laurence Lee
Hope Penang (Website)

HOPE BRISBANE - MONTREAL, CANANA EXPLORATION TRIP



Vision to plant a church in Montréal, Canada

The two most frequently asked questions to both my wife (Mellyana) and I are: ‘Why Montréal?’ & ‘When are you planning to go?’


The answer to the first question is simply because we want to be obedient to God’s vision (Acts 26:19). It is also a strategic move for our Hope movement both in the natural and in the spirit. At present, we have 6 adults and 2 children confirmed as team no.1 for Montréal. Our current target month and year to land in Montréal is August 2008.

Montréal Exploration trip

It was a warm humid day on the 20th of August, 2007 when Pei Shu, Mellyana and I finally landed in Montréal via Chicago.

One of the oldest cities in North America, with a population of close to 3.5 million, Montréal is Canada's second largest English-speaking urban centre and the largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris. The downtown area is very well connected by metro and bus system. Montréal’s people are culturally diverse, hip, easy-going, affordable, well informed and very much liberal in their lifestyle and worldview.

What we did during exploration trip:

• Surveyed potential suburbs for a potential church site and our accommodation
• Gathered information to confirm our entry vehicles for study and work
• Visited the local churches and met with Christians in Montréal
• Initiated friendships with key local Montréalers
• Studied the local community – culture, lifestyle, living standards, language, migrants, universities, gay friendly environment, spiritual atmosphere, etc.

Join us in prayer

Pray for our study, work and permanent resident visa's to be processed smoothly and each member from team no.1 will land in Montreal by Aug 2008

If you are interested to learn more about our plans or would like to be included in our mailing list-‘Friends of Montréal’, please email me at montreal2008@gmail.com

In His Service,
BENG CHEAH