HOPE FAMILY NEWS

HOPE NORTH AMERICA PASTORS REREAT - CHICAGO

We had our Hope NA pastors retreat in Chicago on Nov 16-18, 2007 just before Thanksgiving. Hope Chicago church was the host church for this weekend. The theme was Ministry 2008-2010. This was only the second time this retreat was held in the city of Chicago. Leaders from the Hope US and Hope Canada participated. Here are some photos and some of the things Hope Chicago people and Hope NA church leaders said about the weekend.

View Pastors Retreat Photos (Website)

[Pastor Ben KC Lee teaching at Pastors Retreat]

Read testimony from the Pastors Retreat...

"Crystal and I were blessed by meeting brothers and sisters at Chicago. It was a pleasure to meet Roger again and to exchange words of encouragement. Meeting Hope Chicago's worship team was amazing. We thank God for meeting our new friend Ryan from Hope Chicago and of course, Pastor David & Malay are awesome. We thank God for their excellent spirit."

Pastor Chai & Crystal, Los Angeles

"It was nice seeing all of the Hope church pastors this past Sunday in Chicago. Sunday was the last day of the Hope NA pastors' retreat. First, I was touched that they would come from all over North America to learn from each other & to hear what God was doing in their churches. During the prayer time in the Sunday service, Pastor Ben asked all of the people from Hope Chicago to come forward so that the Hope NA pastors could pray for them. It was great to be prayed for & to receive a fresh word from God. At the service, we listened to a powerful sermon from Pastor Ben on thanksgiving. All of us there, both from Chicago & the visitors, finished the weekend with renewed strength & power from God to go forth to do his will."

Roger L. Robinson, Chicago

“I'm so thankful to God that I can join the Sunday service during the Pastors’ Retreat weekend in Chicago. It is a privilege for me to fellowship with our pastors and get to know them more. I would like to thank God that my boss allowed me to take a vacation and fly from New Jersey to come to Chicago at this time. From this retreat, I can see the cheerful and grateful spirit in serving God in Hope NA pastors.

I'm so thankful to God that I had the privilege to join the worship team of Hope Chicago last weekend. When we practiced the worship songs on Saturday afternoon, I was filled with God's presence and was touch by the Holy Spirit even during the rehearsal. When we worshiped God on Sunday morning, God's voice confirmed me again that He will use me to advance His kingdom in Hope Chicago next year. God spoke to me "to let go of the unbelief, step out in faith and then i will see the miracle from God." That's encouraged me so much.

In the sermon, Pastor. Ben taught me to focus on Christ. "If we don't have God in the center of our lives we will lose the focus." and I was stunned by the story that Pastor Ben shared about Pastor David and Malay when they stepped out by faith to move from Portland to plant the church in Chicago and saw God's provision in their apartment searching. I'm so thankful to God that I can be the part of His mission in Hope ofChicago.”

Ratchata Hongsoon, New Jersey

“This is my first time attending the NA Pastors' Retreat in Chicago. I felt particularly blessed among the presence of other Hope NA Pastors and their families. I was particularly encouraged to see the devotion of each pastor and their dedication of their entire family to the Hope movement. As a new parent myself, I was looking for guidance on serving God with my new family. Trying to balance church, family, and work has been quite a handful for me. But by seeing how the Hope NA Pastors live and lead through unity with their family which really gave me a Godly model to mold my family thoroughly.”

David Lee, Portland

Hope Chicago church was glad to have hosted this retreat. We are glad the Hope NA pastors had a successful retreat. We are also glad that our people were greatly encouraged.

David & Malay of Hope Chicago
Hope Chicago (Website)
Hope North America (Website)

HOPE SINGAPORE: TORONTO MISSIONS TRIP

Four members from Hope Church Singapore went on a short-term mission trip to Toronto on 7-19 Sep. The four were made up of two fathers and a husband and wife.

Hope Toronto was started by four families that came various Hope Churches about 4 years ago.

Reno and Sharon who are leaders in Hope Toronto. They have 3 children and served as Care Leader in Hope Singapore prior to landing in Toronto.

Hope Toronto (Website)

Hope Toronto Photos (Website)

Daniel and Loretta came from Hope Vancouver. The other 2 couples Eddie & Apple, and Paul & Bouvene came from Hope Bangkok. All had uprooted themselves from their native homeland to seek better opportunities in Canada, and by God’s grace were brought together in Toronto. They were challenged to start a care group in Toronto, and they responded despite not being well equipped.

We were very touched by the people in Hope Toronto. They love the Lord very much, and most take one-hour car rides from their homes for Sunday service. This is traveling on the highway at 90km/hr. The singles commute and those married with young children (the youngest being a 1 year old baby) also commute. The experience opened my eyes to and caused our team to reflect upon what it meant to be determined, single minded and committed to the Lord’s cause.

During the ladies gathering, the Holy Spirit moved mightily and two friends of Loretta were touched by the Holy Spirit. One felt a wind that permeating around her, but all the windows were closed and we didn’t have any fans on.

They recommitted their lives to the Lord, and also shared their personal testimonies and difficult pasts with the fellow sisters. As a result of God’s touch, the sister’s heart was healed and their faith strengthened.

The Toronto mission trip has helped me build a stronger burden for the city of Toronto. It might be a big city with a lot of amenities, but I realised that many people in the city still need Christ. We believe that this is one of the many short-term mission trips that we’d be joining and hopefully we’d be able to uproot ourselves from this place we call home and go to another city to adopt it as our own, just as the Lord adopted us into His spiritual family.

Do pray with Reno and Hope Toronto. The church is praying for a pastor.

I hope that this testimony would be the catalyst that would stir our hearts to participate in short-term mission trips. I believe God will do a great miracle in your lives as you use the opportunity to touch more lives in other nations and cultures.

This article is adapted from a testimony given by David Kong in Hope Church Singapore

MINISTRY IN HOPE JOHANNESBURG

It was wonderful to once again meet up with the brothers and sisters of Hope Johannesburg church. The last time I visited them was in April 2007 for their Church Camp. From October 29 to November 12, my wife, my daughter and I stayed in Johannesburg. The objective of this trip was to take care of Hope Johannesburg while the church’s leaders Henry, Lerato, Elvis and Mpho left to visit Hope Singapore and to attend the Hope International Leaders Conference in Thailand.

It was a two-week trip. I spent most of the time catching up and fellowshipping with the leaders in the car to make the most of our limited meeting time. I would pick Mpho and Henry from their respective homes and drive them to the airport for their flight to Singapore. Lerato had to delay her flight to Singapore for a few days because she had to settle work and business matters. It was a great time for my wife, Kristine, as she saw Lerato for the first time since January. It was a time to reminisce fondly about the past and for renewing and strengthening friendships.

We visited Elvis’ home at Cosmo city while he was in Singapore and caught up with his wife Noluthando. We also prayed for their baby girl Siyam, who had been coughing for a month and gave Noluthando some financial assistance to seek medical attention for her daughter.

The two weekend services were good for our fellow brothers and sisters as they were ministered and strengthened through the word of God and received personal encouragement. One brother was so touched that he asked for the sermon script for further study. Kenneth, who had not been to church or kept in contact for a long time, came to church last Sunday. We prayed for him for a job since he had been unemployed for the past few months. We also prayed and believed God to heal his wife who was being treated for tuberculosis in Swaziland. We encouraged him to keep in touch with the rest of the church members so that he could receive help, support and spiritual strengthening.

We spent individual quality time with members of the core team, and with care group leaders. We encouraged them to be team players and to take the initiative to serve and be supportive of each other because the church is like a soccer team. In the field, from the goalkeeper to the striker, every member have to continually communicate with each other and remind each other; sometimes needing to scream and shout to tell each other to watch out for the opponent’s attack to the goal.

We encouraged Henry and Elvis about labouring for God. In order to do this, they need to remain close with God and inspire the people to do likewise so that God can fill them with God’s vision for South Africa, Africa and beyond. Although this process is hard work, it will be such a joy for the church.

Thank God for the trip and the privilege of being used by Him!

Pastor Johanes, Hope Church (Singapore)

Hope Johannesburg: A Pastoral Church Camp

We held a camp from November 30 to December 3 called “A Pastoral Church”. There were 30 people attending the camp with special speaker, Pastor Jeff Chong from Hope Singapore. We learned about the roles and responsibilities of looking after God’s flock and working deliberately for spiritual growth until we all reach unity in the faith.

View Church Camp photos (Website)

Ps Jeff Chong took the opportunity to disciple our leadership team and ensured that most of the teaching was done by Pastor Henry. We thank Ps Jeff Chong for his vision and faithfulness in giving so generously of his time.

We thank God that the same sisters who were water baptised, also received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Henry & Lerato Sebata, Hope Johannesburg

HOPE PRAGUE: FAQ WEEKEND

Hope Prague recently organised an open weekend seminar called ‘FAQ Weekend’. The theme was frequently asked questions. We wanted to continue with the topic from our first evangelistic event, which was held October.

View Seminar photos (Website)

We started on Friday with a party at the student dorm. Our students organised a program containing funny sketches and a rap, and break dance performance. The name of the party was: "Party for those who live far from home". Some 10-15 guests joined in the festivities in the student dorm.

View 'FAQ Weekend Video

The main event was on Saturday with short lectures and afterwards, discussion. We invited a team from Hope Chemnitz (Germany) and asked one of its leaders (Titus Lindl) to give the opening speech. He talked about the limitations in our thinking.

• Dr.Martin Majirsky led a presentation on why resurrection of Jesus is reliable historical fact, and why bible is trustable document.

• Drain (Martin Höger) followed, teaching about fine tuning (ID concept) and mentioned some famous scientists who were Christians.

• Dr.Ondrej presented several critical arguments on dating method carbon 14, which is often used to support the evolution theory.

The Saturday evening session concluded with a panel discussion, where Dr. Ondrej, Titus, Dr. Martin and Drain could answer various questions concerning evolution, Darwinism etc.

Tomáš Höger closed the weekend with a presentation on why Jesus is the real saviour. We organised a worship concert on Saturday evening. The atmosphere was such that many people stated they felt the presence of God very intensely.

People used the time to fellowship with each other and deepen existing relationships. Unfortunately not many of the new people were from Prague; however, visitors from other towns came, and we hope to stay in touch with them. The quality of the seminars allowed our people to be furthered equipped for evangelism. Our lecturers are always improving their presentation and multimedia skills.

God bless you,
Dr Ondrej, Hope Prague (Website)

HOPE NUERNBERG, GERMANY: CHURCH PLANTING

Silvana Hoepfner joined Hope Berlin while she was studying Administration and Social Law at university. It was at Hope Berlin that Silvana committed her life to Jesus and started to grow spiritually. She also captured Hope’s vision to fulfil the Great Commission though church planting during her student life. While Silvana was doing her internship at Nuernberg, a city with a population of 500 000 people, God gave her the vision of starting a house church there.

View Hope Nuerberg Church Planting Video

In October 2005, Silvana moved to Nuernberg with the blessings of Pastor Marcus Rose to pioneer a care group. Hope Nuernberg started with a team of three people: Silvana Horpgner, Annemarie Eismann and Torsten Schwarz. Annemarie was already living in Noerberg before Silvana and Torsten arrived. She got to know the Hope family through her brother Martin who attended Hope Berlin and the leaders of Hope Chemnitz. It was at the prayer meetings in Hope Chemnitz that Annemarie saw that the church of Christ was a family and a place of spiritual growth. Torsten moved to Erlangen, which is close to Noerberg, to studying nursing. Anita from Hope Chemnitz joined the team in 2006 when she moved to Nuernberg for study.

The first care group meeting started one month after the team was formed. God blessed the first meeting with three new visitors. At the same time, God provided a ministry house in a central location, within 5 minutes walking distance from the city. It was a very strategic location which allowed visitors to attend care group, parties and street evangelism.

The last two years of pioneering in Noerberg has been challenging. The Germans in general are self reliant and independent. The concept of religion and God is not relevant for most Germans today. Therefore, the church needs to be creative in reaching out to the German people which has seen Hope Nuernberg started a few new initiatives such as monthly social events. These events include birthday and Christmas parties, games night and volleyball. They also tried to build friendships with people in the community through dinner fellowship, movies and cooking.

Thank God for two people (Annermarie and Ronny) who got water baptised in through Hope Nuernberg. Currently, there are 8 people attending care group on Wednesday night.

Please pray for the pioneering work in Hope Nuernberg and visit the team.

HOPE HONG KONG: FRIENDS' DAY

Right after the Sunday Service, more than 400 members from Hope Hong Kong went to a picnic at Ma On Shan Country Park. Praise God for the wonderful weather: it was perfect! Although each Sub-District was supposed to prepare food for their own group, all the food ended up being shared among all the sub-districts. This is the spirit of friendship. Meanwhile, some brothers, sisters and friends couldn't wait to play games at the open area such as kicking the hacky sacks and playing volleyball.

After all the sub-districts finished eating, Sister Nicole and Sister Emily organised some group games for the Sub-Districts at around 3pm. There were eight team building games:

1) Completing a set of exercises: each Sub-District sent out some representatives to do sit ups, push ups, rabbit jumps, etc.
2) Skipping: 5 representatives from each district were to jump at least 15 times over the skipping rope. The crowd was excited when SD3 emerged with the best score of 18 jumps!
3) Human Chain: Each team stood in a circle and place their arms in the centre and clasp hands with two other people. Then they need to untangle themselves from criss-crossed hands. Fastest team wins!
4) Making the word "Hallelujah" with our bodies
5) Drawing while blindfolded
6) Folding 50 paper stars in one minute
7) Collection of 5 different colour jackets: Red, Brown, Yellow, Green, Black, Blue or Purple
8) Three-legged race on a stone road

Following that, each sub-district had to create a group cheer that represented the theme of "Friend's Day" as well as spelling out the sub-district's unique identity within the church. Congratulations to Sub-District 2 as they were declared the overall winners.

As 5pm approached, the coaches assisted our departure. We thank God for such a wonderful day that we could spend with all the friends we made. Let's continually build close relationships with one another, caring and praying for one another with the Word of God as our foundation. Thank God for all of our friends!

Pastor Gavin and Pastor Arlene Toh, Hope Hong Kong (Website)

HOPE PENANG: MISSION TRIP TO MEDAN, INDONESIA

Hope Penang has been supporting Hope Medan since March 2005. When the three of us (Ps Laurence, Astrid and Michelle) visited them for the fourth time in July 2007, our church in Medan had tripled in number since our previous visit in October, last year. They now have a diverse group in the church: youth, working adults and families.

On the first day, we had a fellowship lunch with the core team. It was good to see some new faces joining the team. We also visited the ministry house which consists of 3 sisters and a brother. They were so excited to share how God brought in new people into their midst, and how they had grown in the Lord.

Praise the Lord! That night we had 20+ people joining us for the dinner. Everyone was so open in sharing about their lives, and how God changed them personally. During the Sunday service, we had 14 people (not including the mission team) joining us, which was the church’s highest attendance. It was indeed a fruitful trip; to be able to share the joy and excitement of seeing so many people come together to worship our Lord. We believe God is going to do something great for Hope church in Medan. Amen!!!

Vision is not a matter of seeing what is and asking why. It is far more a matter of seeing what has never yet been and asking why not. ~Os Guinness~ (Rom 4:17)

Reported by: Michelle Tan (Mission Support Team for Medan, Hope Penang)