SPECIAL FOCUS: HOPE EUROPE CHURCHES

HOPE STUTTGART: WINTER CAMP

Greetings from Hope Stuttgart..

Now in its third year, we had Winter Camp at the Black Forest in the southern region of Hope Germany. The Winter Camp was held as a winter festival this year and it was fantastic once again! It is so great to see Scampen become a people magnet.

This year, we had people not only from Germany, but from Switzerland (Hope Zurich) and Italy (Hope Rome) as well, joining us. All together, there were 80 people, with the majority being German, but we also had people from all nationalities.

(View Camp Photos Website)

Many people don’t know what the word ‘scampen’ means. While some people may think it has something to do with camping, it’s not like that! We stayed in warm bungalows, with six people in each bungalow. This allowed the participants to fellowship in small groups.

The topic for this year was “A Covenant Church”.

God really used the teaching to speak to many people in the area of covenant and building healthy relationships. God really ministered to all of us. As a result, people decided to work out any unhealthy relationships they had while others decided to join the core team of our Hope Churches.

Beside the teachings and the workshops based on “A Covenant Church”, we had many leisure activities. Some people went snowboarding and skiing for the very first time. Others relaxed in the nearby indoor spa bath.

As a highlight, we had a cooking competition on New Years Eve. Each of the 13 bungalows prepared a meal for the dinner buffet.

The guests from Berlin like the Rose family enjoyed the fellowship. The accommodation can hold more than 200 people, so make sure that you come and join us for Scampen 2008!

Steffen Cornehl & Markus Motz . (Hope Stuttgart Website)

HOPE ROME: CHURCH PLANTING

Angelina is from Hope Singapore and has been serving and taking care of a young adult sub-district before obeying God's call to go Italy. She has been in Rome since 2004. Her first encounter with Italy was a six month exploration trip, including learning Italian with her scholarship from a local university. A team of four was formed in 2005 and she led the team to Rome with two of them being able to find work and who are still in Italy.

She left her civil engineering job in Singapore and is now studying and working as an English language teacher. Hope Rome was finally born in October 2007 with a current team of four.

First Sunday Team Meeting

God is indeed faithful. After two years of exploring the land and getting to know the people, we finally launched our first Sunday team meeting on the 31st of October, 2007. We had four committed members: two Singaporeans, a German and an Albanian, in attendance. We came up with different surveys to talk to people on the street and at the university. We are still trying out different approaches and places to see what is most effective. So far, the Italians are open to doing the survey and even to talking to us for a long time. It’s definitely a good opportunity to practise our Italian. However, many of them are not interested in spiritual things, and God is not important in their lives at the moment.

Friendship evangelism

Friendship evangelism is still more effective, though it takes a long time to develop close relationships. We also had a Movie Nite and invited some friends to see a movie with us. There we shared about life, values and things we learnt from the movie. Our visitors enjoyed ti so we will continue with this avenue of evangelism.

We have organised lots of different parties and dinners. We also went to friends’ parties in order to meet new contacts. Through these, we’ve had the opportunity to meet more Italians, who came to our birthday and Christmas parties. At one of these parties, CK met an Italian and got a new English student.



October and November were the months for birthday (and other) parties! Annett’s birthday was on October 5 and she invited her newfound friends in Rome. She prepared German food: sausages, meatballs and potatoes as well. We made a tiramisu cake (her favourite dessert) as a surprise for her. Andi’s birthday was on the 4th of November and we had a special team birthday dinner celebration for him. Sunny was here to visit and brought lots of stuff from Singapore. Andi also organised a birthday dinner at his house so that we could meet his housemates and other friends. Angelina’s birthday was on November 26, very close to Thanksgiving Day, so we had a party for both occasions.

We did a talk show in Italian to tell the story of the Prodigal Son in a contemporary Italian setting. It was hilarious and we discovered some talented actors too! All our friends liked the idea very much and commented that our parties are very different.

Christmas Celebration in Rome

We celebrated Christmas on the 15th of December with the theme "II Regalo Perfetto" ("The Perfect Gift").

Thirteen people (which included five Italians, two Albanians and a Finnish friend) crammed into our bedroom-cum-living room. We did some decoration with a makeshift Christmas tree and nicely decorated small tables lit with candles.

Needless to say, we had great food and company, with lots of desserts, including a Stollen (German Christmas cake) made by Annett based on her grandma's recipe. We gave a presentation of the story of the Three Kings with their gifts and sang some carols, which for many of our visitors was a novel experience.

The theme “reason for the season” was repeated many times through the songs and our translation. We also had a little sharing on what's the greatest gift we've ever received.

Finally, we had a gift exchange, which is an unusual idea for them too. However we all had some good laughs over funny gifts. All our friends enjoyed themselves so much that the last group went home at 2 a.m. We went to bed tired but contented that the Gospel had been shared and for the opportunities to follow-up on some of them.

Angelina, Annett, CK & Andi, Hope ROME

HOPE LONDON: PIONEERING STUDENT GROUP IN HATFIELD

Hope IF Hatfield started in November 2003 in the bedroom of a student at the University of Hertfordshire (UH), a one hour drive from central London. For four years we met in different places, with an attendance averaging eight people (high mobility – some people left, new people came). At times, we wanted to give up, but a statement from a non-Christian visitor encouraged us. He said, 'If you continue to run the care group, I will continue to join.' We persevered and chose to trust in God — by fasting and planning earnestly.

Watch Hope United Kingdom Video

Our turning point came in mid-2007 when we met the chaplain of UH who generously allowed us to use the chaplaincy, called Key Centre, for the care group. Upon entering the hall there and seeing the size, and the facilities provided, we were very excited. We prayed to God and proclaimed that one day we will fill this hall with His people worshipping Him.

In September, with our four care group members, we planned evangelistic events to reach out to the Freshers. God brought us two brothers even before the events. We attended various other events during Orientation Week, inviting people to visit our fellowship.

At our first care group, 30 people turned up. We were shell-shocked and amazed.

Since then, many people have started to join and commit to the fellowship. We had to split into three care groups (still within one Friday fellowship based on the cluster care group concept) after six weeks.

Our core team is growing from strength to strength as well: from four people to 12 at present. The core team meets every Wednesday night to pray, worship, share, be taught the Word of God and strategise. These new core team members all agreed that in Hope IF Hatfield, they see the possibility to grow because of the group’s vision and philosophy, the strategies, the follow-up systems and the love of Christ.

We will continue to pray and work hard to break the 50 attendance mark by the end of the 2008. All glory to God.

Eldos Then, Student Ministry (Hope London Website)

For more information about Hope Europe churches visit www.hopechurches.eu