HOPE FAMILY NEWS JULY 2009
Hope Norway News
1)Leader training in Norway 28-29 mars
Leaders from Hope Oslo, Follo and Haugesund had a great weekend together with praying, worship and teaching. Pastor Prakich Treetasayuth, our supervisor and guest preacher also visited that weekend.
We had a session with certification/insertion of the leaders in Hope Haugesund. Steve and Imee Mondala have been faithful and persistent in the task of managing the group since it started in October 2007, and the group is growing.
They have gone through the basic leadership training, and today, they have both the spiritual and administrative responsibility for Hope Haugesund with a monthly support from Hope Norway. It is good to be able to stand together and help each other like a family.
2)“Free At Last”, 17th April Dyrløkkeåsen.
“Free at Last” achieved many of its goals. Despite just six weeks of planning and some technical problems, we had 130 participants with over 100 of them teenagers. We know that half of these teenagers have not accepted Jesus into their lives. Around twelve churches were involved and we agreed that was a great start of “Free At Last”. There was a rap performance, break dancing, disco sounds and lighting, and an invitation to “be strong enough to take the step and get to know Jesus”. We have high hopes for more workers, churches and teenagers n
ext year.
3)New baby arrival
We congratulate the Engebretsen family with their newest addition, Fillip. He was born on the 16th of March, 2009. The family is now Helene, Thomas, Jakob and Fillip.
Hope Manila First Student Service
We thank God and give all of our praises as He opened the door of opportunity for the Campus Ministry to have their very first Youth Service entitled, “Break Free!” Many youth were excited as they anticipated this historical hallmark in Hope of God Church, Manila’s history.
It was, of course, a tension and pressure-filled atmosphere as we laboured to make the event the best that it can be. We were amazed at how God answered our prayers in reaching beyond our expectations. Seventy-seven youth that day stood before God in His presence! What a joy to see so many jubilant and vibrant students ready to commit and serve the Lord that day!
We were honoured by God’s Word as our very own sub-district leader sis. Eunice taught us to break free from the hindrances stopping us being used as an instrument by the Lord. Her teaching was sparked by the inspiring story of Joshua, who had the courage, boldness and confidence from the Lord. We, as youths, should be inspired to make such a strong influence to the people around us.
Our Youth Service was followed by a graduation commencement exercise. We celebrated the goodness of God as many of our students were able to graduate from high school and college. There was much rejoicing! With this, we are excited with what God will do for us and anticipating many great surprises from the Lord! Thank God for the success!
Pastor Soradej & Eunice Hope Manila, Philippines
Hope Kuching: Blood Donation Drive 
A blood donation drive was successfully held on the 30th of May 2009, Saturday, at Boulevard Shopping Mall with a total of 38 successful donors. This activity is organized by Hope of God Church, Kuching, in collaboration with the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) Blood Bank.
Blood donation drive video
The aim of the activity is to replenish SGH Blood Bank’s supply and to cultivate among Hope Church members and the public a sense of volunteerism. The event started from 2:00p.m and lasted till 5:00p.m. Considering it was just before a big harvest festival event, the response from the community was greater than expected.
Every three seconds someone needs blood; perhaps one day that someone will be you or someone you love. Those of us blessed with good health can share it through donating blood to enable a premature baby to live, a burns victim to recover, a cancer patient to be treated, an accident victim to survive, or a transplant candidate to have life-giving surgery. This ongoing need is felt by our area’s hospitals and patients.
Most importantly, awareness was raised. A number of first timers and many who were successful expressed interest in donating regularly. It was indeed a meaningful day for us all at the Boulevard Mall.
The blood donation drive is one activity that has become a community tradition for Hope Kuching Church members! With this successful round of Blood Donation drive, the Sarawak General Hospital Blood Bank is looking forward to the next Blood Donation drive.
Pastor Denis & Hai Eng
Hope Kuching, East Malaysia
Hope Perth Bible Conference - A Christ-Centred Church
Hope Perth just finished our annual Bible Conference (BC) from June 19 to 21, 2009. We praise God that Pastor Nigel brought his team from Hope Busselton, Hope Dandaragan and Hope Esperance to join the event. There was an expectation to see the people grow in their walk with Christ.
Over 100 members from Hope Western Australia (WA) attended this relaxing and relational BC. There were children, teenagers, and young people and also the older ones celebrating God together in our worship concert. Everyone listened to the Word of God and participated in Hope Games at the end of program.
With this year’s theme “A Christ Centred Church”, Pastor Wilson and Pastor Lai Ling Lim from Hope Brisbane shared lessons about Christ-centred characteristics and how to build up Christ-centred relationships with God, friends and your life partner. All of us learned very practical ways to put Christ at the centre of our heart in our daily life.
As Pastor Stephen Pitavanik mentioned in the conference, the purpose of choosing this year’s theme was to see people grow in their spiritual lives by leading Christ-centred lives. It is important for us to be Christ-centred in order to have the right foundation and be focused obeying God.
We asked some attendees about how they felt about the conference:
- “I learnt about the different identities of Christ and how to develop a Christ-centred attitude and behaviour through our relationship with God.” - Katrina Siew
- “The content of Bible Conference focused on how to build up a closer relationship with God and how to practice our commitment with God. Pastor Wilson is a good speaker and he shares his own experiences of being transformed in Christ as the examples in his teaching.” - Timothy Tay
Besides learning the word of God, Hope Games brought us together and we had such great fun and enjoyed the time with one another:
- “The games were fun and exciting; we learnt the importance of teamwork and communication while cooperating with others.” Katrina said.
Pastor Stephen and Hannah
Hope Perth, Western Australia
Hope Brisbane Bible Conference: Exponential
What do you get when you have Hope Brisbane’s Morning, Afternoon and Ablaze Services and Hope Gold Coast & Ipswich team coming together? You have Hope Brisbane’s 2009 church conference ‘Exponential’. It was held at the beautiful St Lucia Campus at the University of Queensland on June 26-28. The speakers were Pastor Wilson and Pastor Lai Ling Lim, Pastor Lance Wolter from Hope Gold Coast and our guest speaker, Pastor Denis Lu from Hope Kuching.Bible Conference Video
The conference kicked off on Friday night with Pastor Wilson sharing about what is an exponential church. There was a tremendous response at altar call with many coming forward to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and others accepting the call of God to be exponential Christians. The first full day saw Pastor Denis, Pastor Lance and Pastor Wilson teaching about biblical principles to multiplication, factors limiting a church’s ability to multiply, the importance of maturity and God’s exponential community. Again altar call saw many ones come forward to seek God and his will for their lives.
Sunday saw the delegation and visitors divided into not one but three halls. The sermon for the Sunday service by Pastor Denis was about the importance of good parenting to multiplication. After lunch which allowed for great fellowship and a large consumption of pizza from all services, we went to the final session where Pastor Lai Ling shared about Exponential Power Control.
Finally, we held our closing ceremony where we thank the speakers and the organising team and the ministry teams for their hard work and effort in making this conference a reality. After another awesome praise session, the conference was pronounced closed. Every member of the church left with a greater understanding about God’s plan to multiply his people across the earth.[View Conference Photos Website]
