HIM FAMILY NEWS
Hope Chicago Christmas 2009
A month before Christmas, Hope Chicago was already excited about it. Members started inviting friends for our Christmas Sunday Service since November. We prepared a skit and the Christmas worship. The skit “Do you hear what I hear?” was about a father that came to know Jesus as the light of the world through facing major issues in his life.
In addition, we also had singing solo and choir singing the traditional Christmas songs during the service. Pastor Ben and Pastor Dinah came from Singapore to minister to us. Pastor Ben was also our speaker at our Christmas Sunday Service.
Our Hope Chicago Church tradition for every Christmas is to collect a special offering for one family in need. This Christmas, we collected a love offering for Carl Willis, an 11 year old boy whose mother passed away when he was 6, whose father is disabled, and who is now taken care of by his grandmother.
On Christmas Eve, our Pastor David and his wife Malay had members with no Christmas plans to come to their place for dinner and to spend a night at their home. We came with a dish each and enjoyed fellowship with one another. At midnight, each one of us wrote a birthday card to Jesus and celebrated His birthday together.
Lily Lam & Roger Robinson
www.hopeNA.org
Hope Hatfield (UK) Christmas Celebration 
Hope Church Hatfield is located to the north of London and is one of the three churches that made up Hope London. It celebrated its first Anniversary in Oct, 2009. It is one of the fastest growing churches in Hope Europe.
Hope Hatfield had a meaningful and fun-filled Christmas month. Our celebration lasted for the whole month of December. On the first Friday of December, the two Hope International Fellowships (IFs) from the two campuses in the University of Hertfordshire (College Lane Campus and de-Havilland Campus) came together to sing carols at the Learning Resource Centre of the university.
Many non-Christian visitors joined us in the carolling for the very first time in their life. We felt so blessed singing the good news of Jesus Christ to those passer-bys.
On the second week of December, on Friday, both Hope IFs combined to hold a Christmas evangelistic care groups, where many visitors attended. We had a lot of food, games, songs and fun. We exchanged gifts at the end of the care group. On Sunday, we had our Christmas Celebration Service. It was really a great opportunity to tell our friends about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ through a video presentation and the preaching.
During the Christmas time, we organised a five days, 4 nights Christmas break at two locations (Jordan and Milton Keynes) outside London, where 50 people joined. This was simply a 3 Fs break (fellowship, fun and food). On Christmas Eve, everyone from both locations gathered at Milton Keynes site to have steamboat. After dinner, we had ice-breaker games and a talent night. Many talents were discovered that night.
Indeed, December was a great month for all of us. Going into 2010, we pray that the presence of God is with us and we want to "Arise, Go Forth!" for God in a tremendous way.
Eldos Then
Hope Hatfield, United Kingdom
Hope Tokyo and Kawaski 
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!
For Hope Tokyo and Hope Kawasaki, we celebrated Christmas with a candlelight service. The theme was “Shine”, as Jesus is our light of hope. 
In a city like Tokyo, people love to go out and see the beautiful lights illuminating everywhere. Many enjoy those lights, yet they may still miss the Great Light: Jesus. We want to bring the good news to those who do not know Him personally.
Before this event, we prayed for at least 80 attendees. God, however, answered our prayers in a way that we could not have imagined; we had 100 people join us. Praise God that some accepted Christ and came back to the church.
In 2010, we want to begin the ministry by joining H.I.M Global Prayer. We also aim to improve the quality of the Sunday Service, start a children’s ministry and develop Hope Japan resources. God bless you!
Chew and Masami
Hope Tokyo & Kawaski (Website)
Hope Manila Christmas Celebration
The month of December brought much excitement in our Hope Manila Family. Our excitement was not because of the gifts we would receive from others, but remembering that the greatest gift of all is Jesus and that this greatest gift is meant to be shared to others! In addition, our hearts were filled with much joy and enthusiasm as many of our families, colleagues and friends join us in our grand celebration; our total number that day was 302!
The response to the altar call after the preaching of Dr. Eunice and the life-changing testimony of Anna Lyn was simply one of the largest witnessed in our hall this year! We witnessed 66 people respond to receive Jesus!
Though we (the Philippines) are a Catholic country, many of us have never really had a true encounter with God. However, during Christmas, as in our daily lives, we need to remember that we have been made to receive His gift of love for us. Therefore, it was thrilling, this Christmas, for us to have our turn to give back to Him through sacrifices of love.
There was a very entertaining performance by Hope Kids. They were all in costumes (with parents on standby providing cues) and they entertained us through lunch. Following them were some impromptu contests. However, the most important question in the end was about whether we had truly displayed our love for our brothers and sisters by giving them the opportunity to receive and share with us the greatest gift of having Jesus living in us. We thank God for the work of His Spirit and the joy and strength that He gave us in serving Him!
Pastor Soradej & Dr Eunice
Hope Manila, the Philippines
Hope KL Christmas Service 
This year’s Christmas service for Hope Kuala Lumpur (KL) was held at a special venue in Dewan Mutiara, Jalan Ipoh. It is an important event, especially for Christians, and around 500 people attended the Christmas Service. Pastor Simon Eng shared an impactful Christmas message called ‘A Gift worth Receiving’. Christmas is about receiving the gift of miracles, the gift of transformation and the gift of hope.
Christmas Celebration Video
It was also a time of giving. Many people were seen lugging bags of presents for their friends, families, and visitors. Christmas would not be complete without carols and familiar tunes. The praise and worship session was peppered with modern adaptations of well-known Christmas numbers.
There were powerful multimedia testimonies of God’s transformation working in three different lives (Vincent, Jacky, and Jin Chuan). The testimonies told how God dealt with life issues such as bad-temperedness, bad habits, financial matters, and family issues. There was a choir performance from the Mandarin church singing familiar songs, alternating between English and Mandarin. The PKC children also had programmes lined for them, with a clown to liven up the mood. After the sermon, the church pastors and counsellors ministered to those who had needs and prayer requests.
After the service, there were more gifts giving sessions. Many were seen giving presents to various people. There was a table games session over lunch fellowship with gift hampers were given to the winners. Then, there was also the table gift exchange. At the end of it all, Christmas is more than the surge in excitement, the festive mood of the season, and the presents. It is about a miraculous gift from God: the Saviour to the world.
Hope Malaysia Website
Hope Kota Kinabalu, Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year!
Never have we had such a Christmas celebration as this year’s six-week celebration from November 22, 2009-January 3, 2010. This year, we recognized that Christmas is the season for the church to reach out to others for the Lord.
This year, our Christmas theme “One Life One Love” best described the focus of the Christmas season. It is all about how one life became one love. The life of Jesus has become one love to the world. Similarly, our life can become one love to someone else.
The direct outcome of our Christmas celebration this year was to witness more than 10 salvations, from youths to working adults. One of them accepted Christ during our house to house invitation to our Christmas celebration!
Besides participating in the Amazing Carols hosted by the Sutera Harbour Resort, a 5-star resort in our city, our Christmas carol team was also specially invited by the local branch of one of the international banks to sing Christmas carols. Not only did a lot of ministers come for such occasion, the son to our honorable Prime Minister was also present!
In line with this Christmas celebration, the church also organized a visit to a home for less fortunate children. There, we blessed the children. In addition, we also held the Children’s Christmas Party where there were more than 30 children coming together for a time of fellowship and sharing the season of joy.
Unto God be all the glory!
Ps. Anthony Ng
Hope Kota Kinabalu church
Hope Auckland, New Zealand Christmas
Christmas in 2009 was a fruitful one here in Hope Auckland. Leading up to ourChristmas Service on the 20th of December, we went out to spread Christmas cheer in the community. Church members from across the life groups, including children, gathered and sang the carols they had practiced very hard the many Sundays leading up to it.
We sang at a rehabilitation centre and two elderly homes over the evenings of the 17th and 18th. We were even able to present gifts to a home thanks to the generous donations of Hope Aucklanders.
The 20th of December was our Christmas Service, themed “From: Him, To: You.” It featured a musical trio and a hip hop dance/acting performance as well as an outdoor photo booth, Kodak Korner.
The next day, we took to an ice-skating rink for our “Christmas Party on Ice” in an effort to raise money for the charity Childfund. With a huge turnout of both church members and visitors, we were able to raise a grand total of $1500. Overall, it was an exciting season for the church, with talents and abilities being pulled together to produce a wonderful time for all!
Pastor Bernard & Angela Soh
Hope Auckland, New Zealand Website
Hope Perth: Christmas in Katanning
The Christmas celebration service in Katanning was a time to showcase and testify God’s goodness and blessings in our mission effort in Katanning.
On the 19th of December, 2009, with the help of our brothers and sisters in Katanning, we had a wonderful Christmas celebration.
There were 13 members from Perth who went to Katanning on a mission trip. 43 adults and 14 ethnic Chinese children from Katanning, which represents half the ethnic Chinese residents in Katanning, had a great time of fellowship at this event.
After three years of mission effort in Katanning, building up believers from the ground up, our life group in Katanning, which consists of 13 regular members, was now able to organise and co-ordinate a major celebration as a church. For the Christmas event, they invited their friends, prepared great food for lunch and held two special performances.
After sharing the message, Ps Stephen made an altar call. We had three visitors make the decision to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour. Praise the Lord!
We are looking forward to a great year in Katanning as Hope Perth increases our mission effort to Katanning, a town 350km away from Perth, yet very close to our heart.
Pastor Stephen & Hannah
Hope Perth & Hope Katanning Website
Hope Calamba CHRISTMAS SERVICE
The celebration of Christmas at Hope Calamba was a victorious one. We had a total of 40 attendees, with four accepting Christ. We asked people to join us in a 10-day fasting prior to the Christmas event. We received several words from God telling us of revival and increase. And truly, it came to pass.
The theme of our celebration was “Celebrating the gift of Christmas.” The message was focused on Jesus being the greatest gift that humans could ever receive. Aside from the four salvations, many responded to the altar call.
Aside from the service, we organised a competition among care groups to showcase a presentation of any kind about Christmas. Some performed a song, the kids sang a lovely rendition of a Christmas carol in their native language and the youth, who won the competition, gave a play about Jesus’ birth.
“Gift Giving” Carol, December 26 and 27, 2009. It is part of our activities lined up for the Christmas season. We know that it is customary for the carollers to receive something after performing, but we wanted to do it the other way around. Instead of giving us something, we wanted to give listeners a gift or a token. We went to some of the new visitors’ homes to reach out to their family members and to the barangay captain. They were truly grateful and inspired by what our church did. As a result, some of them came and visited our church and are consistently attended our worship service. Praise God!
During our Christmas Carols, we all managed to travel and visit homes with just one car, courtesy of Pastor Henry, that fits six people and four bicycles used by eight people. The paths and streets were dark and rough, yet they continued travelling. We saw a great display of self-sacrifice among our people.
Pastor Henry & Hani
Hope Calamba, the Philippines
