Who are We?
- A congregation of The Brethren Church (Ashland, OH)
Our Mission
- To Celebrate Jesus Christ: Encouraging people to seek and to share Him
Our Vision
- To find people seeking spiritual answers in their life and share Jesus Christ with them
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To equip the ordinary person to do things through Christ
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To build a faith community by forming and fostering small groups that meet together frequently
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To engage people in a worship experience that ushers all generations into the presence of God
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To passionately seek the presence of the Lord in prayer in everything we do
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To practice good stewardship in all ares of life according to Biblical principles
More about us:
What makes us differnt from other Christian congregations?
There’s a place for you to fit in here!
Out of the Box Church Planting
(New Hope Christian Fellowship began to form as a core group in the summer of 2000 and applied to be a mission congregation of The Brethren Church in the winter of 2001.)
Vision, vision, vision, planning, planning, planning, implementation, implementation, implementation. Sounds simple, but we have learned that there are other important precepts to starting and building a congregation. We have set goals, identified core values, developed a philosophy of ministry, composed mission statements, written a constitution, and, of course, started small groups. On the other hand, we are a little bit on the rebellious side here in Medina. We have probably broken more of the generally accepted rules for starting a congregation than we have followed.
We are not aggressively after the growth markers other church starts are after. Sure, we will show you the stats to prove we are growing, but we do not have some of the more typical goals you might encounter with other new congregations. “Raise “X” amount of funding to do an advertising blitz; hit a goal of “Y” number of people in worship by a certain date; have fully operational Sunday school, youth program, sports ministry by a certain date.” That does not seem to be us.
We started with no seed money other than what we raised each week in offerings in the first two years. We have never conducted a finance campaign in the more than four years we have been in existence. We don’t take an offering as part of our worship service. We don’t advertise, have never done a launch date, and do not have a lot of the typical ministries that other church plants initiate early in their “life.” Nonetheless, despite all these seemingly contradictory moves, we are growing.
We believe we are focused more on qualitative results than quantitative results. We focus on discipling with purpose rather than multiplying without meaning. We have placed relationship as one of the higher priorities of ministry and this is certainly implied in our core values. We ask how we can help people heal one at a time, rather than how many people can we get through the door at one time. We also ask how can we love them back to Christ, and help them find peace and acceptance within the body?
As we stated above we do not advertise yet. Consequently, people only come because of personal invitation and word of mouth. Everyone who considers themselves part of New Hope realizes the personal responsibility for the future of our ministry. We all know that if we do not invite, we do not grow.
Likewise, people don’t generally come because of the “programs” that we have. In fact, we know many families have passed us by because we didn’t have the familiar “programs” that they experienced in other churches. We are content with that for now. “Free agent” Christians are really not our primary target population. That does nothing for the Great Commission. We have recognized our limitations and we focus on what we do best. We don’t want to falsely attract people with ministries that are understaffed. What we do have is family. What we do have is relationship. What we do have is a safe environment in which people can grow: a place to be transparent without feeling vulnerable.
We have come to realize that broken people genuinely seeking healing are the ones who have become our mission: people who have suffered emotional, physical, and spiritual abuse. Most people seem familiar with emotional and physical abuse but spiritual abuse comes from the church itself. We are referring to suffering that results from experiencing things like legalism, discrimination, manipulation, and leadership that has fallen from grace. We have a good share of people who need to build trust with a congregation again.
When we started New Hope, the core group itself had experienced pain from collective prior church experiences in other denominations. We are sure that God led us to the name “New Hope” because that is what we have become; New Hope for the broken and the lost; New Hope for those who had given up on church and relationships because they had been hurt before.
We hear some recurring themes as we ask newcomers why they have chosen to stay at New Hope. Examples include hospitality, acceptance, feeling like a member of a family, encouraging them in their faith walk, a place to build trust with other people, finding a personal relationship with Christ, and an empowerment to share Him with others.
We aren’t total renegades when it comes to planting a congregation though. One of the foundational rules of church planting that we have not broken is prayer. It all started five summers ago with prayer. Today that action continues. Each Tuesday evening is set aside for prayer. Prayers are lifted for everyone who attends New Hope as well as for the sick, those in missions work, the community. We pray for God to provide what we need, to give us courage to share our faith, and opportunities in our daily living to join Him in kingdom endeavors. We also pray for names on an impact list. These names are submitted by individuals in the congregation.
If we could say one thing about our methodology of planting this congregation it would be this: don’t look to us as a model to replicate. Personalities, resources, past experiences, culture, community, and opportunities are huge variables that make us unique and different. I don’t believe anyone could replicate what we have done and be successful. I believe every church plant has unique circumstances which require modifications to the textbook examples of church planting.
In summing things up, if you are considering a church plant, DON’T be afraid to break some rules that the “books have prescribed.” Do pray, confront sin, call people to repent, and follow Jesus’ command to “love one another.” We believe we have succeeded not because of our ingenuity but because we continue to be obedient to Christ’s call and His vision for our future.
Questions?
330-721-4594
Local church web site:
www.newhope4medina.org
Denominational web site:
www.brethrenchurch.org