What To Expect
Hope Fellowship has always been a place where we keep it very simple. It’s relaxed but focused. We don’t need to be flashy or put on big productions for people to meet God. We believe that Jesus is enough. Our promise to our guests is that they will be made to feel at home without feeling uncomfortable.
Our worship services typically last 75 minutes. We believe the Biblical model for corporate worship is for the entire church to gather together in one place. That's why our children worship alongside our adults. For more on why we want children in the corporate worship gathering, click here.
Prayer
One of the greatest privileges we have as followers of Jesus is being able pray with boldness and confidence. We pray together throughout our time together and, if you would like to have someone personally pray with you, any of our elders would be honored to do that after the worship gathering.
Singing
During the gatherings, our music team will lead us in a number of songs. Hope Fellowship strives to balance newer music with some of the great hymns of our faith. We appreciate the value musical instruments can add to our singing as long as the instruments don't overpower the greatest instrument - the human voice. We strongly prefer congregational singing, which emphasizes the gathered body singing praise to God with one voice, over performed music, which tends to spotlight the abilities of a few while encouraging passivity in the rest. In addition, our musicians and vocalists don't attempt to entertain the congregation, but to use their talents to help lead the whole body in worshiping the Lord through song.
Teaching
At Hope Fellowship, we believe the Bible is God’s gift to us to show us who He is, what He’s done for us and how we are to respond to Him. The teaching of God's word is the central focus of our weekly corporate gatherings. All teaching at Hope Fellowship is driven by the Gospel, the Bible’s main message of God saving sinners through the perfect life, substitutional death and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Messages are generally expositional, meaning that they seek to clearly explain the primary point and meaning of a particular Biblical passage. Once we understand the original intent of the Biblical author, we can then discover how to apply those teachings to our lives.
Sermons usually last 40 minutes and are packed with material for reflection. That is one reason we encourage everyone to bring their own Bibles as well as materials upon which to take notes. On most Sundays, our Pastor allows a few minutes at the conclusion of his teaching for questions and comments. We seldom hear the complaint that the messages are boring or too long. However, our Pastor tries to follow the advice of the 20th century pastor, John Stott, who said, “It doesn’t matter how long you preach, to your audience it should feel like twenty minutes.”
Communion
Jesus instituted communion the night before he died as a way for his followers to remember and identify with his death on the cross. At Hope Fellowship, we celebrate communion together often. We welcome all Christians who actively trust Jesus for salvation and who are willing to turn away from their sin to receive communion with us.
Giving
One of the ways we worship God is to give financially towards His work. If you are our guest, please do not feel obligated to give anything financially. However, if you do feel led to give, you may place your gift in the offering box in the back of the auditorium or you may give online. For more information on why we give or to give online, click here.