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Small Groups With Missionaries
As Hope Community Church small group leaders we see our group members experience many major life events and changes. This document contains helpful tips for leading someone called to overseas missions. Please note a few things before reading this document. First,...
How to: Care for Hurting or Grieving People
At Hope, we value all people, regardless of their life or faith condition. As small group leaders, you have a unique role in that you will be on the “frontlines” with people who are experiencing varying life and faith situations. Specifically, you will find that...
Planting a Small Group
Why plant a new small group from your existing group? Before we continue, we would like to be very clear: Hope does not desire numerical growth of the small group ministry just for the sake of having a large ministry. We only hope for numerical growth if it reflects...
Small Group Open Chair Model
Whenever possible and healthy for the group, we encourage groups to maintain an “open chair.” This means that the group fosters an attitude of openness to newcomers and maintains an environment that would make a newcomer feel welcome. The group does not need to be...
Church Planting at Hope
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says, "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it." In response to this great truth, our church–Hope Community Church Downtown–has had the joy of starting 11 churches locally and supporting many more. It's not about us;...
Cutting Into the Onion of Moralism
This article originally appeared on redtreegrace.com. Red Tree is a multi-church ministry effort started by Hope Community Church in order to connect the clarity of God's grace to our otherwise confusing lives and attempts at reading the Bible. When I was growing up,...
Mighty God
The following is the second in a four part series on preparing your heart for the Christmas Season. It has been adapted from a sermon called “Preparing Your Heart for the Christmas Season” delivered at Hope Community Church by Steve Treichler on November 30, 2003....
Shouts and Songs From Two Mountains
Understanding the message of the Old Testament and applying it today is a lot like watching the film “Fight Club.” Only at the end of the movie does the viewer discover that the two main characters are (spoiler alert!) one and the same. Moreover, a second watch is in...
Grieving Unmet Expectations
Expectations. We all have them. Whether they are known or not, whether they are met or not. They can be sneaky and can reveal a longing, a desiring or a hope we didn’t know we had until that expectation was not met. Expectation is defined as the state of expecting or...
Justice Requested, Justice Received
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. — Micah 6:8 The year 2020 has brought us two crucial things: COVID-19 and increased awareness of systemic racism in our...
Stop and Delight
What is Sabbath and how do we practice it today? I was personally convicted of the absence of Sabbath in my life in the summer of 2019. I was given a 3 month sabbatical from my full-time work at Hope, and in that time, I became painfully aware that the way I had been...