Stories of Hope

  Kevin Makins, pastor of Eucharist Church in Hamilton, recently completed a four part series of sermons at Hope Fellowship. His final sermon left us with a challenge, one that bears repeating. Kevin challenged us to remain unified, not uniform, taking his example from the Trinity – God the Creator, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God is one, and God is three. In something called the “Divine Dance” each part of God submits, serves and points to the others, in a unity that is not uniform

Love All - An Affirmation   For the past number of years the plight of Syrian refugees has been in the forefront of the news. The brutalities and horror of the conflict between various factions have taken an enormous toll with mind boggling devastation and death. Many millions have fled for their lives leaving their generational homes and communities.   Countries and communities throughout the world have responded as borders have been opened and refugees welcomed. I am thankful for the small part we as Hope Fellowship have chosen to play in responding to the great need

  Kevin Makins shared such an amazing vision to our church in his last sermon, "Trinity and the Church" and it reminded me of the speaker John C. Maxwell, who spoke at the Global Leadership Summit this past October. The main point Maxwell had stressed was adding value to people's lives.

  It was a huge treat to drive to Toronto two weeks ago with my mom to hear Canadian writer Ann Voskamp speak. After reading One Thousand Gifts and years of her blog posts, it felt like going to meet a friend

  In December of 2005 I was approached by the “Fundraising Committee” for our new building and asked if I would be willing to set up a gift card program.

  It was more than 30 years ago that Paul and I moved to Oshawa…a city where we knew no one. Moving to a strange city was very overwhelming, not to mention the stress of moving all our belongings. Maybe some of you can relate to a similar experience.   I sit here and think of the family from Syria and the move they have completed.

  When we want to go somewhere, we will go, and if it's really important to us, we will write it in our calendars and book the time off that we need. No matter how busy we are, no matter what things come up, we will make time for the people and things that we love. You wouldn't miss your own wedding day, would you? The things that are important to you, the things that you look forward to are the things that you make a priority in your life, no excuses.

  Last week the leadership Summit took place locally at Liberty Church in Bowmanville. Many people in leadership at Hope Fellowship were able to attend.   Bill Hybels famously says and repeats, because it’s worth repeating, “Leadership matters. When leaders get better everybody benefits.

  The Hope Without Borders Committee has received lots of exciting information over the past few days.   The first family of the group will be arriving in Courtice on or around Nov. 3, 2016.

  Last week my husband, Chris, wrote about our trip to Haiti with Speroway. I have the opportunity to share more of the story of this particular trip.   God had already laid the country of Haiti on our hearts and so, when we were asked if we’d like to participate in this trip, we didn’t hesitate to say yes.

  From September 28th to October 5th a team of healthcare professionals and support staff from Speroway (a Christian non-profit based in Burlington whose name means 'Way of Hope') travelled to Haiti to provide medical and dental care to three different communities. As part of the team, my wife and I had the privilege of learning first-hand about some of the challenges that this country continues to face while dispensing medications and counselling patients.

Since our offering today (Oct 2) is for Race Relations , it seems very fitting to publish the CRC's recent statement on Racism:   Concerned about recent events involving the death of black men killed by police in the U.S. and the killing of an Indigenous man in Canada, the Christian Reformed Church, through its Office of Race Relations together with other agencies and offices, has released a statement on the need for racial reconciliation

  Thanksgiving! First and foremost, I am thankful for life. Since this year almost didn’t happen, I am thankful to God for family and friends who loving supported me through the darkness. We come to a deeper appreciation for life when walking through the valley

  The first week after Labour Day is always set aside as a time of prayer and fasting at Hope Fellowship. This year was no exception, and we gathered together each evening (in person or in spirit) to pray for God’s hand to be on Hope Fellowship.

  Who doesn’t love to have their cake & eat it too?! Attending a Christian conference with big name speakers & well-known worship bands is a lot like eating cake. It’s sweet, it’s exciting, it leaves you feeling like you can conquer the world! Cake is good, but I’ve also seen the down side of cake and have learned firsthand how important it is to balance out that cake with a weekly dose of vegetables so that you don’t experience what most parents we refer to as the ‘sugar crash’. Those vegetables are your classic Sunday morning church services led by the local passionate body of Christ. A healthy diet by many means!

Sharon in Synodland In Alice in Wonderland the themes of identity and growing up are seen through a fantasy trip down a rabbit hole. Going to Synod was many unknowns being discovered along the way.

  It was a quiet Tuesday morning in the office, I was just preparing for an upcoming meeting when the phone rang. The lady on the other end asked me where food bank food went.

  A few weeks ago, I was leaving the office when I saw a car drive up to the church and a mom and son walked into the church.

  Every year, before we begin our ministries and programs, the people of Hope Fellowship come together to pray and seek God’s will for our community. This tradition came out of a season of pain, when we were unsure of the future and God’s calling on the church. When we stopped all our regular meetings and programs, and met together to pray, that’s when the healing began. Every year since that time, we have come together for five days of prayer. This year is no exception—we will meet from Monday, September 12 to Friday, September 16 for one hour each evening from 7:00-8:00 p.m

  Wow what a service! I had the privilege of going to the worship service our young adults presented last Sunday night. Once again WOW! Everyone should experience one of these nights. The music was awesome. The energy in the room was high. Dylan did a great job preaching on forgiveness and all together it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening

  Dominican children need Hope. Hope comes from Jesus. Jesus for them comes in many ways. Our mission trip not only brought Hope to a family in need of a new house but to children in need of sports equipment

  The Raising Hope Team began their adventure with Samaritan Foundation in the Dominican Republic at 4 am on July 12th. They started with prayer and then headed off with 17 humanitarian aid suitcases filled with baby clothes, baseball equipment and hygiene kits

  At the end of June, Clarence left Oshawa to spend some time in China.  Clarence described what he will do while there: “In Beijing I will be helping to teach English to children and youth, and sharing my faith with them, to equip them for lives of serving Christ...The opportunity to be part of what God is already doing in China is very exciting to me!

  Let me ask you a couple of questions. How many of you are familiar with migrant workers? Probably most of you. Now, how many of you ever saw the migrant workers as a mission field? If you are like me, I bet that thought never crossed your mind!   A few people in Bowmanville saw the need to reach out to these men and took action.

  It all started in January with a phone call to the office, “We’re planning our summer holidays, can you tell me when VBS happens this summer?” And we could, because at that time four women were already meeting regularly to plan this year’s Vacation Bible School.   Hope Fellowship’s VBS, called “Cave Quest” was held the first week of summer holidays.

  For days now, we have been averaging only 4-5 hours of sleep because we keep reviewing last week's "over the top" farewell weekend.   The songs we sang during our God-glorifying worship services have become a joyful musical loop that runs constantly in our heads. Your affirming words keep coming to mind.

  They say it takes a village to raise a child. Apparently it also takes a village to celebrate a pastor who is retiring. There was a veritable army of people who worked on the retirement celebrations for Pastor Peter and Marja.

  Deacons are often asked to help people from the community.  This past year we were able to help a man who had no hope left.  His life had spiraled out of control.  This could be you or me at any time.

  Thank you for extending a call to me thirteen years ago. After fifteen wonderful years at Jubilee Fellowship in St. Catharines, Marja and I were ready for an exciting new challenge. You invited us for a date and followed it up with a Letter of Call. That was a wonderful leap of faith on your part

  Every year we celebrate a “Stand Up Sunday” at Hope Fellowship. The name comes from the old hymn “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus” and that’s exactly what happens. Men, women and children stand up and declare their faith in Jesus.

  The first meeting of the subcommittee looking for housing for our Syrian friends confirmed what we expected: finding both temporary and permanent housing for our group of seven would be a significant challenge

  Thirteen years ago Stan challenged me to write a personal vision statement for my ministry at Hope Fellowship Church. I have shared it at every Introducing Hope Fellowship Seminar. It included this now familiar sentence: “Hope Fellowship is the hope of a multi-racial, multi-national, multi-generational, multi-ability multitude worshiping the Triune God without restraint in all of their lives as if they were already standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.”

  "But this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in Him." John 9:3. We heard this verse when Kevin Makins preached a few weeks ago.   My first thought was of when our daughter Amy was born. She was born with gastroschisis, and many of you have heard some of our story with her. We see the works of God displayed in Amy’s life everyday, but some days we are more reminded than others.

A History of Hope Fellowship, Chapter 7: The Transition Years   Today, Hope Fellowship finds itself in the Transition Years, the years of change.   The good changes included the launch of two great ministries. Our first ever Vacation Bible School in July, 2015 was a rousing success for one hundred kids who were inspired to conquer challenges with God’s mighty power. One year later, the registration is already full for our next VBS. That’s the power of positive reviews shared through word of mouth advertising and Facebook!

  On Wednesday, Pastor Steve showed me the hot tub that the Family Worship Centre is loaning us for Stand Up Sunday. It’s rectangular! “I thought it was round,” I exclaim, counting on a tub that rolled. “Four to six men will do it,” he assured me.

  Giving thanks and choosing joy IN and even FOR difficult challenges that feel like chains? That was last week’s “hard to swallow” sermon.   Ellen, however, left church thinking about two blessings that have come into her life as a direct result of the cancer for which she is undergoing treatment.

A History of Hope Fellowship, Chapter 6: The Focusing Years During the Focusing Years, from 2012-2015, our leadership introduced new words and phrases that became part of our vocabulary. Words like Believe, Belong and Bless. Phrases like Internally Strong and Externally Focused. We defined ourselves as a “community embracing and living our God’s redemptive plan.” We celebrated our “culture of grace” and emphasized the importance of “making room at the table.”

  Numbers shouldn’t matter, but sometimes they should get us excited because they’re one way to measure how God is blessing our church. Here are some numbers that can help us feel the joy that Paul expressed in Philippians, the New Testament epistle that is at the heart of our current sermon series

  On a hot August afternoon in 2002 I decided to go for a run. In less than a half kilometer I stopped and walked home. I was a sweaty, out of breath mess. My heart was beating out of my chest.

A History of Hope Fellowship, Chapter 5: The Growing Years   A new facility will attract people to check out a church. But it is the worship, preaching and hospitality that turn guests into family members. The combination of these things brought numerical and spiritual growth as more and more people began to call Hope Fellowship their spiritual home

  Last Saturday Pitch-In Brooklin – with the help of Civitan – held their 2nd annual Mega Neighbourhood Collection day in honour of our refugee families!

  A perfect day! A fabulous schedule. Excellent speaker! Delicious everything! Deeply moving testimonies! Nice set up in the sanctuary! Loved the worship time! Loved meeting old and new friends! Loved the sharing time!

A History of Hope Fellowship, Chapter 4: The Building Years   In 2005 the Christian Reformed Church celebrated its one hundredth anniversary in Canada.

  I’ve been trying to imagine what Hope Fellowship would be like without any volunteers. I can’t

A History of Hope Fellowship, Chapter 3: The Healing Years   On Tuesday morning, September 16, 2003, in the tiny custodian’s room of our newly purchased little school, I sat at a wooden table that the previous pastor had hammered together as a desk and began my ministry at Hope Fellowship. Outside, a manure spreader went by on Bloor Street. I laughed out loud and wondered what I had gotten myself into

  In May, a Christian Reformed pastor from Seattle will move to North Oshawa to plant a new church close to UOIT.

  Last December I first heard about the Advent Conspiracy, a movement that encourages people to spend less at Christmas so they have more to give away. Brian Bell, the pastor of Trulls Road Free Methodist Church, told me about it as we visited together in his office.

A History of Hope Fellowship, Chapter 2: The Humbling Years   For reasons understood best by the staff, the elders and the Lord, Hope Fellowship’s staff disintegrated after two years. One by one they resigned or were let go. When the dust settled, only one person was left: Evelyn, our wonderful administrative assistant

  I find it quite interesting how it has taken almost 3 months for me to be able to write my story. But God’s timing is perfect. Sharing my story on Palm Sunday will help bring our focus to where we need to be on our journey to Good Friday

  Seventeen youth and their parents have booked flights to build a house this summer for a family in the Dominican Republic. They are paying their own way with personal fundraising efforts and savings. But the cost of the house - $5,000 U.S. ($7,000 Cdn) – had to be raised separately. In her October staff report, Alice wrote, "It will be exciting to see what happens with this." This week she reported that $8,817 Cdn. has been raised to date

  On Tuesday, a winter storm packing 30 centimetres of new snow was predicted. Our small group was scheduled to meet, but the weather forecast compelled us to cancel. Everyone was disappointed because we love getting together and we were eager to see each other again

The Beginning Years   Seventeen years ago, on March 7, 1999, Hope Fellowship got its start. At the time, Zion CRC in Oshawa had become a large church under Rev. Henry Wildeboer’s visionary leadership with dreams of moving to a larger property and building a larger facility. Blueprints for the new building were drawn. But when the proposal came to the congregation, the vote fell just shy of the required amount.

  I wish you could have joined us at last week’s leadership retreat at Kingfisher Bay. The things that you would have heard and seen would have inspired you and reassured you that God has placed Hope Fellowship in good hands

  The Bible can be used to promote the idea that the earth was created in six days, six thousand years ago. It can be used to defend a geo-centric (the sun circles the earth) view of the universe. It can be used to defend slavery, anti-Semitism, racial segregation, interracial marriage and the silence of women in church. It can be used to advocate capital punishment, polygamy, the stoning of adulterous women and rebellious children, and the dispossession of indigenous peoples. I don’t agree with any of the above. But I could find biblical proof texts for all of these theories and practices

  Every February, area pastors are invited to attend chapel at Knox Christian School, visit the classrooms and enjoy a free lunch. This year, principal Paul Marcus asked the assembled kids to raise their hands when their pastor was introduced. When I stood, so many Hope Fellowship kids shot up their hands that I could not help but feel some pride

  Room 129 is empty. Late January, movers removed the teacher’s desk and chair, the smart board and projector, and everything else belonging to the ministry of education.

  Thanksgiving felt is a good thing; thanksgiving felt and expressed is a beautiful godly thing. Last October, in our Thanksgiving services at Hope Fellowship, we were given the opportunity to feel and express our thanks by filling in a card that invited us to identify the object, person, activity and quality of God that we especially appreciated.

  The national flags that we borrowed from the Christian Reformed Church’s headquarters will be returned to Burlington this week, marking the end of our focus on the growing number of nations now represented in this local expression of the household of God called Hope Fellowship Church.

  On Tuesday, Lilian sent this joyful e-mail to her co-deacons: “I received the counting slip for this past Sunday and we had the biggest ever collection in the history of Hope Fellowship.

  The growing diversity at Hope Fellowship Church gives me great joy. It is an exciting and enticing preview of the great multitude of worshipers from every nation, tribe, people and language that John, the Revelator, saw in his vision.

  I walked into the nursery on Wednesday morning and was greeted by the joyful sight and sound of twenty-four active pre-schoolers. They were playing happily, pushing toy trucks, racing cars, building towers or dressing dolls.

  One year ago, with much enthusiasm and fanfare, we put our bi-weekly newsletter, the Hope Fellowship Sun, on-line. A few people expressed their preference for printed copies, so we made that available to them. Evelyn, our church administrator, was thrilled because on-line copies are in vivid colour as opposed to our black and white printed copies.

It's Your Breath in Our Lungs   “We are on the doorstep of heaven in PICU,” my sister wrote.   It was December 11. Her son had been on a ventilator in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of Minneapolis Children’s Hospital since a life-saving surgery five days earlier. His limbs were frozen while his body waged silent war against a chest infection and asthmatic attack — one lung collapsed and the other full of fluid. Four years old and battling for breath

Dear Friends and Family:   Warm greetings from Isiro DRC. We trust that things are well? Interesting—as you are moving into your “cold-white” season, we are moving into our “hot and dry” season.

  This fall, after much prayer and discussion, the elders and deacons unanimously agreed to sponsor 2 Syrian refugee families, up to 8 people. A budget of $70,000 was set, with half coming from existing resources and half coming from a special collection on January 24, 2015.

  In November, the praise team responsible for the Christmas Eve service selected songs and began thinking about different “sounds, rhythms and feels” for the familiar carols that they had chosen.

  They have outlasted Eaton’s which went bankrupt in 1999. They’ve been handled by four to five thousand people on approximately two hundred occasions. They have lost their gloss and suffered lots of damage. They have sparked nostalgic conversations and brought people back to simpler times. Some have been lost or “borrowed.”