Stories of Hope

  For the past number of weeks, the newest newcomer family consisting of Reem, her mother, Ghada, and 5 children have been safely ensconced in the Youth House from Rehoboth CRC in Bowmanville. All of us are extremely grateful to the members of the Youth Group and the entire Rehoboth congregation for the use of this accommodation.

  What a weekend we had last week! From meeting with our high school students and young adults on Thursday night right through the Q & A session on Sunday afternoon, Pastor Dale and Gloria were kept very busy meeting the people of Hope Fellowship.

  December 28, 2016 saw the arrival of Ghada and her grandchildren. They have joined Ghada’s daughter Reem and children in their temporary home in Bowmanville. We are thankful that they are reunited as a family group and that they have had opportunity to connect with Feras and Shahla and their extended family in Canada.

  When January 1st rolls around I automatically think of it as Family Day. My parents used to tell me this when I was a kid and this was long before the province designated it a holiday in the month February.

  The first conversation that the Succession Planning Committee had with Rev. Dale Melenberg was in January, 2016. He asked us some tough questions about our church and gave very insightful answers to our questions to him. After a few days, Pastor Dale informed us that he was not able to move forward with Hope Fellowship for a number of reasons, including his ministry in Calgary and the work on his doctoral dissertation. We got over the disappointment but did not forget about that great first conversation.

  When we think of church, or anything for that matter, it seems that today's society thinks of the negative first. The songs were too old, the sermon too traditional and the kids learned nothing again in Sunday School.   In the third case, this must not be true for my daughter, Rayna, who is so excited about church and Sunday School she constantly talks about it in her class and with her friends.

  Ignite, our young adults group here at Hope, recently had the opportunity to volunteer at the Immanuel Bazaar on November 26th. The next day, because God just loves to do these types of things, Bernice Baker shared a sermon that felt like a direct response to what we’ve been teaching at Ignite.