Town Hall Meeting

Planning for 2010 & beyond…

Plan to attend Hope’s Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, June 16, at 7:00 pm. 

June 11, 2010

Dear Friends

This June at Hope we have been talking about what it means to live our mission.

Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, “The time is fulfilled!” he said. “God’s kingdom is arriving! Turn back and believe the good news!”      Mark 1:15

It makes sense for us to look at the mission and message of Jesus as we talk about our own. Jesus invites us to join him in his kingdom.  So what is our place in his kingdom? Well, this might be hard for us North American control freaks to accept but, what it all boils down to is we are servants.  Deeply loved servants but, servants just the same.  Jesus our King taught us through his life, death and resurrection that he is the King who built this kingdom and we are welcomed to be in it, even called to care for it. Perhaps we could think of it like this, we are gardeners. The King has placed each of us in our environment (town, work, school) and asks us to tend to his garden. We plant, fertilize and water, however the mysterious work of growing is up to the king to do. We must faithfully/obediently live out his mission, trusting that he is doing the work of growth in us and around us.

Since 1997 when Hope began there has been discussion around here about being a church that plants churches.  Chestermere has always been one of the places which have come up.  For the last five years Christin and I have felt Jesus asking us to make ourselves available to tend that particular part of the garden. With the help and discernment of the Covenant, both in Canada and the US, as well as the pastoral staff and Council at Hope Community, we have felt confirmed in this call to plant a church. We believe it is time to begin over the next year making this transition.  Even though the next steps for Christin and I are still being worked out, we are confident and excited that our king knows the way.

It’s our hope that you know how much we love you and this place.  It’s our love for you and the love we have received by this family that has given us so much joy in serving you over the last 13 years and the year to come.  I heard someone once say, “If you want to lead people well, you better be willing to go first.”  For us we believe that “as a community of Jesus, we exist to make and mature disciples of Jesus Christ, who live for the sake of the world.”

We would love to have you join us and our leaders on Wednesday night (June 16) at 7:00 pm, to discuss further our plans, as well as the future plans at Hope in this transition. Please fell free should you not be able to make it, to call and we can set up a time to talk with you about this new kingdom opportunity Jesus is putting in front of us.

Pastor Evan & Christin Dewald